A Time of Waiting Unique in World History (VII)

The astrologers’ expectancy

It now seems to be established scientifically that the astrologers from Babylon were also awaiting the birth of the “ruler of the world” from the year 7 B.C. Kepler, one of the fathers of modern astronomy, observed in December 1603 the very bright alignment of Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation of Pisces. With his calculations, he was able to establish that the same phenomenon (which produces an intense and dazzling light in the star-filled heavens) also must have occurred in the year 7 B.C. Then he discovered that an ancient commentary on the Scriptures by the Rabbi Abarbanel recalled that, according to Jewish belief, the Messiah was due to appear precisely at the time when the light from Jupiter and Saturn shone as a single beam in the constellation of Pisces.

Yet hardly any significance was attached to Kepler’s discovery simply because it had not been established with certainty that Jesus had been born before the traditional date, following a mistake by Denys Petau. More than two centuries later, the Danish scholar Munter was to discover and decipher a mediaeval Hebraic commentary on the “seventy seven-day periods” in the Book of Daniel which alluded to the belief referred to by Kepler. In 1902, the Planetary Table was published that is today preserved in Berlin: an Egyptian papyrus that contains the exact movements of the planets between 17 B.C. and 10 A.D. This draws attention to the alignment between Jupiter and Saturn in 7 B.C., visible in its entire splendor across the Mediterranean region.

Lastly, in 1925, a description of Sippar’s Stellar Calendar was published: a baked earth tablet with cuneiform inscriptions from the ancient settlement of Sippar, on the Euphrates, which was the center of an important school of astrology in Babylon. Remarkably, on this “calendar” are marked all of the heavenly movements and alignments of the year 7 B.C. Why was this? Because, according to the Babylonian astrologers, this alignment that can only be observed every 794 years occurred three times in 7 B.C. ? on May 29, October 1 and December 5. And they considered Jupiter to be the planet of the world’s rulers, Saturn as the planet of those who protect Israel and the constellation of Pisces as the sign of the end of time, that is, the beginning of the Messianic era. (...)

Indeed, it is now certain, that between the Tigris and the Euphrates, not only was a Messiah expected that would emerge from Israel, but that amazingly he would be born in an age and at a time that had been predetermined.