Evidence the Magi were Tracking Jupiter (Tsedek)
As was reported by Discover: Science for the Curious, on January 28, 2016, ancient Babylonian astronomers were "way ahead of their time".
Notably, the Babylonian astronomers were tracking Jupiter's (Tsedek's)movements. The proof of this is found in a series of four clay tablets with Cuneiform inscriptions, which lay unread in a British museum for 150 years after being delivered from a location in Iraq.
It wasn't until a fifth Cuneiform tablet was found (pictured above), which is called Tablet A, that archaeologists found the information they needed to translate the four mysterious tablets. And to everyone's amazement, the four tablets were found to be about astronomy - specifically the movements of Tsedek.
As the Discover article explains:
Notably, all of these sky events which heralded Yahshua's Birth involved the planet Jupiter. For emphasis, permit me to remind that the ancient Babylonian clay tablets mentioned above were recording the movements of Jupiter.
The sky event's of the Saviour's Birth began in September of 3 BC with Jupiter circling Regulus (the King or Scepter star between the lion's paws) in a coronating triple conjunction. During Jupiter's movements following that event - and during the time before the wisemen arrived to worship the young Messiah (so it was during when the wisemen would have been closely watching the movements of Jupiter), Tsedek (Jupiter) did move in a trapezoidal pattern, like the one indicated in the Babylonian clay tablets!
Using astronomy software Starry Night Pro, I created the following image tracking Jupiter's movements over the dates in question. After the triple conjunction, which is not shown in these images, Jupiter traced a trapezoid in the sky, in the constellation of Aryeh (now called Leo).
Here is a magnification of the trapezoidal pattern of Jupiter's movements at this time. Jupiter's positions are shown in the brightest white spots in the image below, forming the corners of a trapezoid:
Unsure of why Babylonian astronomers, also called Magi, would have been so focused on Jupiter, archaeologists working with the recently translated Babylonian clay tablets have been suggesting that perhaps it has to do with the Babylonian worship of the false god, whom the Romans called Jupiter.
Since the Babylonian astronomers are no longer around to question, one can only guess at their reasons for tracking Jupiter and recording its movements over a period of many days, as has been done on these Cuneiform clay tablets. But I'd like to propose an alternative reason for their obvious interest in the movements of Jupiter.
As I shared in yesterday's blog, the Babylonians who were masters at astronomy were the Magi - from the school of Magi which Daniel once lead. Daniel, a few hundred years before the Birth of Messiah, had foretold of His Coming to his underling Magi in the Babylonian school of Wisemen. Daniel knew Jacob's star-prophecy involving the "Scepter" or king star which would depart (in conjunction) from between the lion's paws - heralding Messiah's Birth.
It certainly was Daniel's godly knowledge of the Mazzaroth which caused the Babylonian Magi to be infamous in their level of understanding of astronomy. Prior to Daniel, as the Bible clearly shows, the Babylonian Magi were only pretenders, who didn't possess real wisdom and were unable to interpret the king's dream. Their pretensions were exposed when they couldn't answer the king and all of the Magi were condemned to death as a result.
But their lives were saved when Daniel prayed for God to reveal the dream and its interpretation. When Daniel was able to respond to the king with the dream and its meaning, Daniel was made the head of the Magi in all of Babylon, second only to the king himself. In such a position as this, Daniel would have been in charge of instructing and leading the Magi from that point onward. And it was because of this leadership and godly wisdom which Daniel imparted to them, that the Babylonian wisemen were transformed from being the doomed pretenders who failed Nebuchadnezzar to the world-renowned king-makers who gained instant audience with any monarch in the time of Rome's rule.
Might it not have been Daniel's mentioning of the king star and planet which caused our mysterious Babylonian Magi to record Jupiter's movements in these newly translated clay tablets? At the very least, its an interesting possibility!
As was reported by Discover: Science for the Curious, on January 28, 2016, ancient Babylonian astronomers were "way ahead of their time".
It wasn't until a fifth Cuneiform tablet was found (pictured above), which is called Tablet A, that archaeologists found the information they needed to translate the four mysterious tablets. And to everyone's amazement, the four tablets were found to be about astronomy - specifically the movements of Tsedek.
As the Discover article explains:
Because they're so far away, the position of stars doesn't change much from our point of view, even as Earth moves around the sun. Planets, however, are much closer, so changes in relative position are more apparent. That's why, throughout the year, visible planets seem to move against the background of the stars.
According to the method described in four of the tablets, Babylonian astronomers plotted a 60-day portion of Jupiter's wandering path across the sky on a graph, with time plotted on one axis and velocity - how many degrees Jupiter's path shifted each day - on the other. The figure, on the resulting graph described, looks like a trapezoid, and the area of that trapezoid is the total distance Jupiter travel(ed) in 60 days.The story that I shared about the Bethlehem Star in yesterday's blog was taken from the research and findings of Frederick Larson, who shared this information in a compelling presentation appropriately called The Bethlehem Star. Using astronomy software, it is possible to re-create all nine of Matthew 2's definitive characteristics of the Star, in a series of sky events which span 3-2 BC.
Notably, all of these sky events which heralded Yahshua's Birth involved the planet Jupiter. For emphasis, permit me to remind that the ancient Babylonian clay tablets mentioned above were recording the movements of Jupiter.
The sky event's of the Saviour's Birth began in September of 3 BC with Jupiter circling Regulus (the King or Scepter star between the lion's paws) in a coronating triple conjunction. During Jupiter's movements following that event - and during the time before the wisemen arrived to worship the young Messiah (so it was during when the wisemen would have been closely watching the movements of Jupiter), Tsedek (Jupiter) did move in a trapezoidal pattern, like the one indicated in the Babylonian clay tablets!
Using astronomy software Starry Night Pro, I created the following image tracking Jupiter's movements over the dates in question. After the triple conjunction, which is not shown in these images, Jupiter traced a trapezoid in the sky, in the constellation of Aryeh (now called Leo).
Here is a magnification of the trapezoidal pattern of Jupiter's movements at this time. Jupiter's positions are shown in the brightest white spots in the image below, forming the corners of a trapezoid:
Unsure of why Babylonian astronomers, also called Magi, would have been so focused on Jupiter, archaeologists working with the recently translated Babylonian clay tablets have been suggesting that perhaps it has to do with the Babylonian worship of the false god, whom the Romans called Jupiter.
Since the Babylonian astronomers are no longer around to question, one can only guess at their reasons for tracking Jupiter and recording its movements over a period of many days, as has been done on these Cuneiform clay tablets. But I'd like to propose an alternative reason for their obvious interest in the movements of Jupiter.
It certainly was Daniel's godly knowledge of the Mazzaroth which caused the Babylonian Magi to be infamous in their level of understanding of astronomy. Prior to Daniel, as the Bible clearly shows, the Babylonian Magi were only pretenders, who didn't possess real wisdom and were unable to interpret the king's dream. Their pretensions were exposed when they couldn't answer the king and all of the Magi were condemned to death as a result.
But their lives were saved when Daniel prayed for God to reveal the dream and its interpretation. When Daniel was able to respond to the king with the dream and its meaning, Daniel was made the head of the Magi in all of Babylon, second only to the king himself. In such a position as this, Daniel would have been in charge of instructing and leading the Magi from that point onward. And it was because of this leadership and godly wisdom which Daniel imparted to them, that the Babylonian wisemen were transformed from being the doomed pretenders who failed Nebuchadnezzar to the world-renowned king-makers who gained instant audience with any monarch in the time of Rome's rule.
Might it not have been Daniel's mentioning of the king star and planet which caused our mysterious Babylonian Magi to record Jupiter's movements in these newly translated clay tablets? At the very least, its an interesting possibility!
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As worthy a conjecture as any other - for sure!
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