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T HE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
la rs were the- same th a t held on the subject among th e learned in such love th roughou t th e world in general, in cluding th e wise men who asked th e question of th e text. Abarbanel, in his Commentary on Daniel, affirms it as a settled th ing th a t th e conjunction of Ju p ite r and S atu rn always betokens some g reat event or beginning in hum an affairs, and be cause such a conjunction occurred^ in his day (about A. D. 1480), he expected th e speedy b irth of th e Messiah, as still expected by th e Jews. Now, if an individual and isolated conjunction of these two p lanets pre saged th e b irth of one so illu striou s as Moses, and always indicates th e coming of some g rea t one on earth , w h at would be th e dignity and glory of a Child whose b irth is heralded by th ree suc cessive conjunctions of these same plan ets in one and th e same year? And j yet th is is what, in fact, did occur ju st I before th e b irth of Jesu s of N azareth. In th e year of Rome 747, w ithin the two years proceeding th e N ativity, dur ing th e la st days of May, th e re was one such conjunction. In th e same year, during th e la st days of October th ere was ano th er such conjunction. And again in th e same year, du ring th e first days of December, th e re was a th ird conjunction— all th re e being conjunc tions of Ju p ite r and Saturn, as . on the occasion of th e b irth of Moses. J I t waS“* Kepler, th e g rea t German astronom er, who first pointed ou t these rem arkable incidents of th e heavens, and gave th e opinion th a t th ey were most likely the sta rry phenomena which influenced the wise men in th e case before us. The cal culations on th e subject have been re peatedly re-exam ined, and la test by th e j astronom er-royal a t Greenwich, and / pronounced to be correctorIndependent of all theories or in terp retation s, the facts thu s stand attested by th e best science, and as F a rra r says, “ do not seem to adm it of denial.”
stress is laid on conjunctions of th e planets Ju p ite r and S aturn. I t is th ere also affirmed th a t about th ree years be fore th e b irth of Moses a conjunction between Ju p ite r and S atu rn occurred in - thBrs^55=9#-I>i6ee8. By astronom ical cal culations we know th a t such a conjunc tion of these p articu la r signs did take place about th a t period. According to Josephus and th e rabbis, th is sign was in terp reted by th e Egyptian astronom ers and wise men as very favorable to the Jews and very unfavorable to the Egyptians. Their sacred scribes, noted for th e ir skill and sagacity in these things, came to th e king insisting th a t j it foretokened th e b irth of a child among th e Jews who, if allowed to live, would bring th e Egyptian dominion very low, excel in v irtu e and glory, ex a lt th e children of Israel to power and honor, and be remembered th roughou t j all ages. ^ T ’h ree things h ere come ou t w ith g reat clearness and conspicuity which deserve to he p articu larly noted: first, th a t th e star-read ing of a conjunction between Ju p ite r and S atu rn betokened th e b irth of a great, virtuous, princely, and glorious operator among men, and th e beginning or sta rtin g of a new order of th in g s; second, th a t th e sign in which th e conjunction occurred indicated the people among whom th e child was to he horn; and th ird , th a t th e children of Israel were already a t th a t early period associated w ith th e sign of Pisces. Josephus says th a t it was in conse quence of w hat th e scribes augured from these indications th a t th e decree w ent fo rth from P h araoh to slay every male child th a t should be born during the tim e impending. We th u s have th e Jew ish rabbis and the Gentile Egyptian scribes most se riously, on both sides, concurring in the in terp retation of some very im po rtan t points in astronom ic indications, and may well conclude th a t th e ir views and teachings w ith reg ard to these particu-
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