LATE ORIGIN OF STORY
The earliest Christians, viz., the Ebionites, Nazarenes, Corinthians, &c., excluded as
forgeries the two first chapters of Matthew, containing the miraculous conception and
birth, declaring them to be spurious, and not to be found in the genuine copies of
Matthew. Both Saint Jerome and Epiphanius allow that this is true.1
The writer of that portion of the Gospel according to Matthew which treats of the
place in which Jesus was born, states that he was born in a house. In Matthew 2:11
the Greek word is οικια.
(Strong's Number [3614])
However, the writer of the Luke version implies that he was born in a stable
(Luke 2:7).
If these accounts were contained in these Gospels in the time of Eusebius, the first
ecclesiastical historian, who flourished during the Council of Nice (A. D. 327),
it is very strange that, in speaking of the birth of Jesus, he should have omitted even
mentioning them, and should have given an altogether different version. He tells us that
Jesus was neither born in a house, nor in a stable, but in a cave.2
[See Eusebius's Life of Constantine, lib. 3, chs xl, xli, and xlii.(on CD-R)]
In Matthew 2:4 the Magi ask about "the Christ", referring to Christ Jesus. This again
betrays the late origin of this chapter. Speaking of Jesus as "the Christ" is equivalent
to speaking of Tacitus as "the Historian," or George Washington as "the General," or of
any individual as "the Mister," without adding a name by which either could be
distinguished. Therefore, it would have no sense or meaning, unless it was written after
Christianity was already well established and the term "Christ" had already became
exclusive to meaning Christ Jesus.3
COMPARATIVE RELIGION:
This story of the child who threatens the reign of a ruling monarch is a common motif
found in many ancient religions. It is also found in the Old Testament with Moses as a baby
being placed in a basket and sent down the river to avoid the mass slaughter of all
the children.
King Herod (night) ordering the death of all the children (stars).
Darkness hears a child will be born that will overthrow him. Indeed when the Sun rises it
will conquer the darkness. So darkness orders all the stars extinguished. Allegorically
all the children of the land are to be killed. What better way to insure darkness rules
than to murder all those little points of light. All the stars are killed, but the sun
survives the slaughter and rises anyway, conquering the darkness.
The Players Jesus — The Sun. Comparative Religion shows that all the ancient religions
were forms of sun worship. The story of Jesus is just another allegorical personification
of the sun as will be shown here.
Herod — Night; Darkness. We have seen in the lecture on Night how
Darkness is the original evil. The ancient religious stories personified the evil
Darkness and gave it names. In this case the name for Darkness is Herod.
Darkness reigns supreme at night until overpowered by the rising sun in the morning. The
sun rising in the morning is figuratively a form of the sun being born. Just before the
sun rises all the stars disappear. Figuratively this is Darkness trying to save itself by
killing all the stars. What better way to keep things dark than to kill all those little
points of light. But Darkness fails to kill the sun. The sun rises, overpowering the
Darkness, the darkness dies, and its reign is ended.
There is no historical record of this mass infanticide slaughter ever actually happening
or being ordered. It never really happened on Earth. Our whole story takes place in the
starry night sky. Paul says, "For our conversation is in heaven [i.e. the stars above]
from whence also we look for the Saviour [the Sun], the Lord Jesus Christ." (Philippians
3:20)
The Three Magi or Wise Men — The three bright stars in the belt of Orion,
which rise in the East just as the Sun sets in the West. These three stars travel across
the sky at night and eventually set in the West at dawn. It's as if the stars were
following the Sun, looking for it.
Bethlehem — Literally "house of bread", referring to the zodiac house of
Virgo the eternal celestial virgin.
Star of Bethlehem — planet Venus, which is always seen near the sun.
Joseph — the constellation Bootes, which is next to Virgo, the virgin.
SYNOPSIS
Our story takes place every night after September 23, the Autumn Equinox, when the Sun
moves out of Virgo the celestial virgin. After the Sun sets the three bright stars in the
belt of Orion rise in the east, slightly south of due east. They travel across the sky
during the night, towards where the sun set. They set slightly south of due west, near
where the Sun set the evening before.
During the last quarter of the year you will see this story repeated each night. On
September 23 (the Autumn Equinox) these three bright stars rise in the east around 11PM.
By December 1 these three stars rise in the east around 7PM, just around Sunset. This is
probably the best time for this story, as the stars will travel all the way across the
night sky and set in the west just before sunrise.
Here now is my annotated explanation of Matthew Chapter 2 — The birth of Jesus.
(The rest of the Jesus Story can be similarly annotated, which I am working on. Indeed
the rest of the Bible can be similarly annotated, which I am working on.)
MATTHEW 2
THE VISIT OF THE MAGI
After Jesus [the Sun] was born in Bethlehem [literally "house of bread". The zodiac house of Virgo. Thus "After the sun has
moved out of Virgo"] in Judea during the time of King Herod [during the night], Magi from the east [the three stars
in the belt of Orion which rise in the east] came to Jerusalem [the starry night sky] and asked, "Where is the one who has been born
king of the Jews? [where is the Sun?] We saw his star [the Sun's "star" is the bright planet Venus, which is always seen near the
Sun] when it rose in the east [the Sun and its star always rise
in the east] and have come to worship him." [Since Jesus is a
personification of the Sun this shows the whole religion was originally about Sun
worship.]
When King Herod [night] heard this he was disturbed, [night is worried there is a Sun that will rise (be born) and conquer
him.] and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people's
chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ [the Sun] was to be born. [Note the use of the word
"Christ" here to refer to Jesus. This betrays the late origin of the text.] "In
Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
[Following is a garbled quote of Micah 5:2 This is an attempt to tie this
new story with the established Jewish stories, which are also astrological. However, the
quote isn't exact, indicating the writer isn't familiar with the original Hebrew but is
instead using a poor Greek translation of the original Hebrew. (Note that Judah is not
the same as Judea.)]
"But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel."
Then Herod [night] called the Magi [astronomers] secretly and found out from them the exact time the star
[Venus] had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem [the house of Virgo] and said, "Go and make a careful search for the
child [see if the Sun is in Virgo]. As soon as you find him,
report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the
east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was [the Sun rises in the east, and sets in the west]. When they saw the
star, they were overjoyed [seeing the Sun is always nice]. On
coming to the house [the zodiac house of Virgo], they saw the
child [the Sun] with his mother Mary [Virgo], and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their
treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of frankincense and of myrrh. [Gold is bright and shiny like the Sun. The scent of frankincense when burned
was considered by the ancient people to be evidence of God on Earth.] And having
been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another
route. [The three bright stars in the belt of Orion return to their
starting point by setting in the west and going under the earth back to their starting
point, thus returning by another route.]
THE ESCAPE TO EGYPT
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he
said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. [Egypt is the
underworld, below the horizon. Hence the Sun, along with the constellation Virgo (Mary)
and Bootes (Joseph) sets at the end of the day and goes below the horizon.] Stay
there until I tell you, for Herod [night] is going to search for
the child [the Sun] to kill him."
[Thus begins the common motif of a prophesied child (the Sun) who
threatens the reign of a ruling monarch (darkness).]
So he [the constellation Bootes (Joseph)] got up, took the child
[the Sun] and his mother [Virgo (Mary)]
during the night [this is when the story takes palace] and left
for Egypt [went below the horizon], where he stayed until the
death of Herod [Herod "dies" when the Sun rises in the east the next
morning].
[The Sun sets, along with the constellations Bootes and Virgo, and it is
night time. They all stay underneath the earth (Egypt) until sunrise, when the Darkness
of Night (Herod) will die.]
And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called
my son." ["Out from under the world the Sun will rise." This is an
attempt to tie this story with the established Jewish stories, which are also
astrological.]
When Herod [night] realized that he had been outwitted by the
Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its
vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time [the time of Sunrise]he had learned from the Magi [the
astronomers who watch the sky and know when the Sun will rise].
[Darkness kills all the stars at Dawn, just before Sunrise, but fails to
kill the Sun. The Sun rises, ending the reign of darkness of the night.]
Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: [Jer.
31:15 Another attempt to tie this story with the established Jewish stories, which are
also astrological.]
"A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more."
THE RETURN TO NAZARETH
After Herod [night] died, [night "dies" when the
Sun rises in the morning. Thus "After the sun rose..."] an angel of the Lord
appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt [below the horizon] and
said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel [above the horizon] for those who were trying to take the child's life
are dead." So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.
[The Sun rises, along with Virgo and Bootes. The "land of Israel" is the
hemisphere above us. "Egypt" is the hemisphere below us, below the earth, under the
world, the underworld', where things go when they set in the west, and where things come
from when they rise in the east.]
But when he heard that Archelaus [Dawn] was reigning in Judea in
place of his father Herod [night], he was afraid to go there.
[The constellations Virgo and Bootes don't show themselves during the
day.] Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee[the ecliptic], and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth.
So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."
[The word "Nazarene" is not to be found anywhere in the Old Testament, so
it's not for certain how this fulfills any prophecy. Nazarite = "one separated". Nazareth
= "the guarded one".]
[THIS ENDS MATTHEW CHAPTER 2]
THE CHRISTIAN CROSS
"Galilee" is literally "Circuit". i.e. a closed, usually circular path.
The ecliptic is the circuit the Sun travels along during the year. The ecliptic is a
great circle inscribed on the celestial sphere. The ecliptic is also a circle on a
planisphere. The circle you often see in the center of the Cross, the symbol of
Christianity, represents the ecliptic, the circular path of the Sun. The four posts of
the Cross divide the year into the four seasons. The circle in the middle is the circuit
the Sun makes during the year. A planisphere is a map of the starry night sky. A
planisphere also doubles as a time of year calendar. On the planisphere along with the
stars is drawn the ecliptic — the apparent path the Sun takes through the stars
during the year. On the planisphere the ecliptic is close to a circle. You can divide the
planisphere into the four seasons of the year by drawing a cross on it. Thus you end up
with a cross with a circle in the middle. The Cross on top of Goleta Presbyterian Church
has the traditional circle in the middle of it.
Virgo the Virgin in the House of Bread
Virgo is the virgin that gives birth to the Sun each year when it
passes out of her. She is the one who gives birth and yet remains
always and forever a virgin.
The Zodiac is divided into twelve "houses." Each "house" contains
one of the twelve Zodiac constellations. The "house" containing
Virgo is known as the house of bread, because it's the house the
sun is in during harvest time. Virgo is always represented as holding
a sheaf of wheat.
Bethlehem is a word which can be found numerous times in the Old Testament.
It is actually two Hebrew words, בית לחם
[Strongs Hebrew #01035]
pronounced bayth leh'-khem —
"bayth" is literally "house", and "leh'-khem" is
literally "bread". Thus "Bethlehem" is literally "house of bread."
Click here to hear the Hebrew pronunciation of "Bethlehem".
Without knowing this one may be tempted to take out a map and
search for a town called Bethlehem. However, one should actually be looking for a place
known as the "House of Bread." This may seem trivial at first, but it actually is a great
first step towards exposing the allegory. There has always been a place known as the
"House of Bread," except it's not a place on Earth, it's a time of the year! It's
a reference to harvest time!
(It's also quite possible that at the alleged time of
Jesus there was no town on earth known as Bethlehem.4 Alvin Boyd Kuhn wrote,
"Indeed it could be affirmed that the ancient books would have
proclaimed the Christ-birth as "occurring" in Bethlehem even if no
such town had stood on the map; or rather they would have seen to
it that a town appropriately located according to some semantic
scheme would have been given the name of Bethlehem. (That the name
of this particular town is to be accounted for in this way is indeed
fairly probable, for this was the ancient religious custom.)"5)
After harvest time the harvest cycle begins anew. It's time to begin the story of the
harvest cycle again, starting with the Sun moving out of Virgo, the eternal virgin. Thus
we have the virgin birth of Jesus at the beginning of the story. The story of Jesus is
the story of the harvest cycle and the passage of the seasons of the year.
[1]Christian Mythology Unveiled pg. 167 footnote.
[2]Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions by T.W. Doane. (pg. 154)
[3]
(I'm still looking for the book I got this paragraph from. I've only got seven bookcases of books in my room to search through. :-)
[4]Where was Jesus really Born?Archaeology magazine’s article Volume 58 Number 6, November/December 2005
"There is surprisingly no archaeological evidence that ties Bethlehem in Judea to the period
in which Jesus would have been born." [The likelihood is there was no settlement at
this site at that time.]
[5]
Alvin Boyd Kuhn: "Yule and Noel: The Saga of Christmas"
Page 54, chapter titled, "BETHLEHEM AND BETHANY", 1st paragraph.
The entire book is online at:
http://members.tripod.com/~pc93/yulenoel.htm
