Roy Exum
This isn’t meant to make you nervous, no more than snake handling might cast out demons, but there are three things you need to know about today. It is the first day of spring. It is the first day of the Jewish New Year, properly called Jewish Civil New Year’s Day. And, in some far reaches of the world, there will be a total solar eclipse. Don’t worry, you won’t see it unless you are reading this somewhere in the far reaches of northern Europe.
But in what I like to call a “gorilla story,” one where the monkey jumps out and scares the dickens out of all of us at the end, tonight’s eclipse could be a real big deal. It is right in the middle of four “Blood Moons,” a distinct line of lunar eclipses that can be seen in any nighttime sky.
A solar eclipse happens when the moon – called a Super Moon in this rare instance -- passes close enough to earth to completely and totally block out the sun. If you are in the Faroe Islands tonight, the total eclipse will last two minutes and 47 seconds and, while it won’t get totally dark, you’ll do best by staying away from any science fiction books.
A lunar eclipse, on the other hand, is when the moon passes directly behind the earth into its umbra, or shadow. A full lunar eclipse happens when the sun, earth, and moon are aligned in “syzygy,” which means “exactly” with our home planet in the middle. Obviously, a lunar eclipse can only occur during the night of a full moon and, because of the atmosphere, each will have a distinct reddish hue (think “red sky at night,” only this is just the moon.)
Again, today is the Jewish New Year. The last time we had a total lunar eclipse was on Oct. 8, 2014, and that was the same day those of the Jewish faith celebrated Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles – stick with me – and the next time we will have a total lunar eclipse will be April 4, when those of the Jewish faith celebrate Passover. The fourth and final total lunar eclipse in this Tetrad … which is what they call four-in-a-row … will be on Sept. 28, 2015, the day the Jewish celebrate Sukkot, or The Feast of Tabernacles this year.
Whoa! Do you get this? All four lunar eclipses will be on Jewish holy days, and just for good measure there is today’s total solar eclipse on what? Yep, the faith’s New Year’s Day! That means we are smack in the middle of a Biblical Tetrad. This is just the eighth time it has happened since the year 0001 AD.
The last time it happened was in 1967-68, a time of note since it was then when Israel recaptured Jerusalem. The time before that – in 1950 – Israel became a nation. And the time before that, way back in 1493-1494, was when the Jews were expelled from Spain. Check it out – you’ll see.
Happenstance, maybe, but if I was holding a deck of cards I wouldn’t be messing with the Jews. Scientists and astrologers tell us the next Biblical Tetrad won’t occur for another 500 years but you need to know that something bad has happened to the Jews every time there has been a Biblical Tetrad and every time something better has become of it.
There are some men of faith who seriously believe this could be a signal of the Second Coming – when Jesus Christ will return to earth. In the Bible you can read in the Book of Joel where the 31st verse in the 2nd chapter states, “The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord…” or, in the Book of Acts where 2:20 says, “The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord ...”
So here we are, in March before the Blood Moons on April 4th and Sept. 28, and let’s look at Israel. President Barack Obama only just now has made the congratulatory telephone call to Binyamin Netanyahu, who was just re-elected as the nation’s prime minister.
No, instead the President sends out his press secretary, Josh Earnest, as a snapping dog to tout Obama’s belief in the two-state solution, and strongly condemned Netanyahu’s decision to rally support with incendiary remarks about a high turnout among Israeli Arab voters. Netanyahu warned his people on Election Day the Arabs in Israel were being bused to the polls “in droves”.
“The United States and this administration is deeply concerned about rhetoric that seeks to marginalize Arab Israeli citizens,” the snapping dog told the press. “It undermines the values and democratic ideals that have been important to our democracy and an important part of what binds the United States and Israel together.”
Earnest also told reporters: “Rhetoric that seeks to marginalize one segment of their population is deeply concerning. It is divisive, and I can tell you that these are views the administration intends to communicate directly to the Israelis.”
What’s going to happen, I believe, is that Obama will no longer stand with Israel and can you think of a worse time, with such sign language in clear view high in the heavens, to get Israel real mad, particularly with my Jesus being a Jew?
royexum@aol.com