Mbostrom2's Blog

In the middle of the night the thought came to me “midnight eclipses” and I got up to write it down and could not go back to sleep. (Seriously, I really don’t try to dream these things up, but when I get a clear thought like this I usually search it out.) I am not trying to read anything into this, only watching and logging.

• The first time ‘midnight’ is used in the Old Testament is in Exodus 11:4, “And Moses said, Thus saith the LORD, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt:”
• The first time ‘midnight’ is used in the New Testament is in Matthew 25:6, “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.“

According to Astronomy Israel, “Totality  begins at 10:22PM when all of the moon enters the earth’s full, umbral shadow. At 11:12PM the moon will be as deeply into the earth’s shadow as it will get at this eclipse and “greatest eclipse” begins, when the moon should reach its darkest. Totality ends just after midnight on Thursday, June 16, and the exit partial phase of the eclipse ends at 1:02AM IDT.

I thought it was interesting that both eclipses of June 2011 were at ‘midnight’ and both covered ‘two days’.

• The date on the Hebrew calendar will be Sivan 14, since their days are from sundown to sundown the eclipse will be one day.
• Another interesting thought from history comes from the only time Sivan is mentioned in the Bible, Esther 8:9, the longest verse in the Bible where Haman’s edict for destroying the Jewish people was overturned. Mordecai and Esther were fasting during Passover, so from Passover to Sivan 23 were the happenings of Esther’s 2 dinners, wicked Haman’s death and the hanging of Haman’s 10 sons.

NASA noted: “Four partial solar and two total lunar eclipses take place in 2011. This 4:2 combination of solar and lunar eclipses in a single year is rather rare with only six cases during the 21st Century (2011, 2029, 2047, 2065, 2076 and 2094).

NOTE: There is a huge difference between astrology and astronomy. Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects (such as stars, planets, comets, nebulae, star clusters and galaxies) and observing the cycles in the heavens. Astrology is witchcraft, where they believe the order of the stars lead them to a successful life or warn them of things coming.

In biblical times, watchmen were posted on the walls surrounding the city. They not only watched for an enemy approaching, they also recorded anything happening in the night sky. From historical events on earth during the same time that  unusual heavenly events were recorded, they observed a relationship pattern of occurences relating to  heaven and earth. (Israel’s calendar is linked with the cycles of the moon, but keeps with the solar cycle by their leap years).

When Jesus told His disciples what would be the signs of the end of the age in Mark 13, some of them involved signs in the heavens.  Mark 13 closes with Jesus commanding them to ‘watch’ 4 times. I consider myself to be a Watcher, and observe what is happening in the heavens relating to the Last Days. When unusual signs are seen in the heavens  I watch, pray and record.

Psalm 19:1, “The heavens tell of the glory of God. The skies display his marvelous craftsmanship. (2) Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. (3) [There is] no speech nor language [Where] their voice is not heard. ”

A lunar eclipse is when the moon passes behind the earth such that the earth blocks the sun’s rays from striking the moon (like a red sunset). This happens when the sun, earth and moon are lined up exactly or very close and always comes at the time of a full moon (middle of the lunar month).

Joel 2:31, “The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.” (Acts 2:20, Rev 6:12)

There will be 2 total lunar eclipses (blood moons) in 2011. The first will be June 15 and the second December 10. This blood red lunar eclipse will be over all the nations that are in turmoil in the Middle East. This will be the darkest lunar eclipse in almost 100 years and will cover 2 days and will last 1 hour, 40 minutes & 12 seconds! It will be seen in East Africa, the entire Middle East (including Jerusalem), Central Asia, Western Australia and will mid eclipse in the Mauritius. (This will be USA 4:14pm EDT) North or South America will not witness this event.

Below are some interesting historical events that happened on earth when there were lunar eclipses.

• 1 BC- Only eclipse that Josephus recorded, at the time of the death of King Herod.
• Sept 27, 14 AD, death of Caesar Augustus
• April 3, 33 AD, possible time of the Crucifixion
• March 4, 71 AD, the plowing of Jerusalem with salt by the Romans
• January 28, 632 AD, (solar) visible over Medina, Arabia. This is the year Mohammad, the founder of Islam died.
• May 22, 1453, the fall of Constantinople to the Muslims
• March 1, 1504, called the Columbus eclipse, when Columbus and his men were being held captive and Columbus read in the almanac that there was to be a lunar eclipse that evening. He told the natives if they did not let them go, he would make the moon go away. They were released soon after.
• July 31, 1776, after America’s independence from Britain
• January 15, 1805, the Lewis & Clark expedition
• July 4, 1917, WWII and Balfour Declaration
• Passover, April 3, 1996- The 100th anniversary of Jerusalem
• September 26, 1996 following the blood moon renewed violence broke out between the Palestinians and the Israelis (due to the opening of a tourist tunnel near the Dome of the Rock), after many months of comparative peace.
• November 9, 2003 –  A large explosion rocked a Riyadh residential compound housing foreigners and Saudis a day after the United States warned of terrorist attacks in the kingdom which is battling a surge in Islamist violence.  Thousands of Saudi troops were deployed in the holy city of Mecca to provide additional security until Ramadan is over.
• February 21,  2008-Israeli PM Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi spoke in preparation for war with Hezbollah and Hamas, and both these terror organizations leaders were bold in their rhetoric against Israel in this time of great tension.
• 

Rabbi Meir Baal Hanes (139-163 AD) said, “Whenever the luminaries are in eclipse, it is a bad omen for Israel since they are inured to blows. This may be compared to a school teacher who comes to school with a strap in his hand. Who becomes apprehensive? He who is accustomed to be daily punished. Our Rabbis taught, ‘When the sun is in eclipse it is a bad omen for idolaters; when Lavanah (Moon) is in eclipse, it is a bad omen for Israel, since Israel reckons by Lavanah (Moon) and idolaters by the sun. If it is in eclipse in the east, it is a bad omen for those who dwell in the east; if in the west, it is a bad omen for those who dwell in the west, if in the midst of heaven it is bad omen for the whole world. If its face is red as blood, [it is a sign that] the sword is coming to the world; if it is like sack-cloth, the arrows of famine are coming to the world; if it resembles both, the sword and the arrows of famine are coming to the world. If the eclipse is at sunset calamity will tarry in its coming; if at dawn, it hastens on its way, but some say the order is to be reversed. And there is no nation which is smitten that its G-ds are not smitten together with it, as it is said, And against all the G-ds of Egypt I will execute judgments. But when Israel fulfill the will of the Omnipresent, they need have no fear of all these [omens] as it is said, Thus saith the L-RD, ‘Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the nation are dismayed at them, the idolaters will be dismayed, but Israel will not be dismayed.”

Solar eclipses happen when the moon covers the sun and there is darkness on the earth during the time when the sun should be shining. This happens when there is ‘no’ noon, at the beginning or end of a lunar calendar month.

What was so unusual about this eclipse?

• It happened at ‘midnight’ instead of during the day. The eclipse covered the northern countries below the North Pole who are in a period of sun day and night. At midnight they were still light and they were able to experience this spectacular event
• It covered 2 days.  It began early Thursday (June 2) over northeast Asia, but actually ended Wednesday night because its narrow path of visibility — where skywatchers could see the event — crossed the International Date Line. This means the eclipse went backwards to the day before!  Interesting note: June 1st was Jerusalem Day- the 44th anniversary of Jerusalem coming back into the hand of Israel.
• This type of ‘midnight‘ solar eclipse will not take place again until 2084.
• June 1st eclipse is the first of 3 that will happen within 30 days. (June 15- total lunar, July 1- solar)

Watch for my posting of the June 15 Blood Moon over Jerusalem.

One of the things I like to study is connections between heavenly events and happenings with Israel. I don’t know what is coming in the future, but I can look at the past history.

According to Jewish Rabbinic tradition and from historical recording of cycles, an eclipse should be interpreted according to the following (Talmud-Mas. Sukkah 29a)

• Solar – a bad omen for idolaters
• Lunar – a bad omen for Israel
• Red Moon at Lunar eclipse – a sword is coming for the whole world
• Black Moon at Lunar eclipse – the arrows of famine are coming to the world
• Both red and black moon – both sword and famine
• In the East- specifically for those who live in the East
• In the West – specifically for those who live in the West
• In the midst of heaven-  for the whole world

June 1, 2011 is Iyar 28, 5771 on the Hebrew calendar. This is also Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day. There will also be a partial solar eclipse seen in the northern countries, Canada, Alaska, Greenland, Iceland and other far north Asia. Northern Russia will get the best showing of this eclipse.

• In 1967, Israeli paratroopers completed their capture of the Old City of Jerusalem, restoring Jewish control of the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site. Soldiers danced, sang and cried at the Western Wall, the site of Jewish prayers for centuries. A plaza was cleared in front of the Wall, and one week later, tens of thousands of Jews swarmed to the site on the holiday of Shavuot (Pentecost). Iyar 28 is celebrated today as Yom Yerushalayim, commemorating the reunification of the Holy City, which has stood as the capital of the Jewish nation for 3,000 years.

June 15, 2011 will have a full lunar eclipse,  a blood red moon. The June 15 total lunar eclipse will be visible to observers in Africa, southern Asia, and Australia. (AAA?) It is said that this eclipse will be one of the darkest eclipses ever. It will be second only to the July 16, 2000 total lunar eclipse.

• On the Hebrew calendar this falls on Sivan 13. In 1948,  20 Jews were killed by a bombing of the Jewish Quarter in Cairo, Egypt. (In the coming months, more bombings in Cairo killed an additional 50 Jews.) In the period following Israel’s declaration of independence, anti-Jewish riots broke out across the Arab world. Jews were attacked and imprisoned, Jewish property was seized, and most of these centuries-old Jewish communities were forced to disband.

July 1, 2011 will see another partial solar eclipse. This eclipse will only be visible in the Antarctic.

• On the Hebrew calendar this falls on Sivan 29, 5771. On this date in 1312 BC, Moses sent 12 spies into the Promised Land. 40 days later they came back and 10 had an evil report, which the nation believed. This was Av 8, 1312. The next day was Av 9, which began a cycle of disastrous events for the nation. Two of the biggest disasters that happened on Av 9 (Tisha B’Av) were that both Solomon’s Temple ( 586 BC)  and Rebuilt Temple (70 AD) were destroyed on that very day.

November 25, 2011 will see the 4th partial solar eclipse of 2011. This will be seen in Antarctica, southern New Zealand and South Africa.

• This is Cheshvan 28 on the Hebrew calendar. On this day in 1949 Israel reached a population of 1 million. in 1882 the population of Israel (size of New Jersey) was 289,000. Today the population is 7,746,000. Look what the Lord has done.

December 10, 2011 will see the 2nd full lunar eclipse of 2011, a blood red moon.  This will be visible from Alaska, northern Canada, Australia, New Zealand, central Asia and eastern Asia. Viewers in most of North America and Hawaii will view the moon set still in eclipse, while those along the west coast of the United States and Canada will see the beginning of totality just as the moon disappears below the western horizon. The best view of the total lunar eclipse will be from central and eastern Asia. The eclipse will find the moon set between the horns of Taurus the Bull.

• This is Kislev 14 on the Hebrew calendar and  is considered to be Reuben’s birth date, the first son of Jacob.