The Witness of the Stars

E.W. Bullinger wrote a book in 1893 called "The Witness to the Stars". In it he discusses the signs of the stars coinciding with the birth of Christ. I thought it was interesting and wanted to share it with you. Mind you, I didn't type all of this. I copied it from another website. So here it is. Sorry in advance for the long post. If this interests you there is more info at E.W. Bullinger

1. Virgo (the Virgin)
Here is the commencement of all prophecy in Genesis 3:15, spoken to the serpent: "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel." This is the prophetic announcement which the Revelation in the heavens and in the Book is designed to unfold and develop. It lies at the root of all the ancient traditions and mythologies, which are simply the perversion and corruption of primitive truth.


VIRGO is represented as a woman with a branch in her right hand, and some ears of corn in her left hand. Thus giving a two-fold testimony of the Coming One.
The name of this sign in the Hebrew is Bethulah, which means a virgin, and in the Arabic a branch. The two words are connected, as in Latin--Virgo, which means a virgin; and virga, which means a branch (Vulg. Isa 11:1). Another name is Sunbul, Arabic, an ear of corn.

In Genesis 3:15 she is presented only as a woman; but in later prophecies her nationality is defined as being of the stock of Israel, the seed of Abraham, the line of David; and, further, she is to be a virgin. There are two prominent prophecies of her and her seed: one is connected with the first coming in incarnation, Isaiah 7:14 (quoted in Matthew 1:23).

"Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, And shall call his name Immanuel."
The other is connected with His second coming, leaping over the sufferings and this present interval of His rejection, and looking forward to His coming in glory and judgment, Isaiah 9:6, 7 (quoted in Luke 2:11 and 1 :32, 33).

"For unto us a child is born, Unto us a son is given; * And the government shall be upon His shoulder; And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, To order it, and to establish it With judgment and with justice From henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this."

* Here, the fact of His humiliation, together with this long period of His rejection, is leaped over, and the prophecy passes on at once--over at least a period of 1893 years--to this "glory which should follow."
It is difficult to separate the Virgin and her Seed in the prophecy; and so, here, we have first the sign VIRGO, where the name points to her as the prominent subject; while in the first of the three constellations of this sign, where the woman appears again, the name COMA points to the child as the great subject.
Virgo contains 110 stars, viz., one of the 1st magnitude, six of the 3rd, ten of the 4th, etc.
ARATUS thus sings of them:

"Beneath Bootes feet the Virgin seek, Who carries in her hand a glittering spike. Over her shoulder there revolves a star In the right wing, superlatively bright; It rolls beneath the tail, and may compare With the bright stars that deck the Greater Bear. Upon her sholder one bright star is borne, One clasps the circling girdle of her loins, One at her bending knee; and in her hand Glitters that bright and golden Ear of Corn.
Thus the brightest star in VIRGO (a) * has an ancient name, handed down to us in all the star-maps, in which the Hebrew word Tsemech is preserved. It is called in Arabic Al Zimach, which means the branch. This star is in the ear of corn which she holds in her left hand. Hence the star has a modern Latin name, which has almost superseded the ancient one, Spica, which means, an ear of corn. But this hides the great truth revealed by its name Al Zimach. It foretold the coming of Him who should bear this name. The same Divine inspiration has, in the written Word, four times connected it with Him. There are twenty Hebrew words translated "Branch," but only one of them (Tsemech) is used exclusively of the Messiah, and this word only four times (Jer 33:15 being only a repetition of Jer 23:5). Each of these further connects Him with one special account of Him, given in the Gospels.

* The stars are known by Greek letters and sometimes by numbers, &c. Alpha (a) denotes a star of the first magnitude; Beta (b), the second, and so on. This plan was originated by Bayer in his Uranometria, 1603. The star Alpha, as seen in the New Great Equatorial Telescope recently set up at Greenwich, is now discovered to be really a double star, though it had hitherto always appeared to be one.

(1) Jeremiah 23:5 --"Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, That I will raise unto David a righteous BRANCH (i.e., a Son), And a KING shall reign and prosper." The account of His coming as King is written in the Gospel according to Matthew, where Jehovah says to Israel, "Behold thy KING." (Zech 9:9; Matt 21:9)

(2) Zechariah 3:8--"Behold I will bring forth my SERVANT the BRANCH." In the Gospel according to Mark we find the record of Jehovah's servant and His service, and we hear Jehovah's voice saying, "Behold my SERVANT." (Isa 42:1)

(3) Zechariah 6:12--"Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the MAN whose name is the BRANCH." In the Gospel according to Luke we behold Him, presented in "the MAN Christ Jesus."

(4) Isaiah 4:2--"In that day shall the BRANCH of JEHOVAH be beautiful and glorious." So that this Branch, this Son, is Jehovah Himself; and as we read the record of John we hear the voice from heaven saying, "Behold your GOD." (Isa 40:9)

This is the Branch foretold by the star Al Zimach in the ear of corn.
The star b is called Zavijaveh, which means the gloriously beautiful, as in Isaiah 4:2. The star e, in the arm bearing the branch, is called Al Mureddin, which means who shall come down (as in Psa 72:8), or who shall have dominion. It is also known as Vindemiatrix, a Chaldee word which means the son, or branch, who cometh.

Other names of stars in the sign, are--
Subilah, who carries. (Isa 46:4) Al Azal, the Branch. (As in Isa 18:5) Subilon, a spike of corn. (As in Isa 17:5)
The Greeks, ignorant of the Divine origin and teaching of the sign, represented Virgo as Ceres, with ears of corn in her hand.

In the Zodiac in the Temple of Denderah, in Egypt, about 2000 BC (now in Paris), she is likewise represented with a branch in her hand, but ignorantly explained by a false religion to represent Isis! Her name is called Aspolia, which means ears of corn, or the seed, which shows that though the woman is seen, it is her Seed who is the great subject of the prophecy.

Passing to the three constellations anciently assigned to the sign VIRGO, we come to what may be compared to three sections of the chapter, each giving some further detail as to the interpretation of its teaching.

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