Unleashing the Beast

M ORE S IGNS IN THE H EAVENS / 265

continued a whole year ... on the feast of unleavened bread on the eighth day of Nisan at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shown round about the altar and the holy house, that it appeared to be bright day time; which lasted for an hour ...At the same time a heifer, as she was led to sacrifice, brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple. Moreover, the eastern gate of the inner court of the temple, which was of brass, and vastly heavy, and rested upon a basis armed with iron, and had bolts fastened very deep into the first floor, which was made of entire stone, was seen to be opened of its own accord about the sixth hour of the night. Those who kept the Temple came running to the captain of the Temple, and told him of it: who then came up hither, and not without great difficulty, was able to shut the gate again (Josephus, Antiquities, War of the Jews ). These series of cosmic signs began occurring four years prior to the actual destruction of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple. The comet that passed through in the year A.D. 66 was believed to be Halley's comet. The most unusual cosmic sign was the "star that was shaped like a sword." Naturally this was interpreted as a sign of war with the Romans, and the eventual defeat of the Jewish revolt. The meaning of the "star shaped like a sword" has been a mystery until recently. During a meteorite shower in Italy in 1998, a