Josephus Antiquities Book 3, Chapter 6, 7. “Over against this table, near the southern wall, was set a candlestick of cast gold, hollow within, being of the weight of one hundred pounds, which the Hebrews call Chinchares ,. if it be turned into the Greek language, it denotes a talent. 

It was' made with its knops, and lilies, and pomegranates, and bowls (which ornaments amounted to seventy in all); by which means the shaft elevated itself on high from a single base, and spread itself into as many branches as there are planets, including the sun among them. It terminated in seven heads, in one row, all standing parallel to one another; and these branches carried seven lamps, one by one, in imitation of the number of the planets. These lamps looked to the east and to the south, the candlestick being situate obliquely.”

 

Josephus doesn’t mention the names of the planets and the earth is not a planet since it does not wander around the heavens as the word implies.  jfh

 

1. Moon

2. Mercury

3. Venus

4. Sun       eternal flame used to light the other six candlesticks

5. Mars

6. Jupiter

7. Saturn

 

These you can see with the naked eye.  The third heaven was above these called Paradise.  The Planet Jupiter calculates time not only from the birth of Jesus but from the time that Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden at the beginning of the 8th Day of a thousand years.  Jupiter has a periodicy of 12 years.  Jesus was born in 3996 AM / 4 BC probably on Rosh Hashanah in the fall of the year and conceived on Hanakkah in 3995 AM / 5 BC as the prophet Haggai said he would bless us.  So, Jupiter was the Bethlehem Star and not a nova that winked.

 

The Star Sirius in the constellation Canis Major calculates years with the heliacal rising with the Sun, the revolving of the Earth in 24 hours calculates days.

 

Isaiah 40:22, 26 “It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in:” “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who has created these things, that brings out their host by number: he calls them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one fails.”

 

Psalm 19:1-6 “To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.

    The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handy work. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them has he set a tabernacle/ecliptic or path for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.”

 

Job 26:7 “He stretches out the north over the empty place, and hangs the earth upon nothing.”

 

The earth is the hub of the Universe.  The Sun is the center of the planets.  The constellations circle the outer limits and God’s Paradise is above it all, in it all as He created it all. jfh