The Great Pyramid’s Connection with Bethlehem in the Holy Land

Joseph Seiss suggested that, if a straight line were drawn between the Great Pyramid in Egypt, and Jerusalem in Palestine, the angle at which this line would run north-eastward from the Pyramids latitude would be the same as the angle at which the passages in the Great Pyramid ascend and descend, 26° 18′ 10″.

This suggestion, however, he had no means of putting to accurate mathematical test. We ourselves deemed the ideal to be of sufficient importance to merit careful investigation; and we accordingly enlisted the services of two practical seafaring captains to work out this problem by the most approved method (the late Captain John Mackeague, Ex. M., of Glasgow, Scotland, and Captain William Orr Warden, Ex. M., now for some time Pilot-Master of Glasgow harbor and the river Clyde). Their calculations, since amply confirmed by other competent mathematicians, prove that, not Jerusalem, but more properly Bethlehem, lies in the direct angular course required by the theory. For Professor C. Piazzi Smyth, after careful astronomical observations on the very summit of the Great Pyramid, published the precise geographical position of that monument to be: Latitude 29° 58′ 51″ north of the equator, and Longitude 31° 09′ 00″ east of Greenwich. A straight line drawn north-eastward from the Pyramid at an angle of 26° 18′ 10″ (or, more accurately, 26° 18′ 9″ .7) to the above latitude will, therefore, according to Mercator’s projection, pass through Bethlehem, about 233 geographical miles distant, at Latitude 31° 42′ 04″ north, and Longitude 35° 12′ 12″ east, or through the south-east boundary of that city, in which part the Church of the Nativity is situated.

The Scriptures Connect Bethlehem with Egypt

This angle-connection of the center of Egypt’s sector-shaped land with Bethlehem we now see is more appropriate than if the line had run to Jerusalem; for in the Great Pyramid’s symbolical teaching the Descending Passage represents, not only the downward course of the human race into the death-state owing to Adam’s original sin of disobedience, but also the descent of Jesus from heaven to earth. And the Ascending Passage, being at the same angle upward as the Descending Passage is downward, represents our Lord’s subsequent ascension from earth to heaven; as we read: “He that descended, is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fulfill all things” (Eph 4:9, 10) . When Jesus descended to earth he was born as a Man-child in the city of Bethlehem; and from Bethlehem he was carried by Joseph and his mother Mary into Egypt to escape the fury of Herod. This, the Scriptures declare, was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet Hosea: “Out of Egypt have I called my son” (See Matthew, 2nd Chapter).

It is generally acknowledged that in Scriptural usage Canaan symbolizes heaven (the Promise Land), and Egypt the present evil world. Thus when Jesus was sent from Bethlehem into Egypt, it illustrates the heavenly Father sending His beloved Son from the glory of heaven into this world of sin and sorrow to be “perfected through sufferings,” and so become qualified to be installed as the Headstone of the Great Antitypical Pyramid of God’s glorious Plan of Salvation, of which the stone Pyramid in Egypt is the figure (See Acts 4:10-12).

The Pyramid-to-Bethlehem Distance and the Period of 2138 Years

Not only does the angle-line connection between Bethlehem and the Great Pyramid, Egypt’s center, agree with the passage-angle of the Pyramid, but the actual distance between these two places on the earth’s surface agrees most wonderfully with the period of years which elapsed between the date of the building of the Pyramid in Egypt, and the birth of the Man Christ Jesus in Bethlehem.

This interesting feature was suggested to us by Sir Charles W. F. Craufurd, Bart., of Ayrshire, Scotland. It’s actual solution he left to us, believing that with our more complete data, we might be able to convincingly prove the truth of his idea. Nor was he willing to set aside this idea, but over a long period he continued to lay it before us, hoping that ultimately a solution would be found. By the leading of the Lord, we are persuaded, we were enabled to solve the problem to the satisfaction of Sir Charles Craufurd and ourselves; and we are confident that all students will agree, when once they grasp the true significance of this feature, that no better way of indicating the dates of the building of the symbolical Great Pyramid, and the birth of the Man Christ Jesus 2138 years later, could well have been devised. And when later, in the 3rd volume of Great Pyramid Passages, we show the still further development of the Pyramid-to-Bethlehem line, proving that it embodies a large number of important scientific features, both connected with the Great Pyramid itself, and also with the earth and its rotation round the sun, etc., everyone who can claim to have their eyes open will admit that this line is the most wonderful and most important straight line on, literally, the face of the earth!

In the present small treatise we could not hope to do justice to the various features connected with the Pyramid-Bethlehem distance to which we refer above. We shall here, however, give the explanation of the problem we speak of, as well as an additional one, which is directly related to the subject-matter of this treatise.

The geographical mile-length, indicated in the direct distance between the Great Pyramid and Bethlehem, is found to be monumentalized in the dimensions of the Great Pyramid itself. For, twice the perimeter of the Pyramid’s square base at the level, of the leveled natural rock, is precisely one geographical mile. Because this mile-length is exactly contained in the base-measure of the Great Pyramid (and not in the base-measures of the other pyramids in Egypt, as none of them is large enough to contain it), we shall speak of it as the “Pyramid mile,” just as we speak of the Pyramid inch and the Pyramid cubit.

As Bethlehem is a city, and hence covers a greater area than the Pyramid, it follows that more than one straight-lined distance, within limits, connect these two locations. It is the recognition of this self-evident fact that makes it possible for the Pyramid-Bethlehem line to embody a number of different features with exactness. The calculations show that the limits of distance lie approximately between 2331 and 232¼ Pyramid miles.

A Pyramid mile contains 2917.467+ Pyramid cubits; or 6084.141+ British feet. This value for the length of the Pyramid mile, as indicated by the Great Pyramid’s Rock-level base, practically corroborates the estimated length of the presently accepted Standard Geographical Mile, being barely a foot and a half more: There is every reason to believe that, as in other scientific matters, the Great Pyramid presents the world with the accurate value of earth’s geographical mile.

NOTE: It was after our having discovered the Great Pyramid’s exact indication of the length of the geographical mile during our studies of the building’s various dimensions, that we noted Professor Flinders Petrie’s reference to the same feature. Professor Petrie, however, merely draws attention to the close agreement between his own estimated base-side lengths of the Pyramid to the Standard Geographical Mile, without pressing the investigation further to its logical conclusion. But it is interesting to find that this correspondence did not escape the astute observation of this eminent Egyptologist, even though he apprehended it in an approximate way only.

The precise period of years intervening between the dates of the erecting of the Great Pyramid, and the birth of the Man Christ Jesus in Bethlehem, Autumn of the year 2140 B.C. in the one case, and Autumn of the year 2 B.C. in the other, is 2138. Taking a direct distance between the Pyramid and Bethlehem of 233.266+ Pyramid miles, which is within the above-noted limits of distance, and converting these miles into Pyramid cubits, we find that the total number of cubits corresponds with the year-period by the following characteristic Pyramid method of calculating:

Regard the direct straight-lined distance as the diameter of a circle, and divide the circumference of the circle by an even, round, 1000. The result of this calculation yields precisely 2138, That is to say, every even 1000 Pyramid cubits measured round the circumference of the circle, of which the straight-line distance between the Pyramid and Bethlehem is the diameter, equals one solar tropical year, and there are precisely 2138 such 1000-cubit divisions of the circle. Or still another way of expressing this feature is to reckon that a small circle having a circumference of exactly a round 1000 cubits represents one year. If we placed a row of such small 1000-cubit circles side by side in a straight line, it would take exactly 2138 of them to reach from the Great Pyramid to Bethlehem. (The number 10 is the basic number of the Pyramid; and multiples of 10, and divisions of 10, are definite factors in the scientific dimensions of the building. The fact that an even 1000 [or 10 x 10 x 10] cubits represents in this feature one solar tropical year; is thoroughly characteristic of the Pyramid, as is also the very frequent use of the ratio pie, the ratio between a circle and its diameter.).”

Thus by two different methods we have confirmed the date for the erection of the Great Pyramid to be 2140 B.C. this work having most likely commenced some 30 years earlier in 2170 B.C.

Great Pyramid Passages (Its Scientific Features, Page 63-69)