Cupbearers
And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the commandment of the LORD, and died there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the first day of the fifth month.
Numbers 33:38
We have it on record that Aaron, the high priest and Moses' brother, passed away on the fifth month of the fortieth year. Remember, forty years the people wandered in the desert for their lack of faith in the Lord and for the spies' report. In short, you could have characterized Aaron as a good religious ruler of the people and faithful to his brother. Then too he left in a similar fashion, much as did his brother. Both climbed to the tops of the mountains and were not to be found at the end of their lives.
And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, which was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,
2 Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.
Jeremiah 28:1-2
Remember from before the king of Judah Zedekiah who was appointed regent over the remainder of the people at the hands of Babylon. Here we see that Hananiah was the appointed prophet of the Lord during that time. Now you might not understand how God has broken the yoke of Babylon just yet. Surely that kingdom has existed in various domains and forms down throughout the years. Yet it is a very good thing that God has numbered their days and brought them to an end. An ill-advised yoke of a king that burdens the people is a very bad thing indeed.
And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem:
9 And he burnt the house of the LORD, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man's house burnt he with fire.
2 Kings 25:8-9
Just as prophesied before, the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar of the Chaldeans, showed up. His own personal servants were responsible for torching the house of all great and small including that of the Lord. Surely judgement must first begin at the house of the Lord especially when an issue has affected a nation such as this.
And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to enquire of the LORD, and sat before me.
Ezekiel 20:1
Ezekiel, if you remember, was in the land of the Chaldees rather early on. His timeline runs almost parallel to that of the Babylonian captivity, almost side by side. At least, it does at first. The elders of Israel came with him in this month to inquire of the Lord.
And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.
Nehemiah 2:1
Nehemiah, it seems, was the king's cupbearer all the way back in the province of Babylon. Well, technically it wasn't Babylon anymore but rather the domain of the Medes and the Persians of which Artaxerxes was the king. Back in that day the cupbearer was responsible for bringing the wine to the king or anything else set before him. The cupbearer also taste tests everything himself to make sure it was not by any chance poisoned. Thus, the cupbearer functioned sort of as a bodyguard and protected the life of the king. The issue here with Nehemiah is that he wants to return home with his people, all the way back to the land of their people. This request, as it turns out, the king would soon grant, allowing for the rebuilding of Jerusalem.
And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, unto Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.
8 And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.
Ezra 7:7-8
More people went back under Ezra who also led them back home to their land. The text makes it clear that these are of the Judean regions spoken of before in the text. The priests and the Levites are a directly Judean branch, belonging to the houses of worship. Now there is just the matter of a certain star shape left. If I look at it directly, it looks rather like a cup if viewed from a nonlinear fashion, say from space.
Nisan (5th) - February, Aquarius, the cup