# *AL:#1 CHRONOLOGY WEBPAGE

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Posted by Update... [Bibleman] on October 31, 1999 at 12:50:13 {MDPAlM8llYMRXA6xmpscslyACFuF8c}:

In Reply to: AL:#1 CHRONOLOGY WEBPAGE posted by A must ref.! on October 31, 1999 at 01:33:10:

Here's the critical technique for the VAT4956 and the SK400 to 529BCE. This is quick:

VAT4956
This document was designed to preserve one reference to the original chronology by providing multiple direct, absolute-dated references to the revised year 37 of Nebuchadnezzar which became 568BCE, and then hiding infrequent references to 511BCE, the original date.

This was done by finding similar astronomical phenomena between the revised chronology and the original chronology. During this period, the chronology was 57 years apart (568vs511), which means that the lunar position was almost identical every 19 years. That is, in the lunisolar calendar, every 19 years, the lunar date 19 years before matches up with the solar date. Thus, the 1st of Nisan would fall on the 1st of April every 19 years. 57 years is 3x19. So it was possible to hide the 511BCE references under the same date for 568BCE as 511BCE without much notice. It would appear as just a small error of one day or so.

So that's what they did, they provided several 511BCE observations in a text dated "Year 37 Nebuchadnezzar" in among several 568BCE dates, which was the revised chronology. The beauty and genius of this was that those who revised the chronology would gladly preserve and promote the VAT4956 text as absolute astronomical proof of the revised dating, not knowing all the while they were preserving secret references to the original chronology as well. Thus it has worked out since we have the original references.

So the chronologist simply asks why are there 511BCE references in a text dated "Year 37 Nebuchadnezzar" when all the other references fit 568BCE?

Answer: There was a conspiracy to revise the chronology and this text provides references to both dates, the revised date (568BCE) and the original date (511BCE).

Of course, dated to 511BCE the fall of Jerusalem occurs in 529BCE which is the Biblically correct date for that event based upon the Messiah's appearance in 29CE and the "70 weeks" prophecy beginning when the Jews first returned from Babylon to rebuild their city in the 1st of Cyrus.

Again, please note this document is a key document in the absolute-dating of this period. Carl Olof Jonsson who writes extensively about the astronomical dating for this period calls this text "the most important" of all.

The 511BCE referenes are found in Lines 3 and 18 of the VAT4956.

Strm. Kambyses 400
This another important text because the WTS quotes from this text to try to establish the 7th year od Kambyses in 523BCE. Indeed, there are absolute astronomical events dated "Year 7" for 523BCE. But the two eclipses they mention in their "Insight" volume, do not fit 523BCE, but 541BCE. Thus they misrepresent this astronomical text as being dated in that year.

Here's their reference from the "Insight" volume:

> *** it-1 453 Chronology ***
> A Babylonian clay tablet is helpful for connecting Babylonian chronology with Biblical chronology. This tablet contains the following astronomical information for the seventh year of Cambyses II son of Cyrus II: “Year 7, Tammuz, night of the 14th, 1 2/3 double hours [three hours and twenty minutes] after night came, a lunar eclipse; visible in its full course; it reached over the northern half disc [of the moon]. Tebet, night of the 14th, two and a half double hours [five hours] at night before morning [in the latter part of the night], the disc of the moon was eclipsed; the whole course visible; over the southern and northern part the eclipse reached.” (Inschriften von Cambyses, König von Babylon, by J. N. Strassmaier, Leipzig, 1890, No. 400, lines 45-48; Sternkunde und Sterndienst in Babel, by F. X. Kugler, Münster, 1907, Vol. I, pp. 70, 71) These two lunar eclipses can evidently be identified with the lunar eclipses that were visible at Babylon on July 16, 523 B.C.E., and on January 10, 522 B.C.E. (Oppolzer’s Canon of Eclipses, translated by O. Gingerich, 1962, p. 335) Thus, this tablet establishes the seventh year of Cambyses II as beginning in the spring of 523 B.C.E. This is an astronomically confirmed date.

Please note they say "evidently" this is a match. That's because there is no way using an astronomical lunar eclipse canon can you match both of these eclipses to 523BCE and they know it! They looked it up and both eclipses didn't match, so they figure "evidently" it is a match since they figure there is no other choice. But there is no true match. And that is because the eclipse interval between them is too great. In 523BCE it is 4:46 (4 hours 46 minutes).

Here's the correct breakdown of the interval based upon the text itself.

What we must do is simply subtract the total amount of time given in the text for the eclipses from the total amount of "night" for this period.
The total time of night averages out to 12 hours generally. But the exact timing for these dates which shows the sunset on Tammuz 14 to be 7:09 p.m. and sunrise on Tebet 14 (six months later) to be 7:19 a.m., shows that the precise timing for the night hours, sunrise to sunset, is 12 hours 10 minutes.

Now for the eclipses. Note the eclipses are not times from sunset or sunrise but from "after night came" (Tammuz 14) and "night before morning." This represents a 32-minute offset from sunrise and sunset. We know this from other records because the Tammuz 14 eclipse is stated to have occurred one hour before Midnight at Babylon. How do we get 32 minutes? Simple.

The Tammuz 14 eclipse was 3:20 after "night" began. Sunset was at 7:09 p.m. thus adding 3:20 from 7:09 would give us 10:29 p.m. 10:29 p.m. is 31 minutes short of 11:00 p.m. Since the Babylonians usually calculated everything in terms of degrees, which is every 4 minutes, it is assumed the interval was 32 minutes.

Thus when you add 3:20 +7:09 to get 10:29 and then add 32 minutes, you get the approximate time of the eclipse at 11:00 p.m.

We do the same for the Tebet 14 eclipse. That is, we count 5 hours prior to sunrise at 7:19 a.m. plus 32 minutes.

CALCULATING THE INTERVAL:
In simpler terms, therefore, to calculate the appropriate interval per the text, we add 3:20 and 5:00 to get 8:20, plus 64 minutes (1:04) to get a total time of 9:24. We subtract this from our 12:10 (12 hours 10 minutes) to get our target adjusted interval which is 2:46.

(12:10=11:70 - 9:24 = 2:46).

2:46, of course, is far to small an interval for 523BCE. But if you search for the specifics of these eclipses over a 100-year period from 500 to 600 BCE only one year fits! And this is specific!
You need a partial eclipse at 50% followed by a total eclipse, falling on Tammuz 14 and Teb 14, which has an eclipse interval of within 2:40 to 2:50.

There is only one year that fits this in 100 years and only one year that fits this in 1000 years, and that year is 18 years earlier than 523BCE, which is 541BCE.

So what is the significance of "year 7" in 541BCE?

If we apply this to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, we again discover a reference to his 19th year in 529BCE. Thus the second astronomical text with 1)double dating, proving a conspiracy, and 2) original chronology reference to the same dating for the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, proving this to be a hidden reference to the original chronology.

SUMMARY:
The VAT4956 and the SK400, the two most critical documents which are used to absolute-date the Neo-Babylonian period, upon research intensive research, have been discovered to be "cover" documents for the original chronology and via these documents we have direct references to the original chronology which dates the 19th year of Jerusalem (both of them!) to 529BCE. Of course, this totally agrees with the Bible's dating of the fall of Jersualem in that very same year.

So there is no recovery of the 587BCE or 607BCE chronology at this point. All the critical references have turned on them and these two documents are now in my back pocket! I'm wearing designer jeans with extra big back pockets I got on sale for FIVE TWENTY-NINE ($5.29)!!

The chronology debate is thus officially over. The official date for the fall of Jerusalem is 529BCE.

Sorry.

Know this.

Cheers,
Bibleman

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