| A2 The confusion in this period's [that of Noah and Shem] historical records was caused in part by the Earth undergoing a pole reversal seven days before the Flood. Tractate Sanhedrin 108b of the Talmud states, Seven days before the deluge, the Holy One changed the primeval order, and the sun rose in the west and set in the east. This reversal of the Sun's rising can only be explained by a pole reversal: Earth's North Pole flopped over the become its South Pole, and vice versa. Earth literally turned upside down. However, during the event Earth's rotation continued on in the same direction. A second witness of this pole reversal is found in Rosh Hashanah 11b of the Talmud, which indicates that the times of day of the rising and setting of the Pleiades were likewise reversed at the event of the Flood. A3 Remanent magnetism in ancient lava deposits tells that many such pole reversals have taken place in Earth's history. As lava flows harden, they preserve in their iron deposits a magnetic field that is aligned to the then-current field of the Earth. (This phenomenon also occurs in deposits of sediment.) Many of these remanent magnetic fields have been found that are polarized in the "wrong" direction. A4 In addition to this physical evidence, there are written and oral records from widely dispersed cultures that tell of four such pole reversals in historical times: -- The Greek historian Herodotus, writing in the 5th century BC, reported that Egyptian priests told him "the sun had within [their history] on four several occasions moved from his usual course, twice rising where he now sets, and twice setting where he now rises."* -- In the Muslim Koran, Sura LV similarly speaks of the "Lord of the two easts, and Lord of the two wests." -- Aztec, Hopi, Mayan, and other Native American peoples say there were four previous Worlds or Suns, each of which ended in a cataclysm. The famous Aztec Calendar Stone names the ending dates of these four Suns -- the days 4 Jaguar, 4 Wind, 4 Rain, and 4 Water -- and prophesies the end of our Fifth Sun/World on a day 4 Movement/Earthquake. It will be shown below that the Book of Jasher can supply the dates of the last two pole reversals, and approximate the dates of the first two. Velikovsky reports that Meso-Americans, Hebrews, and Egyptians even have names for west-rising Suns. He cites tales from many cultures around the world that describe the last pole reversal, which occurred very close to the time of the Exodus.** ------------------------------------------------------- [From Appendix F:] 1725 AM, 2nd month, 10th day: JD 888,523 Directed by God, Noah gathered together his wife, his three sons and their wives, and pairs "of all living creatures that were upon the earth," and took them into the ark. "And on that day, the Lord caused the whole earth to shake, and the sun darkened...and the whole earth was moved violently," etc, as the third historical reversal of Earth's poles took place. Gen. 7:1f.; Jash. 6:1f.; see A2,16. This was the latter part of a day 4 Rain, according to the 260-day Meso-American count. Meso-American tradition says that one of the four Worlds/Suns ended on a day 4 Rain. See A4. * Herodotus, HISTORY OF THE GREEK AND PERSIAN WAR; Rawlinson transl.; N.Y.: Twayne, 1963: 2:142. ** Immanuel Velikovsky, WORLDS IN COLLISION; N.Y.: MacMillan, 1950: ch. 5, "East and West," 105-25. |