| 
The
Exodus account includes detailed patterns which testify of its precise
date and that Jesus Christ was the Messiah whom Moses typified.
|
Moses
infuriated at idolatry. |
The date of the
exodus of the Israelites from Egypt at the time of Moses has been
a subject of uncertainty and controversy for centuries. The Bible
indicates that it was about 1400-1500 BC but many modern scholars
have placed it about 1200 BC based on Egyptian chronology. Thus, even
the century in which it occurred has been uncertain.
This article
continues the chronology begun in the last three of this series[1],
employing sacred calendars to pinpoint the date of the Exodus to
the very day. Sacred patterns are then used to witness that this
date is correct. More importantly, however, those patterns testify
that Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah including symbolism even
of his birth date. In order to understand the significance of those
patterns, let us briefly review the order and timing of events of
the Exodus.
The
Exodus from Egypt
Some
time before the birth of Abraham's sons the Lord gave him the land
of Canaan for an inheritance for his descendants. When Abraham became
concerned that he still had no children, the Lord explained that
this would all take time. Abraham was told his descendants would
spend 400 years in servitude in another country, and that only then,
when the iniquity of the local Canaanites was full, would his descendants
return in the fourth generation to possess the land (Gen. 15:13-16).
When Abraham's
grandson Jacob, who was renamed Israel, was 130 years old, he took
his 70 descendants to Egypt to survive a famine. They included his
son Levi, and Levi's son Kohath (Gen. 46:4,11). At first they lived
in peace, but later the Israelites found themselves in bondage.
After an unspecified amount of time, Kohath's grandson Moses (Ex.
6:18-20) was called by the Lord to deliver the Israelites. When
Moses was 80, he went with his brother Aaron to plead with Pharaoh
for the freedom of the Israelites (Ex. 7:7). When Pharaoh repeatedly
refused, Egypt was plagued many times by the Lord, culminating with
the deaths of all the firstborn of Egypt on the night of the first
Passover. The next day about two million Israelites left with the
spoils of Egypt, exactly 430 years to the very day since the sojourn
of Israel had begun (Ex. 12:40-41). Three days after that Exodus,
the Pharaoh reconsidered and led his army to bring them back. The
escapees were overtaken at the Red Sea, which was divided by a great
wind all night at the command of Moses. The Israelites crossed the
sea safely the next day on dry land, but the Egyptians were drowned
when they pursued, as the waters closed over them.
|
Moses
changes his staff to a serpent. |
Exactly one month
after they left, they arrived at the wilderness of Sin and were out
of food (Ex. 16:1). Beginning the next day, the Lord provided manna,
a miraculous food which appeared on the ground each morning for six
days, with a double portion on the sixth and then none appearing on
the seventh, when they were commanded to rest. That proof of God's
providing for them continued for forty years, so that the rising generation
had a weekly reminder of the existence of God (Ex. 16:35).
On the first day of the next month they reached
the foot of Mr. Sinai (Ex. 19:1). The Lord soon commanded Moses
to have all the people prepare for two days so that they could see
the cloud descend onto the mount and hear his voice for themselves
(Ex. 19:6). They did so and on the morning of the third day, there
was thunder and lightning, fire and smoke, and they heard the terrifying
voice of a trumpet give a long and loud blast. Then they all heard
the voice of God revealing the Ten Commandments, a covenant between
Israel and God (Deut. 4:12-13, 5:2-22). The people all accepted
with one voice the words of the Lord as a covenant and Moses set
up twelve pillars, sacrificed animals, and sprinkled the "blood
of the covenant" onto the people so they could never forget the
importance of the Ten Commandments (Ex. 24:3-8). Then seventy of
the elders of Israel ascended the mount with Moses and Aaron and
were allowed to actually see God (Ex. 24:9-12).
|
Israel
breaks their covenant. |
After everyone
heard the terrifying voice of God, they feared death if the were to
hear or see more. They asked Moses to return to the mountain to get
more laws, which they promised in advance that they would obey (Deut.
5:27). The dark cloud continued to cover the mountain top for six
days, and on the seventh God called Moses up the mountain where he
remained forty days (Ex. 24:16 18). During that time the people feared
he had died, somehow forgot their covenant, and convinced Aaron to
make a golden calf to worship. On the mountain, God gave Moses many
laws, including detailed instructions on how to build a tabernacle
and to perform priestly ordinances. At the end of forty days, God
presented Moses with two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments engraved
on them by his own hand (Ex. 31:18, Deut. 5:22). When Moses descended
down the mountain and saw that the people had so quickly broken their
covenant by worshipping an idol of gold, he broke the tablets, destroyed
the calf, and had all those who would stand with the Lord slay some
three thousand of those who would not. Then he had the people reconsecrate
themselves to the Lord.
The next day
(Ex. 32:30) Moses ascended the mount again to plead for forgiveness
for his people. The Lord accepted his petition and at the end of
forty more days on the mount told him to descend the mount and to
return the very next day with two blank stone tablets and a box
to protect them (Ex. 34:1-3, Deut. 9:18). This Moses did, and the
Lord again wrote the Ten Commandments on the tablets (Deut. 10:1-4).
Moses stayed on the mount another forty days (Deut. 10:10), during
which he received more laws. When he descended, his face glowed
so brightly that it was covered as a courtesy to onlookers (Ex.
34:28-35).
The next five
months were spent building the tabernacle as instructed. On the
eighth day after the high priest Aaron had donned his garments,
the tabernacle was raised on the first day (1 Nisan) of the next
year (Ex. 40:2,17; Jasher 83:1-4).
Late in the
following summer, when they approached the land of their inheritance,
12 men were sent to spy out the land. After forty days they returned,
with ten of them concluding that even God could not overcome the
opposing forces. In response, the Lord then decreed that the host
were condemned to spend forty years in the wilderness, one year
for each day of their trip, until everyone except the two who brought
a good report had died off (Num. 14:29-35).
Very little
is recorded about the next 38 years (Deut. 2:14), but then the record
goes into detail about the entire 40th and last year in the wilderness.
Events that year included smiting the rock to bring forth water
when Moses forgot to give the Lord credit (Num. 20:2-13), the brazen
serpent on the pole (Num. 21:4-9), the prophecy of Balaam (Num.
22-24), the writing of the Book of Deuteronomy (Deut. 1:3), and
the translation of Moses at age 120 (Deut. 34:5-8).[2]
The forty years
expired almost immediately after the loss of Moses was mourned for
a month (Deut. 34:8). Joshua then led the children of Israel into
the promised land. It was done miraculously when he parted the Jordan
River waters and they passed over into Canaan on the day 10 Nisan,
being the first month of the 41st year of the Exodus (Josh. 4:19).
On that same day, all the men were circumcised (Josh. 5:2-9). Then
they kept the Passover and on the following morning the manna ceased
(Josh. 5:10-12).
Dating
the Exodus
When did all of
these wonderful events happen? The traditional methods of dating have
left an uncertainty of about three centuries, from 1500 - 1200 BC.
How could the spread of possible dates be so vast? It is because researchers
assign very different confidence levels to different sources. Before
proceeding to my proposed dating method, let us briefly review the
traditional methods.
Traditional
Dating Methods
There are four
principal methods to date the Exodus, none of which claims to be precise.
Three methods are based on trusting in the Biblical account, and the
fourth is to use Egyptian chronology. Let us look briefly at each.
400-year
Bondage. The Lord told Abraham that his descendants would be
in bondage 400 years (Gen. 15:13-16). Using that statement to date
the Exodus requires knowing when Abraham lived (we saw the 60-year
uncertainty in last month's article), on knowing if the Lord meant
exactly 400 years or about four centuries, and on
knowing the beginning point. The obvious starting point is when
Jacob (Israel) entered Egypt, but that has serious problems. Moses
is the grandson of Kohath, who entered Egypt with Jacob. How could
one man and his grandson's life span 400 years? These people all
lived over a century, but one can only stretch the numbers so far.
Kohath lived 133 years, his son Amram lived 137 years, and his son
Moses was 80 at the time of the Exodus (Ex. 6:18, 20; 7:7). If both
Amram and Moses were born when their fathers died, there are only
a maximum of 350 years (133 + 137 + 80) available for the Egyptian
bondage.
Thus, there
is no researcher today known to me who believes the bondage literally
lasted 400 years.[3]
One solution is to try to find an earlier point to start reckoning
from. Perhaps the most popular choice is to start when Abraham left
Haran at age 75 (Gen. 12:1-4). That requires really stretching what
the Lord said because Abraham had the vision several years after
he left, and he was not in bondage, nor was his son Isaac. It was
215 years from when Abraham was 75 until Jacob was 130, his age
at entering Egypt, so that would cut the stay in Egypt to 185 years.
But 185 years
is too short a time because when the Israelites left they counted
over 600,000 adult men (Num. 1:46). Allowing for women and children,
we'd expect that to mean about 2,000,000 people. They only had 70
when they entered (Gen. 46:27), so now the problem is that the growth
rate seems impossibly large.
A more typical
solution is to choose the birth of Isaac as the starting point of
the bondage, which results in a 210-year stay in Egypt. That is
adopted in the Book of Jasher (Jasher 81:3). That implies a 5% population
growth rate per year, which is much higher than today's maximum
of 3.5% found in Arab countries, but it is not inconceivable.[4]
But now the problem is that we have juggled the years so much to
get a reasonable answer that we've totally ignored what the Lord
told Abraham.
430-year
Sojourn. A more promising scripture is one that tries to communicate
something very precise about the date of the Exodus. The Exodus
was 430 years to the very day from the beginning of the sojourn
of Israel (Ex. 12:41-42), whatever that means. We've already seen
that even 400 years is too long for the sojourn in Egypt, but fortunately
some versions of the Bible say the sojourn refers to both the stay
in Canaan and Egypt.[5]
Now the question is, where is the starting point? The quick answer
is to note that the 215 years from Abraham's entering Canaan to
Israel entering Egypt equals just half of 430. Thus, one can conclude
that there were 215 years in Canaan and 215 years in Egypt. That
was a popular interpretation at the time of Christ, and was implied
by the apostle Paul (Gal. 3:16-19), and explicitly stated by the
ancient Jewish historian Josephus: "They left Egypt ... 430 years
after our forefather Abraham came into Canaan, but 215 years only
after Jacob removed into Egypt."[6]
Thus, again reasonable numbers have been obtained by ignoring what
the scripture said, which mentioned nothing at all about Abraham.
|
High
Priest in his sacred garments. |
Temple in 480th
year. The Bible states that King Solomon began to build the temple
in the 480th year of the Exodus (1 Kings 6:1). So one approach is
to work backward from the time of the kings of Judah and Israel. That
is what is done in most Bible chronologies which place the beginning
of the temple in 1012 BC and the Exodus 479 years earlier in 1491
BC. This is probably the best traditional dating method because it
doesn't make unwarranted assumptions about starting points of ambiguous
prophecies. On the other hand, it is fraught with uncertainties in
the dates of the kings which were calculated backwards from the well-established
fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. But as can be seen from the "Revised
Chronology" in the L.D.S. Bible Dictionary under "Chronology", there
is at least a 22-year difference between different options. If correct,
the Revised Chronology would move the Exodus up to 1469 BC. But if
the uncertainty is only a decade or so, most people would feel that
was adequate accuracy.
Egyptian
Chronology. Another approach is to trust other chronologies
more than the Bible, especially those of Egypt. It has been very
difficult to find any description of the plagues of Egypt in a time
period that has seemed acceptable and many scholars have concluded
that the Exodus occurred about 1200 BC. There is little reason to
believe Egyptian chronology because it is based on lists of kings
rather then recorded astronomical observations. Moreover, it is
strongly suspect because it places the founding of Egypt before
3000 BC and the evidence for the Great Flood occurring in 2343 BC
is now compelling. If Egypt was founded after the Flood (Abr. 1:23-25),
then those dates are indeed off by centuries. In any case, the ages
in Egypt are in such chaos that it's not worthwhile to seek for
a firm foundation there. The Bible is much more accurate.
The Exodus
Date
Of the four traditional
dating methods, I pick the 430-year interval for the reason that we
have seen in the last articles that 430 years is a Venus realignment
cycle with the Hebrew Calendar, accurate to the very day, just as
Exodus claims.
Now the question
is, what was the starting point of the interval? We have seen that
it cannot be the time that Israel entered Egypt because they couldn't
have been in Egypt more than 350 years. Let us read exactly what
the scripture states, and look for a hidden meaning:
Now
the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was
four hundred and thirty years.
And
it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years,
even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the
LORD went out from the land of Egypt. (Ex. 12:40-41)
What if the meaning
is, "Now when Israel and his descendants had lived four hundred and
thirty years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out
from the land of Egypt." In other words, it is telling us that the
day on which they left Egypt was Jacob's 430th birthday. Others have
suggested that Jacob's birth is the right date to reckon from, without
realizing that the verse actually is indicating to do just that.[7]
The birth of
Jacob is a perfect starting place, because we saw in last month's
article that it was on Passover, and also on 1 Birth on the Venus
calendar, a unique date in history. Reckoning exactly 430 Hebrew
years later brings us to Thu 9 Apr 1462 BC as the (Passover) date
of the Exodus. As we shall see there is much supporting evidence
that that is the correct date.
|
Moses
parting the Red Sea. |
Parting the
Red Sea
And what about
the Venus cycle? When does the day 1 Birth fall, and is it a holy
day on the Hebrew calendar? We have seen that such only occurs rarely,
but that it is possible. In this case, the day 1 Birth falls on Tue
14 Apr 1462 BC, the evening of which begins the Last Day of Passover
on the Hebrew Calendar. According to Hebrew tradition, that is the
holy day on which the wind blew all night, parting the Red Sea. So
here we have a double bulls-eye: the 430 years to the very day brings
us to the Exodus, and the Venus calendar brings us to the parting
of the Red Sea. Thus, let us propose that the Exodus occurred on Thu
9 Apr 1462 BC and that the wind parted the Red Sea on Tue 14 Apr 1462
BC pm*, where pm* refers to the last 6 hours of the day.
How can we know
if these dates are correct? The Lord has assured us that he will
always provide patterns so that we may know the truth of all things
(D&C 52:14). Let us now look at several patterns which are explicitly
stated in the Biblical account which testify that this date is correct.
Patterns
of Proof
The account of
the Exodus is replete with so many patterns that only the correct
date will fit all of the patterns. Let us look at several of these.
Sabbath Pattern
Perhaps the strongest
calendrical pattern the Lord really emphasized in this account is
that of the 7 day sabbath cycle. He was introducing the Israelites
to the concept of working for 6 days and resting on the seventh. He
used one incredibly strong teaching technique, which would serve to
bring up an entire generation for 40 years with a weekly miraculous
proof the there is a God. If he were still doing this today, there
would be very few atheists. He sent down a daily ration of bread from
heaven each day for six straight days from Sunday to Friday, which
a double dose on Friday, and then none on Saturdays. If they tried
to store that "manna" even for one day, it would rot, except that
it never rotted on the Saturday sabbath. Try explaining that away
as an anomalous weather pattern. If you actually saw that happen for
forty years straight, and then have it cease as soon as you entered
the promised land, you would have a sure knowledge that there was
a God watching over you. Now let us look at how the pattern fits into
the story.
Thursday Exodus. One result of the pattern is the Exodus
must have occurred on a Thursday. That is because the manna
first appeared 31 days after the Exodus, and it must have begun
on a Sunday because it began the 7-day cycle. Counting back 31 days
from a Sunday results in a Thursday. Thus, 1462 BC qualifies as
a possible Exodus year because Passover occurred on a Thursday that
year.
|
The
bread from heaven symbolized Christ. |
Manna, Christ
and Easter. The Savior made it clear that he is the bread of life,
and that manna symbolized his coming down from heaven (John 6:48-51).
Thus, we might expect the pattern that the day on which the manna
began and ended might symbolize Christ's birth and resurrection, respectively.
We are told both manna dates precisely. In this proposed series of
dates, the manna began on the day 16 Iyar (second month) on the Hebrew
calendar which was Sun 10 May 1462 BC. That day was also Easter Sunday
on the Enoch Fixed calendar. That is also the day associated with
the birth of Christ on that calendar because it was the day on which
he was taken to the temple on the fortieth day after his birth. Moreover,
that morning was the beginning of the priest cycle of 168 days.
The day on which
the manna stopped was the day after Passover after they had entered
the promised land. That was Easter Sunday on the Hebrew Calendar
(and our calendar), the day of the waving of the shear offering.
That day, Sun 18 Apr 1422 BC, was also the same day on the priest
cycle on which the Savior resurrected. Thus, there is a double witness
of Easters and of the priest cycle that the manna symbolized Jesus
Christ and that these dates are correct.
Ten Commandments
on Firstfruits Sunday. There are two indications that the Ten
Commandments were given on a Sunday. First, the Lord told the Israelites
to prepare for two days and on the morning of the third day a long
blast on the trump would herald the coming of the Lord. That is
very reminiscent of the many times the Savior said he would rise
on the third day from his death. As has been extensively shown in
my articles, the Savior died on Friday and resurrected on Sunday
morning. Moreover, the long and loud blast on the trump is associated
with the resurrection (D&C 29:13, 88:94-97). Thus we might expect
that the morning of the third day was a Sunday morning. The other
indication that it was a Sunday is that Mt.Sinai was enveloped in
smoke and clouds for six days beginning on the day of the Ten Commandments.
Then it cleared and Moses was called up into the mountain on the
seventh day. Again, six days of darkness followed by a sacred call
on the seventh sounds a lot like a week.
Thus, it is
proposed that the Ten Commandments were given on the morning of
the Sunday after the arrival at Mount Sinai. That day was Sun 31
May 1462 BC, being Firstfruits on the Hebrew calendar. Even the
fact that the Bible explicitly states that it was in the morning
was important, because that part of the day coincided with the Priestly
day of 1 Seorim, which name means "grain" and which corresponds
to the offering of the wheat at Firstfruits, also known as Pentecost.
As a confirming witness, note that on the Day of Pentecost after
the Savior's Resurrection, the priest from this same course was
presiding.[8]
Firstfruits
Always on Sunday. Firstfruits, also known as Pentecost or the
Feast of Weeks, is always held exactly seven weeks after the Sheaf
Offering or Waving of the Sheaf (Lev. 23:15 17). There is an apparent
ambiguity in the scriptural instructions of just when to hold the
Sheaf Offering, which in turn leads to the same uncertainty in the
date of Firstfruits. At the time of Christ the Pharisees always
held the Sheaf Offering on the second day of Passover (16 Nisan),
and hence Firstfruits seven weeks later on 6 Sivan. But the Sadducees
held the Sheaf Offering on the Sunday morning after Passover (15
Nisan), so it fell some time from 16-22 Nisan. Accordingly, Firstfruits
for the Sadducees was always on the Sunday from 6-12 Sivan.
In my first
articles, I had no clue which of the two interpretations was right,
because the Savior's resurrection fell on a day when both were correct:
Sun 3 Apr AD 33 was both a Sunday and also 16 Nisan.[9]
This is the first historical date which clearly shows which of the
two interpretations is correct because Firstfruits clearly fell
on a Sunday, but it was not 6 Sivan, but rather 8 Sivan. Accordingly,
it follows that the Sadducees had the correct interpretation: both
the Sheaf Offering and Firstfruits are to be celebrated on Sunday.
That differs from the modern Hebrew calendar, which followed the
tradition of the Pharisees that Firstfruits is always on 6 Sivan.
Hebrew Easter.
Henceforth my articles shall refer to the Sheaf Offering as the
"Hebrew Easter" for several reasons. First, the symbolism of offering
the firstfruits from the ground is so clearly symbolic of the Savior's
resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20) that there is no need to veil the meaning
any longer. Second, I make comparisons of dates side-by-side in
columns and it is much easier to see the similarity if the same
name is used as on other calendars. Finally, and ironically, the
formula developed long ago to determine the Christian date of Easter,
which was purposely designed so that Easter could never fall on
the Jewish Passover, but instead would fall on the Sunday after
Passover, turns out to be exactly the correct method for determining
the Sheaf Offering.
Resurrection
on the Eighth Day. Why do Christians worship on Sunday rather
than Saturday? As is well known, it is because the Savior resurrected
on Sunday. But was there any special reason that the Savior chose
Sunday on which to resurrect? Might he have resurrected on Tuesday?
The apostle Barnabas answered that question for us in a book no
longer in the Bible. He explained that even as the earth's temporal
existence will be seven one-thousand year days, after which it will
be resurrected, so also the Savior resurrected on the eighth
day of the week (Barnabas 8:9-10).[10]
Of course, the eighth day of the week is the same as the first,
Sunday, but it is important for us to understand that the symbolism
really refers to the eighth day.
|
Raising
the tabernacle symbolized resurrection. |
Tabernacle Raised.
There was one event during the Exodus that seems clearly to refer
to the "eighth day" symbolism of the resurrection. The Lord instructed
Aaron to begin priestly duties on the day 23 Adar (the twelfth month)
and then to "raise the tabernacle" on the eighth day, which was the
same as New Year's Day, 1 Nisan. Raising the tabernacle certainly
seems symbolic of raising the body at resurrection, and we even see
the eighth day being the same as the first day explicitly stated.
According to the results of this article, that symbolism was fulfilled
because the day 1 Nisan in the second year of the Exodus fell on Sun
13 Mar 1461 BC. Not only did the year begin on Sunday, which is unusual,
but the Priestly course associated with that morning was the same
as on the morning of the Resurrection of the Savior. The combination
of both only occurs once every 264 years.
40-Day Pattern
The interval of
forty days is mentioned four times in the account of the Exodus. Many
commentators have noticed this and usually conclude that it is mentioned
so often that it must refer to some unit of time like the month, which
may or may not actually mean exactly 40 days. That certainly is logical,
but they never tell us just what that period of time was called or
who ever used it. There is no record I know of that the Israelites
used a 40-day interval in their time keeping. So who used it? Reading
the scriptures carefully make it clear that it is God who uses
the 40-day count. Moreover, he tends to mean exactly forty
days when he uses it. Moreover, it was used by the Native Americans
as included in the Sacred Round. Let us briefly review that interval
so see how it exactly fits in all four patterns of this account.
The 40-day
Short Step. The Sacred Round is designed to count days by forties.
It employs two simultaneous counts: the trecena of 13 days
in which days are numbered consecutively from 1 to 13, and the vientena
of 20 days in which each day is assigned a picture. The vientena
begins with the picture Light, followed by Wind, and then Temple.
The cycle begins on the day 1 Light, followed by the day 2 Wind,
and then 3 Temple, because both cycles advance independently of
each other. After forty days, where is the count? The trecena has
advanced by 3 cycles of 13 days plus one, so it is on day number
2. The vientena has advanced by exactly 2 cycles of 20, so it is
again on the day Light. So forty days after the day 1 Light comes
the day 2 Light. Forty days later is 3 Light. Thus, these cycles
automatically count by 40-day increments. That unit of time was
well known to the Native Americans, but to the best of my knowledge
was unknown to the Israelites. The Native Americans referred to
it as the "foot" or as the "step" because it was said that God stepped
off the universe in these units at the Creation. The evidence in
this paper strongly supports that belief. Following their lead,
I will refer to the 40-day unit of time as the "short step," anticipating
that we shall also see the need for a longer step.
Three Short
Steps. Moses was on the mountain for three sets of forty days.
He descended at the end of each, but the scripture makes in clear
that after the first two descents that he went up again the next
day. On his first descent he destroyed the golden calf, on the second
he hewed two stone tablets to replace those he broke, and when he
descended the last time, his face glowed so brightly that his face
was covered with a veil. Thus, he was on the mountain for 120 consecutive
days, or three short steps.
So what is that
all about? It was the Lord who called him on the first day and determined
the timing of the whole process. To understand what it might mean,
let us remember that the Lord told Moses he counts one year to a
day (Num. 14:34). Moses lived 120 years, and at the end he was translated
which might correspond to his glowing as he descended the mount.
Could those 120 days have been a miniature representation of his
life?
Moses was 80
years old when he went to Pharaoh, which could correspond to the
second descent after 80 days from the mount, so that fits perfectly.
Did anything occur when Moses was 40 years old that might correspond
to the end of the first 40-day short step? The speech which Stephen
gave before his stoning stated that Moses was 40 years old when
he killed the Egyptian, which precipitated his leaving Egypt (Acts
7:23). If that is correct,[11]
then we have a perfect pattern match and Moses ascending Mt. Sinai
might well have represented his life in miniature (see Table 1).
| Number |
Days |
Years |
| 0 |
Ascend
Mount |
Born |
| 40 |
Destroy
Egyptian Idol |
Leave
Egypt |
| 80 |
Hew Tablets |
Ten Commandments |
| 120 |
Transfigured |
Translated |
Table 1.
The 120 days on Mt. Sinai and the 120 years of Moses.
So what dates
on our calendar do they correspond to? The Bible gives the precise
date that God called Moses up to the mountain. It was on the seventh
day after the six days that dark clouds covered Sinai. The first
day of clouds was Firstfruits, Sun 31 May 1462 BC. The following
sabbath began on Fri 5 Jun 1462 BC pm*. That was the day 1 Jaguar
on the Sacred Round. The Jaguar most likely symbolizes the Aaronic
Priesthood, so that seems appropriate. Forty days later was the
day 2 Jaguar, one more short step is 3 Jaguar, and the day he finally
descended from the mount was 4 Jaguar. That day was Sat 3 Oct 1462
BC, which was also the feast of Tabernacles on both the Hebrew and
Enoch calendars. This is an amazingly perfect fit, starting from
a date which is specified to the very day in the account. The fact
that the 120 days corresponds to three short steps on the Sacred
Round, both began and ended on the sabbath, and culminated in a
double Feast of Tabernacles on the day representing his translation
is much more than we could have hoped for to witness that we have
the Exodus date correct.
|
Moses
attended the transfiguration of Jesus Christ. |
Transfiguration
of Jesus Christ. One striking calendrical witness of Jesus Christ
is the similarities of the dates of the transfiguration of Moses compared
to the transfiguration of Jesus Christ. Jesus also ascended a mountain
and was transfigured such that his face glowed like the sun (Mat.
17:2), which was just what happened to Moses. When did that happen?
It was clearly associated with the feast of Tabernacles because the
apostles asked if they should prepare tabernacles for Moses and Elijah
which is appropriate on that day. On the other hand, it seems to be
associated with the day of Atonement because the voice of God was
heard to declare, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased;
hear ye him," just as it was heard on the day of Atonement when Jesus
was baptized (Mat. 17:6, 3:17). There is exactly one date which meets
both criteria, and which was holy on all seven sacred calendars, just
as was the Savior's baptism date. The Savior's transfiguration must
have occurred on the afternoon of Sat 2 Oct AD 32 which was 10 Tishri
(Atonement on Hebrew), 14 Autumn (Tabernacles on both the Enoch
and Enoch Fixed calendars), 0 Adult on both the Mercury and
Venus calendars, 13 Light on the Sacred Round (13 symbolizing culmination
and Light symbolizing brilliance), and the first day of a new Priest
cycle. Thus, both the transfiguration of Moses and of Christ occurred
on double Feast of Tabernacle days, as summarized in the following
table.
| Deliverer |
Hebrew |
Enoch |
Enoch
Fixed |
Sacred
Round |
| Moses |
Tabernacles |
Tabernacles |
|
|
| Christ |
Atonement |
Tabernacles |
Tabernacles |
13 Light |
Table 2.
Comparison of the Transfiguration Dates of Moses and Christ.
Mercury's
39-day Gestation. The planet Mercury disappears for about 35
days when it is on the far side of the sun, which corresponds on
its calendar to the 39-day interval between its conception on the
day 1 Creation and its birth on 1 Birth. In past articles we have
seen that many times, a single 40-day period often corresponds to
the forty days beginning on 1 Creation and ending on 1 Birth. This
is especially true when the interval corresponds to a birth-like
event, such as the Savior being presented at the temple on the fortieth
day after his birth, when he fasted for forty days after his (birth-like)
baptism, and the forty days of rain at the rebirth of the earth
at its baptism. There was another 40-day period during the Flood,
being from when the waters abated (150 days after the rain stopped)
until when the raven was released (Gen. 8:3-7). Noah was probably
not aware of either of these periods, but the Lord was. According
to the chronology in these articles, that 40-day period was from
Sat 24 May 2342 BC pm* until Thu 3 Jul 2342 BC. On the Lord's calendars
the water abated on the day 1 Water and the raven was released on
2 Water. Again, that is a perfect alignment with the Sacred Round
short step (Water being the symbol of baptism) of dates that are
given to the very day in Genesis. Genesis is definitely not a bunch
of campfire stories, but an inspired document that only God could
have written.
Returning to
the Exodus account, the 40-day spying episode fits this pattern
perfectly. This time we are not told the exact day it started, probably
because Moses didn't keep track of that. (In these articles, I take
the position that Genesis could only have been pure revelation from
God to Moses, whereas the other four books of Moses contain many
revelations from God, but also the words of Moses.) I don't believe
that a 40-day trip was planned because there is no evidence that
the Israelites knew of any 40-day period. But the Lord knew it was
exactly forty days and made a point that it was symbolic of the
forty years they would be in the wilderness. Thus we might expect
the period to tie to the Mercury cycle even as the forty years could
be a Mercury/Venus realignment interval.
We know when
the spying trip began to within about a month, and when we check
there, we find an ideal interval with other witnesses that it is
correct. Those dates are summarized in the following table along
with similar 40-day dates related to the birth of Mercury, and the
short step.
| Event |
Gregorian |
Sacred
Round |
Mercury |
Flood
begins
Rain stops |
Sat 16
Nov 2343 BC
Wed 25 Dec 2343 BC |
|
7 Creation
7 Birth |
Flood
abates
Raven released |
Sat 24
May 2342 BC pm*
Thu 3 Jul 2342 BC |
1 Water
2 Water |
|
Ascend
Mt. Sinai
Golden Calf
Hew tablets
Transfigured |
Fri 5
Jun 1462 BC pm*
Wed 15 Jul 1462 BC
Mon 24 Aug 1462 BC
Sat 3 Oct 1462 BC |
1 Jaguar
2 Jaguar
3 Jaguar
4 Jaguar |
|
Begin
Spying
End Spying |
Tue 12
Jul 1461 BC
Sat 20 Aug 1461 BC |
|
1 Creation
1 Birth |
Savior
born
Savior to temple |
Wed 5
Apr 1 BC pm*
Sun 14 May 1 BC |
1 Reed
1 Grass |
1 Creation
1 Birth |
Savior
baptized
Begin fast
Ends fasting |
Sat 6
Oct AD 29
Sun 7 Oct AD 29
Thu 15 Nov AD 29 |
13 Water
1 Dog
1 Water |
0 Creation
1 Creation
1 Birth |
Table 3.
40-day intervals in the Bible.
A confirmation
that the spying dates are correct is that the ending date is also
1 Creation on the Venus calendar, so that the two dates are just
the reverse of the dates at the parting of the Red Sea. Now we will
see yet another witness of the correctness of all of these dates
as we look at the entrance into Canaan after the forty years had
expired.
40-Year Pattern
Mercury/Venus/Year
Realignment. The Exodus was followed by a 40-year period, which
we have seen in past articles is a Mercury/Venus realignment interval
with the solar year.[12]
That means that after an interval a few days short of forty years
(14,599 days) the mean positions of both Mercury and Venus are within
one day of exactly repeating. Because the Venus and Mercury calendars
are both aligned with the 13-day count, and because that interval
is an exact multiple of 13, that means the Sacred Round fits very
well with both the Mercury and Venus cycles. But notice that the
repetition has nothing to do with the Hebrew calendar. If the first
day of the interval happens also to be a Hebrew holy day, there
is very little chance that the last day will be a Hebrew holy day
too.
Entering Canaan.
Now let us consider the 40-year period in the wilderness. The beginning
date on the Venus/Mercury calendars was the Red Sea Parting: Tue 14
Apr 1462 BC, 1 Birth (Venus), 1 Creation (Mercury). Looking 14,599
days later brings us to Sat 3 Apr 1422 BC, 1 Birth (Venus), 1 Creation
(Mercury). Was that day a Hebrew holy day? Yes, in this case, it turns
out it was 1 Nisan, New Year's Day. But that date is even more impressive
because it is also 1 Light, the first day of the Sacred Round. Thus,
it was a triple "beginning" date, being the first day of the cycle
on the Hebrew, Sacred Round, and Mercury calendars. Moreover, it was
Passover on the Enoch calendar, and began a Priestly week, so it was
holy on six of the seven sacred calendars.
How often does
such a triple start date occur? New Year's Day will occur on 1 Light
about once every 260 years, and that day would be also 1 Creation
(Mercury) one time in nine, or once in 2,340 years. Doing a computer
search for all such dates in history verifies that expectation:
there were only 3 dates in 7,000 years on which those three calendars
had their first days coincide during daylight hours. So just for
those three calendars, the entry date into Canaan was a rare date
indeed. But if we were also to specify that the date must be either
1 Birth (Venus) or Passover (Enoch), then it would be the only such
day in history, and it was both of those. Such a day only
occurs once in 14,300 years so it is amazing that the one such date
in history just happened to fall precisely to the day at the end
of forty years from the crossing of the Red Sea. And of course the
triple "beginning" symbolism was ideal because it was the beginning
of Israel's inheritance of the land promised their Father Abraham
many centuries previous. The hand of God in designing these calendars
becomes more apparent with every date analyzed. And it becomes clear
that the solar system did not just happen by chance, but was designed
to be a huge timepiece to visualize this incredibly intricate set
of calendars.
The 40-Year
Long Step. As this article was nearing completion, it was discovered
that the same magic that works for counting the 40-day short step
with the Sacred Round also works for counting years. Moreover, it
works simultaneously for counting with both the Venus and Mercury
calendars. This discovery of Thu 2 Oct 2003[13]
opens up an entirely new aspect of the Sacred Round and Venus and
Mercury calendars, allowing extended periods to be reckoned in sets
of forty years, which thing I never had supposed. It also led to
the discovery that same day of probably the best scientific witness
yet that Moses typified Christ and that Christ was born during the
night preceding Thu 6 Apr 1 BC.
We saw above
that the Venus and Mercury calendars realign after forty years.
In particular, beginning with the Red Sea Parting day 1 Wind, 1
Birth (Venus), and 1 Creation (Mercury), after forty years we come
to 1 Light, 1 Birth (V), 1 Creation (M). What was the very next
day? It was 2 Wind, 2 Birth (V), 2 Creation (M). In a manner exactly
analogous to the definition of the short step, we can now define
a "long step" to be a period of exactly 14,600 days, which can be
used as a precise interval to measure time. That is, one long step
after 1 Wind is 2 Wind, and another long step brings one to 3 Wind,
in a manner exactly analogous to the short step. How long will such
steps also keep aligned with both Mercury and Venus? Under the best
starting conditions they could keep aligned for up to 6 long steps.
Would God use
that long step? One indication that he might is that he says he
counts days and years the same, and the Sacred Round and orbits
of Venus and Mercury are perfectly arranged to do just that. But
perhaps a better indication is that those ideal starting conditions
occurred at the birth of Jesus Christ. Evidence indicates that Christ
was born on Wed 5 Apr 1 BC pm*[14]
which was 1 Reed, 1 Creation (V), 1 Creation (M). The clue that
God might be using this system is that both Venus and Mercury are
aligned near the ideal starting positions so that they stay synchronized
for 5 long steps, ending at Sun 16 Feb AD 200, 6 Reed, 6 Creation
(V), 6 Creation (M). Much more investigation is needed to see if
one system of long steps could span all of history, but it is the
first promising use of 40-year intervals for that purpose so far.
Until now, a few isolated occurrences of 40-year intervals were
known, but there was no way to link them together.
Moses Typifies
Christ. It is well known that Moses was like unto Christ. He prophesied
that one like unto him would come (Deut. 18:15), and the New Testament
verifies that Jesus Christ was indeed that promised Messiah. Moses
was a Savior to his people, was an advocate for them, and was a great
law giver as was Jesus Christ. Moreover, we have seen how some dates
in the life of Moses correspond to Jesus Christ, such as their dates
of transfiguration both being the Feast of Tabernacles on two different
calendars. Now this newly discovered long step provides yet another
witness that Moses typified Jesus Christ, and even indicates the precise
birthday of the Savior.
Christ's
Birth Date Symbolized. Having discovered the long step, we can
ask if it was used to measure the 120-year life of Moses, being
about three long steps. The answer again links directly to Christ.
The beginning day of the first long step of Moses' life was Mon
3 Feb 1542 BC, 1 Reed, 1 Creation (V) and 1 Birth (M). That is
exactly the same as the Savior's birth date on two calendars,
being 1 Reed and 1 Creation (V). That day was 26 Shebat (Hebrew).
For reasons discussed below, that does not appear to have been Moses'
actual birth date, but shortly thereafter. Counting by long steps
brings us to 2 Reed, 2 Creation on Sat 24 Jan 1502 BC, then 3 Reed,
3 Creation on Thu 15 Jan 1462 BC, and finally 4 Reed, 4 Creation
on Tue 5 Jan 1422 BC. This final date was 2 Shebat (Hebrew), which
starts the next long step. That means that the last day of the 3
long steps of his life ended on 1 Shebat, which is precisely the
day on which the Book of Deuteronomy began to be given (Deut. 1:3).
Shortly thereafter he said that his 120th birthday had arrived (Deut.
31:2). Apparently it was right on that birthday that the Lord told
him he would be taken in a few days, and on the same day he wrote
a song and blessed Israel. Later he ascended the mountain, never
to be seen again (Deut. 31:14, 22; 32:48-49; 33). The traditional
day for his translation was early in the next month (Adar1),[15]
after which Israel mourned for him for thirty days. There was a
thirteenth month (Adar2) that year, providing ample time for mourning
before crossing the Jordan in Nisan. Thus, the birth date of Moses
was most likely some time in Shebat.
Other
Calendar Alignments
Moses' Birth
Date
We
have seen from the above analysis of Moses' death date that his
birth most likely occurred during the month Shebat, when he celebrated
his 120th birthday in the eleventh month of the year. All of the
prophets in these articles so far have been born on a Hebrew holy
day and so that is the first place to look. There are only two holy
days in Shebat. The first is 1 Shebat, but that is too early because
according to Deuteronomy his birthday occurred shortly thereafter.
The day 26 Shebat is a possibility because it began the first long
step of his life, which aligned with the Savior's birth. But his
translation date was sometime after the end of the last long step,
so one would expect that his birth may be somewhat before that first
long step began. The other holy day in Shebat is 15 Shebat, which
is called the New Year for Trees, and is of uncertain origin.
While there is
no impressive alignment on the sacred calendars at that time, there
was one really remarkable event in the heavens. There was a conjunction
of Venus and Saturn on Wed 22 Jan 1542 BC that was so close that the
separation of the two planets was less than one thirtieth the apparent
diameter of the moon. They nearly appeared to be touching each other,
which is extremely rare. Was that rare event a sign of the birth of
Moses? That evening began the sacred day 15 Shebat.
The Lord always
provides at least two witnesses, and it turns out there was a similar
sign in the early days of Adar, the twelfth month of the year, when
Hebrew tradition says that Moses was translated. On Sat 6 Feb 1422
BC (4 Adar1) there was a very similar conjunction of Venus and Saturn
with the planets again less than a moon-width apart.
The conjunctions
of Saturn seems important for the following reason. When the solar
system was designed, the Moon and Saturn were apparently intended
to be markers of the day-to-a-year ratio. The period of the moon's
phases is about 29.5 days and the period of Saturn's cycle through
the 12 zodiac constellations is 29.5 years. For ease of calculation,
let's round those numbers up to 30. Moses' life of 120 years can
be thought of not only as three long steps of 40 years each, it
was also equal to four cycles of Saturn of 30 years each. Similarly,
his stay on the mountain was not only three short steps of 40 days
each, it was also four lunar months of 30 days each.
Thus, the Lord
clearly illustrates his day-to-a-year scheme in his wonderful clock
in the sky using the Moon and Saturn. Moreover, he has created fast
moving hands like Venus which align with the slow moving hands like
Saturn to tell time precisely even as a second hand sweeps over
an hour hand to tell time to the very second.
Thus, Moses'
birth date was most likely Wed 22 Jan 1542 BC pm*, which evening
began the holy day 15 Shebat. If that is correct, it might shed
light on some important dates of the restoration such as the birth
date of Hiram Smith on Sun 9 Feb 1800 pm*, 15 Shebat[16],
and the calling of the first twelve apostles on Sat 14 Feb 1835,
which was 15 Shebat and also the Last Day of Passover on the Enoch
Fixed calendar.
Miriam's Birth
Date
Moses
and Aaron's older sister Miriam was a great seeress,[17]
who was so respected by the Israelites that at her death near the
end of the forty years, Israel mourned 30 days for her, just as
they did for both Aaron and Moses (Num. 20:1,29; Jasher 84:24).[18]
It is refreshing to see that they paid this amazing woman equal
homage to her illustrious brothers. Let us now see how her birth
date is also equally impressive to that of Moses, or of Abraham,
Isaac or Jacob.
|
Miriam
dancing after Red Sea parted |
While we are not
told the year of her birth, histories state that she was older than
Aaron, who was in turn older by three years than Moses (Ex. 2:4, 7:7;
Jasher 67:3). Could we have a chance of finding her birth date without
knowing the year? Some birth dates are so impressive that the chronological
clue of the year is not required. It turns out there was a date some
four and a half years before the proposed birth date for Moses, which
is so closely linked to the Red Sea crossing that it is strongly indicated
to be her birth date. Perhaps the Lord knew that the women's vital
stats would tend to be omitted from the scriptures, so he wrote the
record in the heavens so clearly that it can't be missed.
The evening
of Tue 28 Jul 1547 BC pm* began the Hebrew holy day 1 Ab, being
the first day of the fifth month, also 9 Midsummer (Midsummer Fast,
Enoch) as well as 1 Wind, 1 Birth (V), 1 Creation (M). Thus it was
a holy day on five sacred calendars. But what indicates this to
be her birth date is that the last three of those holy days coincide
exactly with date of crossing the Red Sea. Moreover, the tie to
her brother Aaron is indicated in that the precise day of Aaron's
death is recorded in the Bible as being 1 Ab (Num. 33:38).[19]
Just how often
does a day occur like the Red Sea Parting, being 1 Wind, 1 Birth
(V) and 1 Creation (M), not even requiring it to be holy on any
other calendar? The results of my exhaustive computer search indicate
that there are only two such dates in the 1,800 years from 3100
BC to 1300 BC. Those two rare dates were the Red Sea Parting and
the date proposed for Miriam's birth, and they were both holy on
the Hebrew calendar also, which strongly indicates they were not
chance coincidences.
Arrival
at Sinai
|
Leaving
Egypt with a Strong Hand. |
The Israelites
arrived at Mt. Sinai on 1 Sivan (the third month, Ex. 19:1), which
is minor holy day on the Hebrew Calendar, as is the beginning day
of every month. That day, Sat 23 May 1462 BC, was sacred on three
other calendars, being 1 Light (first day of Sacred Round), 1 Birth
(Mercury), and 4 Late Spring (Firstfruits on Enoch), so it was clearly
a day worth recording. Just one week later would be Firstfruits on
the Hebrew calendar, on which the Lord would reveal the Ten Commandments
to all of Israel.
300-Year Captivity
One sticky problem
of the Exodus is just how long the Israelites were in captivity. We
saw above that it couldn't have been 400 years. Israel entered Egypt
when Jacob was 130 years old (Gen. 47:8-9), which would have been
in the year 1762 BC, according to the result of last month's article
that Jacob was born in 1892 BC. Combining that with the current result
that the Exodus was in the year 1462 BC implies that the captivity
lasted 300 years.
There is an
interesting possible day-to-year symbolism suggested by that length
of time. It has been proposed that the birth of Jesus Christ on
Passover was symbolized by the Exodus at Passover, in that the nation
of Israel was "born" on the day of the Exodus after having been
gestating in the darkness of Egypt. Even as Israel was "delivered"
at its birth, so also was Jesus delivered at birth from the captivity
of the womb.[20]
Now that analogy can be taken to the next level. The gestation period
of Israel was 300 years and the gestation period of the Savior was
nearly 300 days.[21]
After birth, Israel underwent a 40-year period and the Savior was
taken to the temple on his 40th day. Here again might be an example
of the day-to-year symbolism which the Lord often uses.
So what about
the 400 years of bondage that the Lord mentioned to Abraham? I don't
have an answer, but I know I don't like forcing wild interpretations
on a clearly stated meaning in the scriptures. It would be more
acceptable to me to think that the 400 years was a mistaken copy
of an original prophecy of 300 years, which now appears to be precise.
More research is needed to answer this question.
Fourth Generation.
At the beginning of this article it was shown that even though Kohath,
the grandfather of Moses entered Egypt with Jacob, a 300-year captivity
is still possible if both Moses and his father Amram were born when
their fathers were over a hundred years old. Even today there are
men over a hundred years old fathering children, so that is not
an outrageous requirement. The Lord even made a point to Abraham
that his descendants would be delivered in the fourth generation
(Gen. 15:16). But now consider Jochebed, Moses' mother.
Jochebed.
Jochebed was the daughter of Levi, who married her brother Kohath's
son Amram. Her age is not given in the Bible, but she would have
to have been over a hundred years old when she bore Moses. That
does indeed appear to be a problem, especially because the Pharaoh's
daughter readily invited her to be the infant's nurse (Ex. 2:9).
What's the explanation?
It turns out
that the miracle required for this to be true is recorded in Hebrew
sources. They state that Jochebed was 126 years old when she married
Amram (Jasher 68:2), who was the same age as she and was even born
on the same day. Furthermore, a miracle occurred: "Old as Jochebed
was, she regained her youth. Her skin became soft, the wrinkles
in her face disappeared, the warm tints of maiden beauty returned,
and in a short time she became pregnant."[22]
Now is that
just an old wives' tale or could that tale of an old wife be true?
It comes from a source of Jewish legends that contains a lot of
nonsense. How can we tell if it is true? One way is that the evidence
in this paper for the Exodus date is so overwhelming, that something
like that must be true if the genealogies given are correct. But
another way is to notice that enough information was given to narrow
down the birth date of Jochebed to within a year. According to the
theory being presented in these articles, if the story is true,
there should be a rather impressive date in that year linked to
the birth of Moses, especially if both parents were born on the
same day.
Amram and
Jochebed's Birth Date. There is indeed a date 126 years before
the alleged time of marriage that does offer some supporting evidence
both that Amram and Jochebed might have been born on the same day
and were 126 years old at their marriage. The day Sat 12 Feb 1674
BC was a holy day on five of the seven calendars, including being
15 Shebat, 1 Water, 1 Birth (M), and 1 Prime (V). As is well known
to the reader by now, it is very unusual for Hebrew and Venus holy
days to coincide, and for the Hebrew holy day to be that proposed
for Moses' birth, and also to indicate birth on the Mercury calendar
only happens about once in 657 years. That is strong enough evidence
to recommend this date as worthy of having both parents born on
it, foreshadowing the birth of their illustrious son on 15 Shebat.
Captivity of
Jeconiah
The day on which
King Jeconiah, also known as Jehoiachin, was taken into captivity
many centuries later by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is the single
best established date in the entire Old Testament. That is because
it was recorded to the very day both in the Bible and also in the
clay tablets of Babylon.[23]
It was Sat 10 Mar 597 BC. That it was New Year's Day (1 Nisan) on
the Hebrew Calendar is recorded in the Bible (2 Chron. 36:10), but
the point for this article is that the day was 1 Wind and also 1 Birth
(Venus), both the same as at the Red Sea Parting. That is such an
incredible coincidence, that it was one of the dates which led me
to discover this entire chronology. It is important to emphasize that
it was not a date I discovered using my new methods. It is a date
well know in history which I learned from reading scholarly works.
There is only a 1 in 584 chance that any given date will coincide
with 1 Birth (V) and only 1 in 11,680 chance that it would also be
1 Wind. Said differently, 1 Birth (V) and 1 Wind only coincide about
once every 32 years, so for that one day to be when Jeconiah was taken
was extremely unusual. And to have the symbolism of the day when most
of Jerusalem was deported coincide with a day when they began their
journey to the promised land seems clearly to be beyond chance. The
fact that the deportation day was important in the Lord's chronology
is clear because it is listed by Matthew as a key chronological marker
in his genealogy of Christ (Mat. 1:17).
The precise date of Jeconiah's release is also recorded in holy
writ: 25 Adar, year 37 of the Captivity. That corresponds to Tue
16 Mar 560 BC (Jer. 52:31). While that date is nothing special on
the Hebrew calendar, it just happened to be the day 1 Wind, the
very day his captivity began on the Sacred Round. The hand of the
Lord becomes more apparent with each date discovered.
Ezekiel
Rehearses the Exodus
The Prophet
Ezekiel was one of the many taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar and
he kept a very precise record of the exact dates on which many events
occurred. He measured time from the above date that Jeconiah was
taken captive, so we can know many of his dates to the very day.
One event he records happened "in the seventh year, in the fifth
month, the tenth day of the month" (Ezek. 20:1). On that day, certain
of the elders of Israel asked Ezekiel to inquire of the Lord about
something. The Lord refused to answer their inquiry, but instead
went on for an entire long chapter rehearsing the entire story of
the Exodus. It must have been a completely unexpected answer. But
thanks to Ezekiel, the date it was given was recorded which helps
to explain why the Lord might think it was appropriate to speak
of the Exodus on that day. On the Sacred Round and Venus calendar,
the day Mon 6 Aug 591 BC coincided precisely again with the Red
Sea Parting, being 1 Wind and 1 Birth. Again, that was an exact
date specified in the Bible, not one discovered by searching for
an alignment. But how could this alignment have occurred again only
6 years after the captivity of Jeconiah, which such alignments only
happen about once every 32 years? The occurrences are not evenly
spaced. These are two of the three such alignments during the sixth
century BC, and they were both days explicitly recorded in the Bible.
The following table summarizes many events which occurred on 1 Wind
on the Sacred Round. A complete listing of all the dates published
in my work on all seven sacred calendars can be found on my website.[24]
| Event |
Sacred
Round |
Hebrew |
Venus |
Merc |
| Miriam
born |
1 Wind |
1 Ab |
1 Birth |
1 Creation |
| Red Sea
Parting |
1 Wind |
21 Nisan |
1 Birth |
1 Creation |
| Enter
Canaan |
1 Wind |
1 Nisan |
1 Birth |
1 Creation |
| Jeconiah
Captive |
1 Wind |
1 Nisan |
1 Birth |
|
| Exodus
Rehearsed |
1 Wind |
|
1 Birth |
|
| Jeconiah
Released |
1 Wind |
|
|
|
| Cyrus |
1 Wind |
15 Tishri |
1 Creation |
|
Table 4. 1
Wind Dates on the Sacred Round.
Conclusion
In this article
the date for the Exodus of Thu 9 Apr 1462 BC was proposed based on
a novel interpretation of the 430-year sojourn of Israel. Then twelve
precise dates were examined, which were recorded in the Bible to the
very day relative to the anchor date of the Exodus. All of those auxiliary
dates testified that the Exodus date is correct, and that those dates
were recorded because of their symbolic significance. In the former
articles in this series, only a few dates were specified in scripture
to the very day and year, such as the day of the Great Flood and of
the birth of Isaac. As in those cases, the odds of even one of those
dates being a holy date on two or three sacred calendars is negligible,
but to have all twelve of them be such rare and meaningful dates is
totally beyond chance. Moreover, many dates which were recorded only
to the year were derived and shown also to be far beyond what could
be expected by random alignments. Therefore, it is concluded that
the proposed dates are all correct.
Perhaps more
important that the exact date of the Exodus, it was also discovered
that several of the dates testify strongly that Jesus Christ was
the promised Messiah, and the great prophet who would be like unto
Moses. In particular, the dates of the transfigurations of both
Moses and Christ were shown to both be on the feast of Tabernacles
on two sacred calendars. Moreover, the day beginning the three 40-year
periods of Moses' life coincided with the birth date of Jesus Christ.
Thus, the symbolism of the sacred calendars indeed witnesses of
Jesus Christ and of the creation of the solar system as a precision
timepiece.
Notes
- Pratt,
John P., "Venus
and the Beginning of Mortality," Meridian Magazine
(9 Jul 2003), "Astronomical
Witnesses of the Great Flood," Meridian Magazine (13
Aug 2003), "Divine
Calendars Testify of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," Meridian
Magazine (11 Sep 2003).
- Even
though the Biblical account states that Moses died, it was well
known to the Jews that he was really translated. See Josephus,
Antiquities of the Jews, IV.viii.48.
- Stephen,
before he was stoned, gave the straightforward interpretation
that the 400 years was all in Egypt, but he most likely had never
added up the ages (Acts 7:6-7). In this review of traditional
methods, I wish to acknowledge helpful charts supplied by Joyce
Marie Peabody.
- The
equation used to calculate the growth rate required for N years
is Rate = ((2,000,000/70)^(1/N))-1. An excellent summary of many
scientific arguments is The Exodus Case by Lennart Mφller
(Copenhagen: Scandinavia Pub., 2002), who notes on p. 160 that
he highest growth rate in the world today (3.5%) is found in the
Arab countries. That growth rate would correspond to the time
in Egypt being 300 years.
- The
Greek Septuagint version states, " ... while they sojourned in
the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan, was four hundred and
thirty years" (Ex. 12:40).
- Josephus,
Antiquities of the Jews II.xv.2, or II.318.
- Faulstich,
E.W., "Biblical Chronology: Part IV" It's About Time (Oct,
1986). To my knowledge Faulstich first presented the idea to start
at the birth of Israel, but he did so only because it seemed to
work.
- Pratt,
John P. "Seven
Sacred Calendars Testify of Christ," Meridian Magazine
(9 Apr 2003), section 5.3.
- Pratt,
John P., "A
Native American Easter: How the Ancient American Calendar Testifies
of Christ," Meridian Magazine, (28 Mar 2001) footnote
2.
- Pratt,
John P. "The Restoration
of Priesthood Keys on Easter 1836, Part I: Dating the First Easter,"
Ensign (June 1985), footnote 6 quotes the original source.
- The
Book of Jasher states that Moses was 18 when he killed the Egyptian
(Jasher 71:1) and I haven't succeeded in verifying either date
with sacred calendars.
- Pratt,
John P., "Venus
Resurrects This Easter Sunday," Meridian Magazine (27
Feb 2001), section 5.2.
- Even
the date of the discovery seems important. It occurred on 2 Oct
(the day of the Savior's transfiguration on our calendar), and
also 4 Reed and 4 Birth (Venus), both of which were like the day
at the end of Moses life symbolizing his translation. It has been
my experience that many of the days on which results being reported
in these articles were discovered were related to what was being
discovered.
- Pratt,
John P., "Passover:
Was it Symbolic of His Coming?" Ensign (Jan. 1994),
pp. 38-45.
- Josephus
reports Moses' translation date as 1 Adar (Antiquities
IV.viii.49), and Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews has it
as 7 Adar (III:439).
- Pratt,
John P., "From
Martyrdom to Celebration!" Meridian Magazine (June
6, 2002), section 3.
- A
prophecy that Miriam reportedly made as a child was: "Behold a
son will be born unto us from my father and mother this time,
and he will save Israel from the hands of Egypt" (Jasher 68:1).
That prophecy supposedly influenced Amram and Jochebed to have
another child, which they had been avoiding because of the decree
to drown all the infant boys (Ex. 1:22). One way to verify whether
such a claim might be true is to check whether there is a likely
significant holy date at the time of the alleged prophecy. It
was said to have been only a seven month pregnancy (Jasher 68:4),
which is why Moses could be concealed for nearly three months
(Ex. 2:1), having arrived before the Egyptians expected him. Checking
seven months before his birth date leads to an impressive date,
either for his conception of for that prophecy: Thu 27 Jun 1543
BC. That day was 1 Resurrection (Venus) and 1 Birth (Mercury)
as was Isaac's birth date. But the reason I felt to reward readers
of footnotes is that the date coincides with Joseph Smith's martyrdom
date (Thu 27 Jun 1844) on three calendars. Besides our calendar,
the dates were both 10 Tammuz (Hebrew) and 5 Summer (Enoch). Such
a triple alignment seems meaningful because Joseph Smith was also
a prophet like unto Moses (2 Nephi 3:9, Moses 1:41).
- Josephus
mentions the 30-day mourning for Miriam, Antiquities IV.v.6.
- Aaron
was also most likely also born on 1 Ab (Mon 19 Jul 1546 BC), but
the derivation is beyond the scope of this article.
- Pratt,
John P., "Passover:
Was it Symbolic of His Coming?" Ensign (Jan. 1994),
section 2.
- It
was 295 days according to my calculations, from Tue 15 Jun 2 BC
pm* (Julian Day 1720860.4) until Wed 5 Apr 1 BC pm* (Julian Day
1721155.4). See Pratt, John P., "The
Star of Bethlehem's Forerunner," Meridian Magazine
(28 Nov 2000). One can simply subtract the two Julian Days to
arrived at the length of the interval.
- Legends
of the Jews, p. 261-3.
- Pratt,
John P., "When Was Judah's 70-Year
Babylonian Captivity?" Ensign (Oct 1998) pp. 64-65.
- Pratt,
John P., "Religious Chronology Summary," at http://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/lds/dates.html.
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