by John P. Pratt
8 Sep 2019, Firstfruits (UH), 13 Reed (SR), Holy Son (S)
©2019 by John P. Pratt. All rights Reserved.
|
1. Jonah Symbolized Christ 2. Jonah's Solar Eclipse 3. Eclipse to Israel Fall: 40 Years 4. Josiah to Siege: 40 Years 5. Conclusion Notes |
The Biblical account of the prophet Jonah is unique among ancient Israel: he was called to go to the non-Israelite enemy nation of Assyria, he fled from that appointment, when he finally was persuaded to accept his charge, he was totally successful in getting the entire city of Nineveh to repent, and finally, he was disappointed that they were not destroyed after 40 days! No dates have ever been proposed in my work for these events because of the scanty chronological information in the Biblical record.
|
That possible 40-year connection seemed worth investigating with sacred calendars. That led to the discoveries that the prophecy of Jonah, based on the timing of the eclipse, ties to the fall of Israel to Assyria's forty years, allowing the very day of the captivity to be determined. Thus, precise dates for Jonah's prophecy as well as the Fall of Israel are proposed. The link suggested by others between Christ and the Fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 was only partially verified and remains for a possible future article.[3]
Let us now consider several ways in which Jonah was a type of Christ, then study the total solar eclipse over Nineveh, link it to the Fall of Israel 40 years later, and then review another witness from King Josiah confirming Jonah's prophecy date.
First, let us review how some of the actions of Jonah were a type of Jesus Christ. After Jonah had been called to preach to the wicked nation of Assyria, an enemy of Israel, he attempted to escape the calling by boarding a ship headed for Spain (Tarshish), fleeing in the opposite direction! A huge storm at sea arose, threatening to kill all aboard. Jonah slept while others feared for their lives, and finally the captain asked him to call upon his God so that they would not perish (Jonah 1:4-6, compare Mat. 8:24-25). When it was determined that it was God's anger at Jonah which was the cause,[4] Jonah volunteered to be thrown overboard and he prophesied that such would calm the raging tempest. Thus, Jonah, like Jesus, volunteered to be a sacrifice in order to save the lives of many others.
 |
An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.[5]
The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. -- Mat. 12:39-41
Let us consider a possible reason why the king of Assyria caused his entire capital city to repent.
Perhaps the strangest part of the story of Jonah is that the king of Assyria believed the words of a foreign prophet who proclaimed that in forty days, "Nineveh shall be overthrown" (Jonah 3:4)! The entire city fasted, dressed in sackcloth and ashes, and truly repented (Jonah 3:5-9). What?? Did that ever happen in Israel? The standard procedure of the Jews was to stone any prophet who dared to suggest they were not righteous. There must be more to the story which was not included!
Forty years ago it was pointed out that there was a total solar eclipse over Nineveh near midday on Mon 7 Jun 763 BC (Gregorian), which corresponds to the approximate time that Jonah preached repentance there. Here's a summary from a recent article:
"Taking Jonah to be historical as I do, the Bible's one specific clue as to when he lived was during the reign of Jeroboam II, or around 786-746 BCE, if we take 2 Kings 14:25 as evidence of the latest that he could have prophesied.
A total solar eclipse over Nineveh in northern Iraq on June 15, 763 BCE fits this time frame for the life and career of Jonah. Assyriologist Donald Wiseman, a former curator at the British Museum, and editor of Chronicles of Chaldean Kings and The Alalakh Tablets, published a lecture in the Tyndale Bulletin in 1979[6] where he argued persuasively that this eclipse would help explain the dramatic reaction to Jonah's preaching.
Eclipses could bring panic.
According to the Assyrian writings cited by Wiseman, here's what a solar eclipse would have meant to them: 'the king will be deposed and killed, and a worthless fellow will seize the throne ... rain from heaven will flood the land ... the city walls will be destroyed.' The Assyrians tell us that at such a time, there would be solemn fasting, and the king would hand over his throne to a substitute until the danger passed. At least once when there was a total solar eclipse, the Assyrians cry, 'Nineveh shall be overthrown!' (in Assyrian, adi arbat ume alninuaki innabak, which can also mean, 'Nineveh shall be made to repent!').
I believe that Jonah was in Nineveh in June of 763 BC during the total eclipse of the sun, which would help explain the remarkable response of the people of Nineveh. Jonah preaches at exactly the right time for the people of Nineveh to listen to him. The Assyrian nation was weak and in chaos in the decade around 760 BCE. They had one earthquake (one sign of divine wrath). There was a famine from 765-758 BCE. Assyria was losing battles and losing territory to its enemies. There were domestic riots. With all the trouble they already had going on, they could have easily believed that Jonah's warning would come to pass. Now was a perfect time for a prophet from far away to arrive on the scene and command a response."[7]
Another link of Jonah to Jesus is that the 40-day prophecy of Jonah and the 40-day fast of Jesus after his baptism in AD 29 both began on the major holy day 1 Prime on the Venus (V) Calendar! (Minor holy days or years are shown in italics and major in boldface italics). That is a very important and rare alignment because that day only occurs once every 585 days. That may be the link to show in a future article that some important event of the Fall of Jerusalem 40 years later occurred on 1 Prime (V) in AD 69, just as we will now see that the Fall of Israel occurred exactly 40 years after Jonah's eclipse.
The exact day of the Fall of Israel has not been known to me, nor published in my articles. The year has been indicated as being 723 BC, one year earlier than agreed on my most scholars, because that year fits perfectly into a series of Great Years on both the Perpetual Hebrew (PH) and also Uniform Hebrew (UH) calendars.[8] In particular, the first year (NEW YEAR) of a Great Year (PH) began on the very day of Jacob's vision of the ladder to heaven (New Year), which began that whole episode of his life of meeting his wives, and the beginning the family of Israel (Jacob). Named years are shown in CAPITALS. Precise days referenced in this article are listed in my Religious Chronology which lists references to their derivation. The next Great Year (PH) began with the Exodus of Israel from Eqypt (again in NEW YEAR), and King David was born near the beginning of the next Great Year, in the year named END PASSOVER (PH). The very next Great Year began in another year NEW YEAR, which is perfect for corresponding to the new beginning of the captivity of Israel in Assyria. The exact day of that year, however, has not been known.
 |
It turns out that it was just 40 years from Jonah's eclipse in 763 BC until the captivity of Israel in 723 BC. And the irony is that Israel was captured by Assyria, which had repented. Thus, the "sign of Jonah" (Mat. 12:39) may have also applied to Jonah's prophecy having included Israel, that they had forty years to repent before their kingdom would end! No wonder that Jesus told that the men of Assyria would condemn the Pharisees who rejected Him, because those in Nineveh had been converted by Jonah (Mat. 12:41).
Because of the day-year pattern, a precise date can now be proposed for the Fall of Israel. It is known from my previous work that the Biblical 40-year interval is often tied directly to the Venus Calendar because 40 Hebrew years can be very nearly 25 Venus cycles. Thus, often the exact starting and ending days of the 40 year period are the same (usually holy) day on the Venus Calendar. For example, at the Exodus, the day of the Parting of the Red Sea was on 1 Birth (V) and the prophesied forty years in the wilderness ended when the manna stopped falling on 1 Birth (V). Even more closely tied to Jonah is the forty years of Ezekiel: the period began with the Purge of Josiah on 1 Resurrection (V) and ended with the beginning of the siege by Nebuchadnezzar 40 years later on 1 Resurrection (V).
 |
But there is more! That day of the eclipse was also the major holy day 1 Resurrection on both the Mercury (M) and Uniform Mercury (UM) calendars. Moreover, the day was also the major holy days 1 Rebirth on the Mars (Ma) and 1 Translation on the Uniform Mars (UMa) calendars! Remember, this was the very day of the eclipse, not one picked near it. That day was holy on six sacred calendars! Also notice that the holy day represents "rebirth" on both the Venus and Mars calendars which is both rare and also symbolic of the rebirth of Assyria to become a major world power after it had been languishing.
What about 40 years later, as measured by exactly 25 Venus Cycles, for a proposed date of the Fall of Israel? That day, Sat 14 May 723 BC, chosen because it was 1 Prime (V), turns out to be ideal, being holy on 9 sacred calendars, where those days help describe the event. The day was 1 Deer (SR), the very day of the Beginning of Mortality at the Fall of Adam, and the day of the beginning of the siege and also subsequent Fall of Jerusalem in AD 70! That was a "fall" day. It was 1 Death (M), which is a match to what happened and to the Fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC. Moreover, it was 1 Adult (UM, UMa), representing the beginning regressing spiritually, when Mars begins its retrograde motion. On the Uniform Star Calendar (US) it was Trumpets and 1 Scorpion, the trumpets heralding news and the Scorpion representing the beginning of Judgment. And that is the very year which was NEW YEAR (PH), proposed in my earlier articles as the year of the Fall of Israel. All of those taken together are overwhelming evidence that this date indeed represents the day of the Fall of Israel. All of that was deduced from one day "written in the heavens", namely, that of the eclipse coupled with the day-year pattern and prophecy of Jonah!
 |
The fact that the prophet Jonah prophesied the destruction of Nineveh in 40 days led to considering the possibility that the prophecy may have been fulfilled 40 years later, according to the Lord's use of the day-year pattern. The idea came from several YouTube videos which connected the Savior's mentioning the sign of Jonah linked to the forty years between AD 30 and the Fall of Jerusalem in AD 70.
Research did not verify the period from AD 30-70, but two new dates were discovered from the day-year pattern being linked from the total solar eclipse on Mon 7 Jun 763 BC (G) over Nineveh about the time that Jonah was known to have preached there. First of all, it turned out that the very day of the eclipse was a major holy day on 6 calendars, including on the Venus Calendar (1 Prime), which is the usual starting point of 40-year prophetic periods. Thus, it is proposed that the eclipse marks the very day of the beginning of Jonah's prophesying in Nineveh.
Looking at the date of the same Venus holy day 40 years later on Sat 14 May 723 BC, led to a day in the very year which has been proposed in earlier articles for the Fall of Israel in 723 BC. That year had been proposed because it was a NEW YEAR (PH), beginning a Great Year. Now the day indicated by the day-year Venus pattern is also seen to have been holy on six other sacred calendars, with symbolism of a fall (1 Deer, SR), death (1 Death, M), turning evil (1 Adult, UM & UMa), and judgment (1 Scopion, US). Those many witnesses make a compelling argument for the correctness of that day for the Fall of Israel.
A strong witness for the date proposed herein for the beginning of Jonah's prophesying (on the eclipse date) is the comparison to the 40-year period between King Josiah's purging of the idol to the siege by Nebuchadnezzar. The beginning date of that Venus Cycle interval was the same five major holy days on the same five sacred calendars as was the day of Jonah's eclipse. That is compelling evidence that the beginning date of the interval is also correct.
Thus, the day-year pattern has again allowed the beginning and end dates of yet another 40-year prophetic period to be determined with precision. Truly, all of these witnesses together form conclusive evidence that these calendars have been created and used by an all-knowing Creator.
