Astronomical Witnesses of the Great Flood
by John P. Pratt
Reprinted from Meridian Magazine (13 Aug 2003)
©2003 by John P. Pratt. All rights Reserved.
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A precise date for Noah's Deluge is indicated by sacred astronomical calendars
and confirmed by witnesses of Enoch, his father Jared, and even the Savior.
In last month's article, "Venus and the Beginning of Mortality," we saw that a precise date for the
expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden was indicated by a holy day alignment
between the Venus calendar and the Hebrew calendar, which was verified by several other
witnesses.[1] The day Sun 9 Apr 4001 BC on our calendar was Passover on the Hebrew
calendar and 1 Creation on the Venus calendar. That establishes the beginning date from which we
can measure all of the chronology provided by the Lord for us in the Book of Genesis. This
month's article will proceed using that same method to calculate dates for the birth and translation
of the prophet Enoch, and for the Great Deluge of Noah. The Lord's method of using multiple
witnesses will again be recognized in synchronisms with events from the life of Enoch's father
Jared, as well as with the date of the baptism of Jesus Christ. These multiple testimonies should
leave no doubt about the correctness of the dates proposed.
1. Enoch
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Enoch prophesied of the Great Flood.
The part of Genesis which most of us skip over are those long lists of "begats." Those records do,
however, provide the key to the chronology of the history of the human race. The usual method
for calculating dates based on those genealogies is simply to add up the ages of fathers at the births
of their sons.[2] That approach is fine for an approximation, but with the methods discussed in
these articles, the exact dates of the births of some of those patriarchs are indicated on sacred
astronomical calendars. Those dates may differ by a year or so from the approximation because
of how the fractional parts of the years add up.
An important point to consider is that only a few of the patriarchs were born on a holy day on the
Venus calendar, even though it appears at this time that all of them were born on Hebrew calendar
holy days. There are indications of calendars for each of the planets (except Pluto), and many of
those patriarchs may have been born on yet undiscovered holy days on other planetary calendars.
Because it is only the Venus and Mercury calendars which are understood at the present time, clues
will be sought to discover which patriarchs may have been born on holy days on the Venus
calendar.
The Prophet Joseph Smith provided a big clue in the case of Enoch. In his inspired translation of
the Bible, he made the only change in the length of the life of any patriarch in Genesis when he
corrected Enoch's age from 365 years to be 430 years (Moses 8:1, compare Gen. 5:23). It turns
out that 430 years is a period in which the Venus and Hebrew calendars may possibly have holy
days mark both the beginning and end of the interval.[3] Since such pairs of alignments are rare, if
one can be found in the years indicated for Enoch, then it is evidence that we have found the
correct dates.
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Noah building the ark at about age 600.
1.1 Enoch's Birth Date
The search for Enoch's dates was productive indeed. The day indicated for his birthday is Fri 19
Sep 3378 BC pm* (where pm* means after 6 p.m.). That date is about a year after the date
indicated by simply adding up the ages of the patriarchs given in Genesis,[4] and hence well within
the range of possible dates. That evening began the Feast of Tabernacles (15 Tishri) on the
Hebrew calendar sabbath day (Saturday). It was also the day 1 Eagle on the Native American
Sacred Round.[5] Both of these dates align with Adam because, as we saw last month, he
apparently first breathed the breath of life on the day Sat 17 Oct 4070 BC, which was also 1
Eagle and 15 Tishri. Enoch's proposed birth date was also most likely the Autumn Equinox (0
Autumn) on the Enoch calendar.[6] On the Venus calendar, the day was 1 Lord, the day beginning
the last 13 days of the Venus cycle, and which symbolizes becoming one with God.[7] That seems especially appropriate for Enoch, who would be the first to be translated and even have his entire city taken up into heaven (Moses 7:69). Thus, the day was a holy
day on four different sacred calendars.
1.2 Enoch's Translation
Having a proposed date for Enoch's birth and the clue that the 430-year length of his life might have been a Venus cycle, we can immediately find the day indicated for his
translation. It is either Wed 12 Oct 2948 BC or the day following, being the days 0 Lord and 1
Lord on the Venus calendar. The first choice would mark the exact completion of 269 Venus
cycles. We saw a similar symbolism with Adam, whose first day in the mortal world was on the
first day of the Venus cycle (1 Creation), and who died on the last day (0 Creation). But in the
case of Enoch, the following day 1 Lord would also seem appropriate, being the day on which to
become one with God.
Do we have other witnesses that either of these days is correct? In particular, was either of those
two days also holy on other sacred calendars? The proposed birthday was sacred on four
calendars and one would expect that Enoch's translation date would be no less important. Here we
are not disappointed because Wed 12 Oct 2948 BC was also a holy day on four sacred calendars.
First, it was 13 Reed on the Sacred Round. As currently understood, Reed symbolizes the
perfection of body achieved after resurrection,[8] and 13 also symbolizes completeness. The day
was 0 Resurrection on the Mercury calendar, a second witness of that symbolism. And finally, on
the Hebrew calendar, the day was 17 Heshvan, a minor holy day, which will now be discussed.
Thus both the birth and translation dates of Enoch form a matched set of sacred dates, which is so
improbable to have occurred by chance that it constitutes a strong witness that we have these two
dates correct. Now let us turn to the date of the Great Deluge.
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The day the dove returned with the olive branch was recorded.
2. The Flood
It is easy to look for a date for the Great Deluge because not only is an approximate year given in
the Bible, but also the very day on which the Flood began. In fact, one of the most surprising
aspects of the account of the Flood is that so many precise dates are included. Until that point in
Genesis, not one date is given to the very day, but only the ages of the patriarchs. Then suddenly
we are told the day on which the ark was loaded, the day the flood began when the fountains of the
deep erupted, the day the rain stopped, the day the water crested, the day the ark rested, the day
the first mountain top was visible, the days on which Noah sent various birds out to retrieve
evidence of the water abating, the day he removed the covering from the ark, and the day the earth
was dry (Gen. 7:7-8:14). Now what is all that about? The day the earth was dry? What does that
even mean? No puddles? Why would the Lord reveal this incredibly detailed list of dates? It must
be a very important pattern.
For now, let us content ourselves with the question of simply determining at least one of these
dates: the day on which the Flood began. That day is so important we shall refer to it simply as
the "Flood."
The year given for the Flood is the 600th year of Noah's life (Gen. 7:11), which, according to
adding up the ages of the patriarchs should be about 1,656 years after the Beginning of Mortality,
or about 2345 BC. The day indicated is 17 Heshvan, at that time the second month, and the
traditional Hebrew understanding of when the Flood began.[9] Checking the various sacred
calendars near that year leads to a date which will be shown to have overwhelmingly strong
support: Sat 16 Nov 2343 BC. Counting 17 Heshvan as a minor holy day, the day was also a
holy day on only one other known sacred calendar, being the Last Day of Tabernacles on the
Enoch Fixed calendar (21 Autumn). But the important alignment date on the Venus calendar was
the day on which the ark was loaded, one week earlier.
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The day the ark was loaded was the Venus alignment date.
2.1 Noah's Ark
The scripture states that the ark was loaded one week prior to the Flood (Gen. 7:7-10). Why
should the detail of that date be included? It appears to be because that was the date of the Venus
alignment for the Flood, which was a holy day on four calendars. The day Sat 9 Nov 2343 BC
was 13 Reed (Sacred Round), 14 Autumn (Feast of Tabernacles, Enoch Fixed), 0 Prime (Venus),
and 0 Creation (Mercury). That alignment alone, although rare, is not compelling that we have the
dates correct yet. What is compelling, however, is the array of other witnesses which testify of
this date. It is so important that it needs a name, so let us refer to that day as "Noah's Ark." Now
let us consider its relation to the baptism date of the Savior.
2.2 Baptism of Jesus Christ
As we have seen in earlier articles, the date of the baptism of Jesus Christ was most likely Sat 6
Oct AD 29.[10] That date was indicated because it was the Day of Atonement on the Hebrew
calendar, the proper day to reconcile oneself with God. It is the most sacred day of the Hebrew
year, and the fact that John the Baptist was preaching repentance to a large congregation who came
forth to be baptized fits most perfectly with it having been on that day. Moreover, the very voice of
God was heard on that day testifying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Mat.
3:17). The Savior made a point of fulfilling the law of Moses to the very letter and would have
been baptized on the proper day for it. Confirmation in astronomical cycles was found in both the
Enoch Fixed calendar and also the Mercury calendar.[11]
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The day Jesus was baptized was a holy day on all seven sacred
calendars.
At the time that date was first proposed, not all of the seven sacred calendars being referenced in
this article were even recognized. Now a further witness to the correctness of that date is found in
the fact that it was a holy day on all seven of the sacred calendars. It was 10 Tishri (Atonement on
Hebrew), 13 Water (Sacred Round), 14 Autumn (Tabernacles on both the Enoch and Enoch
Fixed), 0 Prime (Venus), 0 Creation (Mercury) and 1 Hakkoz (Priest, provided that the baptism
was in the afternoon). Such a date only occurs about once per century, so it is remarkable that the
date of the Savior's Resurrection was also holy on all 7 calendars and it occurred only three and a
half years later. But what does the baptism of Jesus Christ have to do with Great Flood?
2.3 Baptism of the Earth
L.D.S. Church presidents and apostles have taught that the Great Flood was the baptism of the
earth by water. For example, Elder Joseph Fielding Smith summarized the idea thus:
FLOOD WAS BAPTISM OF EARTH. Now a word as to the reason for the flood.
It was the baptism of the earth, and that had to be by immersion. If the water did
not cover the entire earth, then it was not baptized, for the baptism of the Lord is
not pouring or sprinkling.[12] (capitalization and emphasis his)
He went on to quote President Brigham Young, President John Taylor, and Elder Orson Pratt who
also taught that the Flood was the earth's baptism. He was well aware of the line of reasoning
against a universal Flood based on arguments about the current heights of mountains and
current amounts of water, but he strongly testified that, notwithstanding the wisdom of man,
the Flood did indeed cover every mountain top at least briefly.[13] Now consider the following which supports this teaching.
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"All the high hills, that were under the whole heaven,
were covered." (Gen. 7:19)
The proposed date for Noah's Ark is on a day 14 Autumn (Enoch Fixed), 0 Prime (Venus) and 0
Creation (Mercury). The proposed date for the Savior's Baptism is also on a day 14 Autumn
(Enoch Fixed), 0 Prime (Venus) and 0 Creation (Mercury). How rare is such an alignment?
Using my current models for the calendars, there are only 22 dates during the 7,000 years of the
earth's history which meet those criteria. That means there is only about one day every 350 years so similar to the day of the Savior's baptism. The fact that Noah's Ark day, which was determined to the very day from the Biblical account, happens to be one of those rare days should establish that the alignment is not due to blind chance.
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Figure 1. The interval from Noah's Ark to Christ's Baptism was the best alignment of Venus with the Enoch Fixed calendar in 7,000 years.
But the
alignment of Venus with the 364-day year of the Enoch Fixed calendar is even better than that.
The two dates are separated by exactly 2,379 Enoch Fixed years of 364 days, or 865,956 days.[14] Amazingly, that is a "realignment cycle" for Venus with the Enoch Fixed Calendar. That means that
there is no shorter period which is so nearly an exact number of Venus cycles. Stated differently,
1,483 Venus cycles of 583.92166 days each = 865,955.82 days. Thus, the average position of
Venus only differs by 0.18 days between the two dates. No smaller multiple of 364 days is so
accurate.[15] Of the 20 other aligning dates, there is no better match in 7,000 years to the proposed
date of the Flood than is the date of the Savior's baptism. Thus, this one alignment alone is compelling evidence to establish both of the proposed dates, as well as the concept that the Flood was
the baptism of the earth. The unique relationship is illustrated in Figure 1.
Let us now consider the next witness: the alignment with Enoch's translation date.
2.4 Enoch's Witness
As we saw above, Enoch's proposed translation date is on 17 Heshvan (Hebrew) and also 13
Reed (Sacred Round). Now we see that the proposed flood dates are 13 Reed for Noah's Ark, and
17 Heshvan for the Flood. Either one of these coincidences alone could be by chance, but to have
Enoch's translation link to two Flood dates seems worthy of more investigation.
Why should Enoch's translation date align with the Flood? It is most likely a secondary effect. As
we've seen in earlier articles, there is a pattern the Lord seems to use that parents' vital dates are
linked to those of their children.[16] Enoch's father was Jared. As we shall now see, it is really
Jared who is the grand witness of the date of the Flood, and his death date is linked to his son
Enoch, and so Enoch's dates are indirectly tied to the Flood. Let us now turn to our star witness.
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Jared's birth, ordination, and death dates testify of the Flood.
2.5 Jared's Dates
The ancient patriarchs had meaningful names. The research being presented here is a work
in progress, but at the current time it appears that the vital dates of the antediluvian patriarchs all
relate to Jesus Christ. In Hebrew the name "Jared" means "to descend." It is the same root (has
same consonants) as "Jordan," which is said to be the lowest river on earth. When the Savior was
baptized in the River Jordan, in a sense he was descending into the deepest depths. Thus, it is
proposed that the name Jared signals us that he is related to the baptism of Jesus Christ, and hence
indirectly to the baptism of the earth.
Enoch was born when Jared was 162 years old (Gen. 5:18), which would put his birth about 3540
BC according to our above birth date for Enoch. His birth date may or may not have anything to
do with the Venus calendar. The expectation that it might is based on the fact that the Savior's
baptism was on a holy day on the Venus calendar.
2.5.1 Jared's Birth Date
Searching through the year 3540 BC, an ideal date for Jared's birth is found: Mon 30 May 3540
BC pm*. That was 1 Sivan (Hebrew, on which the first day of every month is a minor holy
day), 1 Eagle (Sacred Round), and 1 Prime (Venus). Thus we have a Venus holy day coinciding
with a Hebrew holy day, and the Venus day happens to be the one corresponding to the Savior's
baptism. Another witness that this date is correct is that there is a link to his son Enoch, who was
also born on 1 Eagle.
2.5.2 Jared's Death Date
Jared lived 962 years, the second longest life listed in the Bible. Looking for his death date is also
fruitful: Mon 3 Nov 2578 BC, which was 17 Heshvan (Hebrew), 13 Jaguar (the holy day
preceding 1 Eagle on the Sacred Round), and 0 Prime (Venus). Here we see another link to his
son who also left earth on 17 Heshvan, two links to the Flood (17 Heshvan and 0 Prime), and one link
to the Savior's baptism (0 Prime). These are all witnesses that we have found the right date and
that both his birth and death dates are related to the two great baptisms of the earth and Savior. It is astounding that by simply believing the Bible enough to search the indicated year that these rare dates can be found which interlock with each other like gears in a perfectly designed timepiece.
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Figure 2. The many interlocking father-son relationships between Jared and Enoch.
One startling result for the length of Jared's life is that it an exact number of Sacred Rounds
(starting on 1 Eagle and ending on 13 Jaguar), and also of Venus cycles (beginning on 1 Prime and
ending on 0 Prime). That is very difficult to do. Don't try this at home unless you plan on living
97.52 years. That is the first interval in which the Venus cycle comes out even in Sacred Rounds
(61 x 583.92166 = 137 x 260 days). An even better realignment interval of Venus with the Sacred
Round occurs at 301 x 583.92166 = 676 x 260 = 175,760 days, which is about 481 years.
Arguments for creation arise spontaneously just from how organized these numbers are. For
example, that interval equals 4 x 13 x 13 Sacred Rounds of 13 x 20 days each, rather than simply
being some random number. Both of these intervals were known to the Mayans who used
them to reset their Venus calendar.[17] Jared lived for exactly two of those realignment intervals to
the very day.[18] Most of these amazingly rare alignments required patriarchs who lived many
hundred years. Figure 2 illustrates the intricate father-son alignments between Jared
and Enoch, as well as how Jared's life aligned with both the Venus calendar and the Sacred
Round. It is amazing to me that so many rare father-son alignments are even possible. It is not just that we have found rare dates in the very years indicated. The interaction between the birth-death date pairs, coupled with the interaction between father-son pairs is overwhelming evidence that these dates are correct, and that an omniscient God scheduled these lives to perfectly fit his solar system timepiece.
2.5.3 Realignment Lifetimes
It might be worth a moment here to note how many lives of the prophets we have found so far
realign astronomical cycles to the very day. Those cycles are summarized in the following table. Again it must be emphasized that the odds against any one of these pairs of dates just happening by blind chance to occur in the years indicated in the Bible are staggering. The fact that Jared's lifetime aligns two different cycles to the very day is astonishing.
| Prophet | Cycles | Cycle Dates |
|---|
| Adam | 582 Venus Cycles | 1 Creation - 0 Creation |
| Jared | 602 Venus Cycles | 1 Prime - 0 Prime |
| Jared | 1,352 Sacred Rounds | 1 Eagle - 13 Jaguar |
| Enoch | 269 Venus Cycles | 1 Lord - 0 Lord |
| Jesus Christ | 33 Hebrew Years | 15 Nisan - 14 Nisan |
Table 1. The lives of some prophets were an exact number of astronomical cycles.
2.5.4 Jared's Ordination Date
The Lord went to the trouble in our day to reveal all of the ordination dates of the antediluvian
prophets. The date for Mahalaleel (Jared's father) was given to the very day (D&C 107:46). Why
would we possibly care that he was 497 years and 7 days old when he was ordained? We are to
live by every word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God, but what are we supposed to do
with these ordination dates?
Let us begin by considering Jared's ordination date. The Lord says he was age 200 at ordination,
and that he was blessed on the same day (D&C 107:47). Some prophets were ordained and
blessed on different days, such as his son Enoch, (D&C 107:48), so that may have been a very
important day indeed.
The indicated day in the implied year of Jared's ordination was Sat 6 April 3340 BC. This day
was a real winner. It was 13 Water (Sacred Round), 14 Spring (Passover, Enoch), 14 Autumn
(Tabernacles, Enoch Fixed), and 0 Prime (both Venus and Mercury). It was also sacred on the
Priest calendar, so it was holy on 6 of the 7 known sacred calendars (all but Hebrew).
The following table summarizes all of the data so far relating to Jared, Enoch and both baptisms.
| Event | Hebrew | S. R. | Venus | Merc. | Enoch | Enoch Fixed |
|---|
| Jared b. | 1 Siv | 1 Eagle | 1 Pri | — | — | — |
| Enoch b. | 15 Tis | 1 Eagle | 1 Lrd | — | 0 Aut | — |
| Jared o. | — | 13 Water | 0 Pri | 0 Pri | 14 Spr | 14 Aut |
| Enoch t. | 17 Hes | 13 Reed | 0 Lrd | 0 Res | — | — |
| Jared d. | 17 Hes | 13 Jaguar | 0 Pri | — | — | — |
| Noah's Ark | — | 13 Reed | 0 Pri | 0 Cre | — | 14 Aut |
| The Flood | 17 Hes | — | — | — | — | 21 Aut |
| Baptism
of Christ | 10 Tis | 13 Water | 0 Pri | 0 Cre | 14 Aut | 14 Aut |
Table 2. Events calendrically aligned with the Great Deluge and the baptism of Jesus Christ.
2.6 Jared's Witnesses of Two Baptisms
Now let us consider how these three dates in the life of Jared testify both of the date of the Great
Deluge and of the Savior's Baptism.
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Figure 3. Jared's Venus alignments with both Noah's Ark and Christ's baptism testify of those dates.
2.6.1 Five Venus Calendar Alignments
Jared's proposed birth date is on the day 1 Prime of the Venus cycle, and the dates of his
ordination and death, of Noah's Ark, and of the baptism of Christ all occur on 0 Prime, the last
day of a Venus cycle which began on 1 Prime. Thus, all of the known dates for Jared align on the
Venus Calendar with both baptisms, as shown in Figure 3, which is totally beyond chance.
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Jared's ordination testifies of loading the ark.
2.6.2 From Jared's Ordination to Noah's Ark
The interval from the ordination of Jared to Noah's Ark was 364,364 days. The principal
realignment interval of the Venus cycle with the day is 7,007 days (12 Venus cycles of 583.92
days = 7,007.04 days). That number 7,007 is equal 7 x 7 x 11 x 13 days. The fact that it is such
an accurate interval, and that it is divisible by 13, is what enables it to be the basis of the Venus calendar. It is also a miniature of all of history because it can be thought of as 7 periods of 1,001 days each, similar to seven millennial days of 1,000 years each. The interval of 1,001 days is very useful as a long "day" because it comes out even in both weeks
and 13-day intervals and also increments by one on the 20-cycle. For example, beginning from the
day Sun 1 Light, a 1,001 day interval later falls on Sun 1 Wind (Wind is the glyph following
Light).
With that in mind, the interval from Jared's ordination to Noah's ark can therefore be thought of in
at least three different ways. It was a) 52 Venus realignment cycles of 7,007 days each, or b) 1,001
Enoch Fixed years of 364 days each, or c) one "Grand Enoch Year" of 364 "long days" of 1,001
days each.
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Figure 4. Jared's Ordination, Noah's Ark, and Christ's Baptism are separated by multiples of 13 Enoch years of 364 days, with the outer interval also even in Sacred Rounds of 260 days.
2.6.3 Jared's Ordination to the Baptism of Christ
Even more impressive is the relationship of Enoch's ordination date to the date of the baptism of Jesus
Christ. He was baptized on a day 13 Water (Sacred Round), 14 Autumn (Enoch Fixed), and 0
Prime (Venus), all of which match the ordination date. The fact that it was the same Venus day on
both the Sacred Round of 260 days and also the Enoch Fixed calendar of 364 days is rare indeed.
The exact number of days between the two dates is impressive in itself. The dates of Jared's
ordination and the Baptism of Christ are separated by exactly 13 x 260 x 364 days.[19] The
number 13 is foundational to both the Sacred Round (260 = 20 x 13) and the Enoch Calendar (364
= 28 x 13), so the fact that 13 times their product just happens to be an exact number of Venus
cycles is yet another argument for the design of the orbit of Venus to fit these calendars, which is
just what the Mayans believed.[20] Figure 4 illustrates these numeric relationships of Jared's ordination date both to Noah's Ark and also to the Savior's baptism. Note that both of the intervals to Noah's Ark are multiples of 13 Enoch Fixed years of 364 days, but that the overall interval is also a multiple of 260 days.
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Picture drawn from eye-witness accounts of the ark on Mt. Ararat.
2.6.4 Jared's Death and the Flood
Jared died exactly 235 years before the Flood according to the Hebrew calendar, both dates being
on 17 Heshvan. That interval is not fully understood at this time, but it appears to be the best
interval to align not only the sun and moon (Hebrew calenar), but also the planets Mercury, Venus,
Mars, and Saturn with the Priest cycle of 168 days. The relationships with Mars and Saturn are
beyond my understanding at this point, as well as the apparent tie to the Priest cycle, but this
information is included here to show the richness of the planetary interactions, and of yet
undiscovered witnesses and symbolism.[21]
3. Conclusion
We have found an interlocking set of eight dates for Jared, his son Enoch, the Flood, and the Baptism of Jesus Christ. Each by itself is only one thread which may not be convincing. But the many interrelations between those threads create a tapestry, forming a vivid picture that testifies of the all of those events together. The probability of those interlocking alignments occurring by blind chance in the very years indicated by the Bible is so small that one is compelled to conclude that the proposed dates are correct. Moreover, it implies that the Creator scheduled the lives of those patriarchs according to an incredibly complex design, to leave a record of the great events of history, according to his foreknowledge. These results vindicate the Book of Genesis as a true historical and inspired document. There should be no doubt that there indeed was a Great Flood and that it began on Sat 16 Nov 2343 BC.
Moreover, what began as simply a chronological exercise to determine the date of the Great Deluge
resulted in much more. At first there was no thought of extending the discussion into the realm of
asking whether or not the Flood was truly worldwide. The surprising result was that the Flood is
so closely tied to the baptism of Jesus Christ that there seems to be no escaping the comparison of
the Flood to the baptism of the earth. Thus, it may be time for us to rethink any arguments we may
have entertained about a localized Flood, and also of civilizations which we assume existed without
interruption in the year 2343 BC, when the fountains of the great deep erupted, and "the world
that then was, being overflowed with water, perished" (2 Peter 3:6).
Notes
- Pratt, John P., "Venus and the Beginning of Mortality," Meridian Magazine (9 Jul 2003). The Venus and Hebrew calendars are briefly described in that article.
- See Pratt, John P., "Genealogy from Adam to the Twelve Tribes," (Salt Lake City: HandKraft, 1968).
- 430 years of 365.242 days = 157,054 days, and 269 Venus cycles of 583.92166 days =
157,075 days. The 21-day difference between these numbers allows an occasional coincidence
between the Venus and Hebrew calendars because the Venus calendar always aligns with 13-day
intervals, and the Hebrew differs from the solar year by as much as a month. Thus, the 430-year
period only occasionally allows for both the beginning and end dates to be holy days on both
calendars at the same season of the year.
- The sum of the ages is 130+105+90+70+65+162=622 years (Gen. 5:3-18). 622 years after 4001 BC is 3379 BC.
- See Pratt, John P., "A Native American Easter", Meridian Magazine (28 Mar 2001), for an introduction to the Sacred Round.
- See Pratt, John P., "Enoch Calendar Testifies of Christ", Meridian Magazine (11 Sep 2001) for
an introduction to the Enoch Calendar. Enoch's proposed birth date is the Autumnal Equinox (0
Autumn) only if the day began at 6:00 p.m. (or sunset) which now appears to be the case. In that
first article I suggested that the Enoch day probably started in the morning, and even now the
evidence is not conclusive.
- 1 Lord is the first of the minor holy days to be mentioned in my articles and deserves a note of
explanation. It currently appears that on both the Venus and Mercury calendars, in addition to the
8 major holy days (1 Creation, 1 Birth, 1 Prime, and 1 Resurrection, and the days preceding
them), there are also 8 minor holy days: 1 Quickening, 1 Adult, 1 Death, and 1 Lord, and the
days preceding them. Each of these has a counterpart on the Sacred Round having the same
symbolic meaning of a day in the cycle of life: Creation = Light (conception), Quickening =
Wind (when spirit enters the unborn), Birth = Temple (birth), Adult = Dragon (maturity), Prime = Serpent (prime), Death = Skull (death), Resurrection = Grass (resurrection), and Lord = Flower
(divinity). In Mayan, Flower is called Ahau, meaning "Lord." Mayan priests explained that "On
the twentieth and last day Ahau (god), he becomes one with the divinity." (Irene Nicholson,
Mexican and Central American Mythology, New York, Hamlyn Publishing, 1967, p. 52).
- Reed is the glyph following Grass, which symbolizes resurrection. The reed apparently represents the grass later when it is fully grown. In the resurrection, children will grow to
maturity after they resurrect (See Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 200, including fn. 4), so this glyph may represent the day one receives the fully mature resurrected body. The Reed was associated with Jesus Christ because he was born on the day 1 Reed. He is "the resurrection and the
life" (John 11:25), and of course, he was fully mature on the day of his resurrection. But the day
on which he was presented to the priest at the temple as an infant, which was his "birthday" on
the Enoch Fixed calendar, was the day 1 Grass. Perhaps that signified that even as an infant, he
was "the resurrection."
- Since the time of Moses, Heshvan (formerly Heshwan or Marheshwan) has been the eighth month, rather than the second, because the Lord changed the numbering at that time to begin in the spring (Ex. 12:2). The traditional Jewish date for the Flood is 17 Heshvan: "The duration of the flood was a whole year. It began on the seventeenth day of
Heshwan . . . " (Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, vol. I, p. 163.)
- Pratt, John P., "What Every Mormon Should Know About Astronomy," Meridian Magazine (12 May 2000), section 3.
- Pratt, John P., "Enoch Calendar Testifies of Christ", Meridian Magazine (11 Sep 2001), Section 5.
- Smith, Joseph Fielding, Jr., Doctrines of Salvation (Salt Lake City: BookCraft, 1955), Vol.2, p.320.
- It has recently been proposed that the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the gash in the ocean floor which runs thousands of miles down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, may be where the fountains of the deep erupted, rather than merely being a source of slow ocean-floor spreading as believed by most scientists (see, for example, Walt Brown, In The Beginning, Phoenix, 2001). We might also note
that the same prophets who taught that the earth was baptized by immersion in water also foretold
the baptism of the earth by fire still yet to come. Those hoping that this future baptism is also not
by immersion might support their position with calculations that there is not enough fire today to
engulf the entire earth. Of course, the rest of us are confident that the Lord can create whatever
flames are needed.
- Astronomers use "Julian Day Numbers" to facilitate such calculations. They simply assign a
consecutive number to every day, beginning with Mon 1 Jan 4713 BC (Julian calendar) being
Julian Day 0. The day Sat 9 Nov 2343 BC was Julian Day 865,975, and Sat 6 Oct AD 29 was
Julian Day 1,731,931. The difference between those numbers is 865,956 days.
- Such calculations can be verified on my web site at
http://www.johnpratt.com/items/calendar/mathutil/realign.html. In this case choose "2"
realignment cycles, with one cycle being "Enoch" and the other "Venus." The second realignment
cycle is seen to be 865,956 days.
- Pratt, John P., "From Martyrdom to Celebration!" Meridian Magazine (6 June 2002), section 5.
- To verify the calculations at the link given in footnote 15, enter "Sacred" and "Venus" to see
both realignment cycles of 35,620 and 175,760 days. See also Anthony Aveni, Skywatchers of
Ancient Mexico (Austin: U. of Texas Press, 1980) for a discussion of how the 61 Venus cycles are
actually used in the Mayan Dresden Codex (p. 192), and for the claim that "the Maya astronomers
had succeeded in tabulating the motion of Venus to .08 part of a day in 481 years" (p. 191).
- Again using Julian Days as explained in footnote 14, Jared was born on 428,617 and died on 780,136, so he lived 351,520 days (one more than their difference), which is twice the interval of 175,760 days.
- The Julian Day of the ordination was 501,611 and the Julian Day of the Baptism is given in footnote 14, and the difference between them is 1,230,320 = 13 x 260 x 364 days.
- Roys, Ralph, The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel (Norman, OK: U. of Oklahoma, 1967), p. 116: "This is a song of how the uinal came to be created before the creation of the world." Uinal is the Mayan word for what is now called the veintena, the 20-day cycle.
- Moreover, including the star background shows that on both of the dates of Jared's death and the Flood, there was a close conjunction of Mercury and Saturn in the Archer, as well as Mars accompanying Venus in the Water Bearer. It may be significant that at the Flood, Venus is
right at the stream that the Water Bearer is pouring out. Much more research is required to
understand the rich symbolism of the "signs" in the stars of which the Lord spoke (Gen. 1:14).