Venus and the Beginning of Mortality

by John P. Pratt

Reprinted from Meridian Magazine (9 July 2003)
©2003 by John P. Pratt. All rights Reserved.

Index, Home

Contents
1. Venus Calendar
1.1 Birth, and Resurrection of Venus
1.2 Venus and The Sacred Round
1.3 Rare Venus Anchor Points
1.4 Other Witnesses
2. Historical Examples
2.1 Capture of Jeconiah
2.2 Siege of Jerusalem
2.3 Return from Exile
2.4 Resurrection of Christ
2.5 Book of Mormon Resurrects
3. Christ's Birth
4. Adam
4.1 The "Perfect Birthday"
4.2 Adam's Death Date
5. Beginning of Mortality
5.1 4,000 years
5.2 Overwhelming Odds
5.3 Adam and Christ
6. Conclusion
Notes
The Venus Calendar may provide a scientific method of precisely determining the chronology in the Book of Genesis, beginning with the expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

The Book of Genesis provides us with a detailed chronology in the genealogies included, and through modern revelation we know that the book was not composed by Moses, but rather it was a revelation from God (Moses 2:1). It covers the first third of the temporal history of the earth, from Adam to Joseph. But from what point on our calendar is that time-keeping reckoned?

Until now there has not been any absolute method, tied to astronomical calculations, which could be used to fix even one date in Genesis with certainty. Celestial phenomena can be calculated with pinpoint precision. For example, ancient records in Assyria state that a total eclipse of the sun was visible in a certain city during the reign of a certain king. From historical sources that year can be narrowed down to a range of a few decades. But astronomy provides the key to knowing the exact date of that eclipse, because a solar eclipse is only visible in any given city about once every three hundred years. Astronomy is the most sure secular method to determine historical dates.

The lunar eclipse on Friday, 1 April AD 33, viewed from Jerusalem after sunset, at the rising of the full moon of Passover.
The Bible has not provided for us observations of eclipses which we could use to determine some anchor dates. If the scriptures had stated that there was an eclipse of the moon visible as the full moon of Passover rose in Jerusalem at the death of Jesus Christ, then we could pinpoint the afternoon of his death astronomically to be Fri, 1 Apr AD 33 (on our calendar).[1] Chronology would be simple if the Bible stated something like, "And Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden of Eden on a Sunday Passover exactly 4 millennial days of 1,000 years each before the coming of the Son of God in the meridian of time." But the Bible contains no such statement; apparently the Bible was given to us as a guide to be used with faith, without such obvious proofs of its veracity.

Without astronomical clues, researchers have been left to simply adding up the ages provided in the genealogy and king lists of the Bible. That method results in so much uncertainty that none of the many proposed chronologies has been generally accepted. Looking in the dictionary provided in the LDS Bible shows two different chronologies of the Kings of ancient Israel, which differ by decades. Looking at it before the reign of King David, one sees that no dates at all are included, except that Adam dates from 4000 BC.

The purpose of this article is to show that there is indeed evidence in the scriptures, which allow some of the dates given in the genealogies of Genesis to be calculated with quarter-day precision. The key is to recognize certain intervals as periods in which the Venus Calendar and Hebrew Calendars can align. These alignments are rare. When they occur, they can provide anchor dates with the same astronomical precision and certainty that eclipses provide.

1. Venus Calendar

In an earlier article an introduction to the Venus Calendar was given.[2] Let us now review the basics of the Venus Cycle, and then proceed to use to find an absolute anchor point in the Genesis chronology.

1.1 Creation, Birth, and Resurrection of Venus

The planet Venus goes through phases very much like the moon. Half of the time when it is visible in the sky it is the Evening Star and the other half it is the Morning Star. The complete cycle of both requires about 584 days. The Savior identified himself with the bright "morning star" (Rev. 22:16). Why? From the Native Americans we learn that its cycle symbolizes the life of Quetzalcoatl, the white god who visited them in the First Century AD. Quetzalcoatl seems clearly to be Jesus Christ.

The "holy days" on the Venus calendar are at the points Creation, Birth, Prime & Resurrection.
The cycle begins with the conception or "creation" of Venus when Venus is in the eastern sky. Then it disappears into the earth, symbolizing entering the womb. After nearly a two month gestation period of invisibility, Venus rises in the west as the Evening Star, at its "birth", symbolizing the birth of Jesus Christ. For several months it rises higher in the sky and becomes much brighter, until it reaches its "prime" of life. Then Venus plunges rapidly into the earth and "dies," even as the Savior died in his prime. A few days later Venus "resurrects" as a very bright Morning Star, even as did the Savior. Near the end of its cycle it becomes one with God, and that completes the cycle.

The Venus calendar tracks these phases of Venus. It is a cycle which averages 584 days in length, and has 8 "holy days," which are the first and last days of the phases of Creation, Birth, Prime, and Resurrection. The planet Mercury is also a morning and evening star and experiences the same phases and has the same 8 holy days in a 116-day cycle. Often it appears to be used as a second witness to the Venus calendar of the importance of a date.

1.2 Venus and The Sacred Round

The Venus calendar is synchronized with the Sacred Round of the Native Americans.[3] That calendar is an unending cycle of 260 days, which are arranged as twenty groups of 13 days each, numbered sequentially from 1 to 13. It is similar to our week of seven days, and like the week, no "leap days" are ever inserted into the cycle. Thus it makes a perfect device for dating because the cycle is never adjusted in any way.

The 20 Aztec glyphs for the Sacred Round at the circumference and their names (read from top counterclockwise).
The Sacred Round includes another cycle of twenty days represented by twenty pictures. Many are figures of everyday objects, such as a Flower, Serpent, Eagle, or Deer. The Mayan priests taught that they are symbolic of steps in a man's life, such as birth (represented by a Temple, meaning the day we receive the temple of our body) and death (represented by the Skull). Dates are designated by listing both the day number (1-13) and picture (20 choices) and the entire Sacred Round repeats every 13 x 20 = 260 days. For example, the first glyph is "Light" and the first day of the Sacred Round is named "1 Light." The second day is "2 Wind." The Aztec form of the twenty pictures are shown in Figure 2.[4]

The phases of Venus are aligned with the Sacred Round such that the phases always begin on a day "1" The three most important phases of interest for this article occur on the three days "1 Creation", "1 Birth" and "1 Resurrection." Thus the "1 Birth" on the Venus calendar sometimes occurs on the day "1 Light" on the Sacred Round, sometimes on "1 Eagle", and similarly for all twenty of the different figures.

1.3 Rare Venus Anchor Points

The fundamental and most important calendar which the Lord apparently uses is the Hebrew Calendar. It has been discussed extensively,[5] but briefly, it is a lunisolar calendar, meaning that the months begin near the new moon, and the years are tied to the seasons of the year. The version used in my articles is called the Perpetual Hebrew Calendar. It is based on repeating cycles of the sun and moon, is precisely defined throughout history, and usually agrees with the official Hebrew calendar.

The method I propose to precisely determine religious chronology is to look for dates in which holy days on various sacred calendars occur at the same time. So far, seven sacred calendars have been discovered,[6] and it is expected that other planetary calendars will be forthcoming, such as a Jupiter calendar. Thus, even if the Lord really is using these calendars, they probably are only used for certain religious events, and none of these seven calendars may apply to some events.

Notice just how rare calendar dates are which are holy on several calendars. How unusual is it for these calendars to align on any given day? Take, for example, the first day of each cycle. How often do all of the calendars begin on the same day? New Year's Day occurs once per year on the Hebrew calendar, which could be any day of the 584-day Venus cycle. That means that only about once every 584 years does New Year's Day coincide with the first day (1 Creation) on the Venus calendar.[7] Thus, alignments just between those two calendars are often enough to specify a given day within a few centuries. That provides a wonderful mechanism for pinpointing dates in chronology, provided that God is actually using such a system. But there are at least seven Sacred Calendars which God appears to use. How often do all seven begin on the same day? It turns out that they never can all align on their first day, but if the Priest calendar had been designed with that in mind, then they could align about once every 1,400,000,000 years![8]

Thus, the method proposed in this article, which the Lord appears to use, is that he includes enough alignments between these sacred calendars to remove all reasonable doubt of a chance coincidence. Of the seven calendars, several are linked to each other, which increases the number of alignments, and makes it possible to have alignments on holy days every few years.[9] Also, it is possible to have alignments for only a 6-hour period because the calendar day begins at a different time of day for different calendars. That can double the number of alignments, but then they are for a shorter time.

The two most independent calendars are the Hebrew (based on sun, moon, and the week of 7 days) and the Venus calendar (based on Venus and 13-day cycle). They are totally independent of each other. They appear to be the two principal sacred calendars. This article will deal exclusively with dates which are holy days on those two calendars because they are the most rare alignments and hence the most useful for chronology.

1.4 Other Witnesses

Suppose that an event occurs on a holy day, but only on one calendar. Are there other witnesses that can be marshalled to testify that it was not a chance occurrence? For example, the Prophet Joseph Smith was born on the holy day 1 Tebeth on the Hebrew calendar, Mon 23 Dec 1805 pm* (* is read "star," meaning night). That day was not a holy day on any of the other six known sacred calendars. Was his birth on that day just chance or could it have been meaningful? It turns out that even though the importance of his birth date is yet to be discovered (probably on the Saturn and/or Uranus calendars), there are ways to tell even now that his birth on the Hebrew calendar was not by chance.

Symbolism. Sometimes there is a witness in the appropriateness of the day for the occasion. For example, if someone dies on a day "Skull" on the Sacred Round, then it seems more meaningful because that day represents death. It often isn't enough for the event simply to be on any holy day, it means much more if it is on the right holy day. In the case of Joseph Smith, the day 1 Tebeth is the winter solstice on the Hebrew calendar. It has been suggested that the significance of his birth at that time might be that he would bring the light of the gospel, even as the light of day becomes brighter after the winter solstice.[10]

Death Date. Research so far suggests that birth and death dates often occur on holy days using the same sacred calendars to be a witness that it was not chance. In the case of Joseph Smith, he also died on a Hebrew holy day, 10 Tammuz, the day of the fall of Jerusalem.[11] Another example is that the Apostle Orson Pratt was born on Thu 19 Sep 1811, which was the Feast of Trumpets (1 Tishri) on the Hebrew Calendar. An indication that it was not random chance is that he died on Mon 3 Oct 1881, which was the Day of Atonement that year. Thus there are two witnesses that the Hebrew calendar may have been important in his life schedule.

Ordinances. Second witnesses can also come in the form of other important religious events in ones life, especially priesthood ordinances. The Lord revealed the ordination dates of the ancient patriarchs (D&C 107:42-52). Why? What does it matter when they were ordained? As we shall see, those ordination dates can be determined, and they are usually are closely related to the birth and death dates. They serve as another witness of the correctness of the dates.

Returning to the example of Orson Pratt, he was baptized on his 19th birthday, Sun 19 Sep 1830. The Hebrew calendar realigns with our calendar every 19 years, so he was baptized within a day of his birthday on the Hebrew calendar. That serves as another witness that his life was tied to the Hebrew calendar.

This example seems instructive because his brother Parley was also an apostle, and yet nothing in Parley's life seems tied to the Hebrew calendar at all, but rather to other calendars. Parley's martyrdom occurred on Wed 13 May 1857 which was 6 Skull (Sacred Round), 6 Death (Venus) and 6 Death (Mercury). Moreover, the number 6 is also symbolic of death; the Skull is figure number 6 in the cycle. That date is unusual indeed. It only occurs once between 1700 and 2200. That alone seems to be telling us that his murder had been foreseen long before his birth by an all knowing God. But there seems to be no corroboration in the calendars of any relation of his birth and death date. There is much research yet to be done.

This might be a good place to say that the coincidence does not mean that the murderer was "forced" in any way to do his foul deed, any more than was Judas Iscariot. But God has told us he can see the end from the beginning, and he is now allowing us to discover proof that it is true. We are free to act, but he is free to see the future and know what we will choose.

Family Members. As the dates of birth of the ancient patriarchs were discovered, it was astounding to me how many showed a tie to their fathers and sons. For if calendars A, B, and C aligned at the birth of one, then often it was B,C, and D for the next, and then C,D, and E. There seems to be a definite calendrical link between parents and children.

In the example of Joseph Smith, the mother of both Joseph and Hyrum was born on the day of their martyrdom on the Hebrew Calendar, 10 Tammuz (Sat 8 Jul 1775).[12] That provides another witness that it was not a chance alignment. Now let us review some historically known religious dates which have been simultaneous Venus and Hebrew holy days.

2. Historical Examples of the Venus Cycle

Is God actually using the Venus calendar? Are there dates known with certainty from secular sources on which the Venus calendar and Hebrew calendars coincide? And if so, what is the probability that the alignment was just due to blind chance?

Let us now consider several such examples of Hebrew-Venus calendar alignments. Many of these have been published previously, but a brief review could be useful here to see that God truly seems to be using these calendars.

The date of the capture of Jeconiah is recorded on this Babylonian clay tablet.

2.1 Capture of Jeconiah

The most solid date known in the history of the kings of Judah is the day on which Jeconiah (also known a Jehoiachin) was taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. The reason it is so certain is that it was recorded in the Babylonian records as the day 2 Adar in the 7th year of the king. That date can be translated into our calendar by using standard conversion tables: it was Sat 10 Mar 597 BC.[13] A second witness is that the Biblical record notes that the capture occurred as the year was changing, that is, on 1 Nisan (2 Chron 36:10). On the Hebrew calendar that day was indeed 1 Nisan, New Year's Day. There is no reason known to me to question this date at all because the years of Nebuchadnezzar are established with astronomical observations. The use of astronomy for chronology might well be due to his advisor Daniel, who could also have been responsible for having the precise date of Jeconiah's capture recorded even in the brief summary of highlights for that year.

That day was also the day 1 Birth on the Venus calendar, so it fits the pattern of interest for this article. Remember that New Year's Day only coincides with some Venus holy day about once in 73 years.

2.2 Siege of Jerusalem

The Lord gave surprising emphasis to the day on which Nebuchadnezzar began his siege of Jerusalem, before its fall. First, the prophet Ezekiel made a little model of Jerusalem and he used it to illustrate his prophecy of just how Nebuchadnezzar would do it (Ezek. 4:1-3). Later the Lord commanded him to write down the exact date it was fulfilled, being 10 Tebeth in the 9th year of Zedekiah (Ezek. 24:1-2). That precise date is also recorded by Jeremiah (Jer. 52:4, 2 Kings 25:1). Thus, it is also a very well established date, and it is the source of the modern Hebrew Fast of Tebeth on that day.

That day was Fri 11 Dec 589 BC and it was 1 Resurrection on both the Venus and Mercury calendars. Moreover, it was 1 Flower on the Sacred Round. In the Mayan tradition, the heliacal rising (resurrection) of Venus "was probably the most important single event in Maya astronomy." Moreover, when it occurred on the day 1 Flower (1 Ahau, in Mayan, meaning "1 Lord") it was the most meaningful of all.[14]

2.3 Return from Exile

Jeremiah prophesied that the captivity would last 70 years and indeed it did (2 Chron. 36:21).[15] The official ending date was the Feast of Tabernacles, which was celebrated shortly after the return to Jerusalem in the first year of Cyrus. That date was Mon 12 Sep 537 BC. The evening prior, when the feast officially began, was the day 1 Creation on the Venus calendar. Thus we not only have the Hebrew-Venus calendar connection, but there is also the second witness of the beginning and end dates of the captivity both using the same two calendars.

To have one date, known from history to the very day, correspond to a Venus holy day can only be expected 1 in 73 times (8 in 584). That is, if we examine random known dates, such as the dates of declarations of war, we should expect about 1 in 73 to be on Venus holy day, just from random chance, likewise for the dates on which the wars ended. But the chances of the same war both starting and ending on a holy day is only 1/73 x 1/73 = 1/5,329. To see why we multiply, think of actually doing this exercise. You gather 5,329 pairs of war starting and ending dates. You check all the start dates and discover about 73 on some Venus holy day. Now you only need check the end dates of those 73, and only about 1 of those 73 will be on a Venus holy day. And after all that work, the one you found probably wouldn't mean anything because that is the number you expect from pure chance.

Thus, we probably would have to study over 5,000 wars in order to find just one example to match this one of the Israelite captivity and return. This shows how the odds really multiply for several related dates. The law of multiple witnesses is compelling indeed. This pair alone should begin to convince us that God really might be using these calendars.

Christ resurrected on "1 Resurrection"

2.4 Resurrection of Christ

The date of the resurrection of Christ is clear from the Bible alone.[16] The empty tomb was discovered on the Sunday morning after Passover in the 18th or 19th year of Tiberius Caesar. No less than Sir Isaac Newton was the first to calculate that Sun 3 Apr AD 33 was a likely candidate for the Resurrection date.[17] Some modern researchers have verified that it is the most likely date, judging from the Biblical evidence alone.[18] Unfortunately, because of conflicting evidence about the birth date of Christ, and Herod's death date in particular, most researchers have rejected this date and opted for AD 30 instead.

The day Sun 3 Apr AD 33 is the ideal symbolic fit to the Venus Calendar because it occurred right on the very day 1 Resurrection. It was also a holy day on the Hebrew Calendar, being the time of the offering of the sheaf of firstfruits of the barley harvest. For simplicity, I have simply renamed that holy day "Easter" on the Hebrew Calendar, now that it is clear that it foreshadowed Christ being the firstfruits from the harvest of souls from the ground (1 Cor 15:20). It is determined almost exactly the same as the Christian Easter, being the Sunday after Passover.[19] Easter only occurs on 1 Resurrection about once in 584 years. Moreover, the day was 1 Creation on the Mercury calendar.

The Book of Mormon resurrected on "1 Resurrection"

2.5 Book of Mormon Resurrects

A final modern example is the day the Book of Mormon went on sale, Thu 25 Mar 1830. That day is only known historically to have been some time in the week from Sat 20 Mar to Fri 26 Mar,[20] but the Venus alignment makes the correct day clear. That Thursday was 1 Nisan, 1 Resurrection (Venus), 1 Creation (Mercury). Both Venus and Mercury were on the same day as on the Resurrection of Christ. Those two will only align on any given Hebrew day about once in 584 x 9 = 5,256 years. Because there are ten principal Hebrew holy days, that means there will be 10 such alignments in 5,256 years or about one in 525 years. That rare day seems to be clearly symbolizing the "resurrection" of the Book of Mormon.

3. Example of Christ's Birth

To show how the proposed system could be used, suppose you knew this clue that the Lord uses the Venus calendar, and that you only knew the date of some important religious event to within a decade. For example, many scholars would agree that the birth of Christ is known with about that accuracy. If you also realized that the scriptures imply that Christ would be born on Passover,[21] then you could look for a day in that interval on which Passover occurred on any of the 8 holy days of the Venus calendar. The probability of a chance alignment is only 8/584 = 1/73, meaning that on the average, Passover occurs on a Venus holy day only once every 73 years. So in a 10 year interval there is only about a 10/73 or about 1 in 7 chance of being successful. That is a good indication, but not enough to be compelling. It would require other testimonies to be sure.

To continue this example, it turns out there is one match in that decade of uncertainty. In 1 BC Passover occurred on Thu 6 April. L.D.S. readers will know that several modern prophets have testified that 6 April is the very day of the anniversary of Christ's birth, and implied that 1 BC was the year.[22] According to the scriptures, the Savior was born some time in the evening while shepherds watched their flocks by night, so that leaves open the possibility that he was born either before or after the daylight part of 6 April. The preceding evening, however, seems much more likely because otherwise we'd be celebrating before the event. Moreover, the actual feast of the Passover always occurs on the preceding evening, so that symbolism favors the birth of Christ being on the evening preceding Thu 6 Apr 1 BC.

The first day of the Venus cycle, the holy day 1 Creation, occurred on Wed 5 Apr 1 BC from midnight to midnight. The Hebrew day of 6 April 1 BC actually begins at 6 p.m. on the preceding evening. Thus, for a period of only six hours, there was an alignment of Passover with 1 Creation, on Wednesday evening from 6 p.m. until midnight (Wed 5 Apr 1 BC pm*). That is a perfect match with the most probable interpretation of what modern prophets have been telling us.

Moreover, there are two more calendrical witnesses. The day was also 1 Creation on the Mercury calendar. There is only a 1 in 9 probability that such was a chance alignment. Moreover, the day was 1 Reed on the Sacred Round. Native Americans were named for the day on which they are born on the Sacred Round. Some traditions maintain that 1 Reed was the name, and hence birth date, of Quetzalcoatl. So we have many witnesses of the date of Christ's birth.

Now let us turn to applying this procedure of hunting for days on which the Hebrew and Venus calendars align to see if it could be useful in understanding the chronology implied in those long "begat" lists in the Book of Genesis.

4. Adam

The theory proposed in this article is that the great prophets were born on holy days on the Hebrew calendar, usually with witnesses of other calendars that it was not by chance. Sometimes the witness calendar will be the Venus calendar, and it is those we will look for because they are the most rare and because that calendar is now well understood.

Next to Jesus Christ, Adam was the most important man who has ever lived on this planet. He is the head of the Priesthood. Both before and after his sojourn in mortality, he is the archangel, the chief of the seven holy angels who serve God (D&C 107:54). Thus, according to this theory, he should have vital dates which stand out in a crowd. There is no guarantee that the planet Venus is involved. There are many planets and I believe each has an associated calendar. But let's try with Venus calendar because it is the best understood.

When did Adam breathe the breath of life?
First, concerning the concept of "birth date," note that in the case of Adam, all we need to know is that the scriptures teach that there was a day on which Adam first breathed the breath of life (Gen. 2:7). Whether he was born or was created in a special manner is not important to this article. His first day can be thought of as his "breath-day," which we can shorten to "b-day". We also don't need any information about how the earth was created or how long that process took, which is far beyond the scope of this article. We need only believe that once upon a time there lived a man named Adam, about 4,000 years before Christ, give or take a few centuries, according to the Biblical chronology.

Let's start with the working hypothesis that Adam may have had a very special b-day. Maybe it is so good that it will "jump out" at us if we just look for it. Let's think big and start with the very best. What day would be the perfect b-day on all the sacred calendars?

4.1 The "Perfect Birthday"

Six of the seven known sacred calendars have a day representing "birth." Can those calendars all align? If so, that would be a very special birthday indeed.

The day for birth on the Hebrew calendar is Tabernacles, the day on which Israel was to begin dwelling in a tabernacle. "Tabernacle" can refer to the body, and Israel celebrated this feast by actually building little huts to dwell in for a week. To me, that clearly represents birth, when the spirit enters the tabernacle of the body. Similarly, the perfect day for death would be the "Last Day of Tabernacles" which ends that holy week, when one ceases to dwell in a tabernacle.

On the Sacred Round, the best day for birth is 1 Temple, also symbolic of when the spirit enters its "temple." Note that temple and tabernacle are very similar concepts, both referring to a sacred dwelling, as physically illustrated on Temple Square. On the Venus and Mercury calendars, the day for birth is 1 Birth.

My research so far has indicated that these four calendars are the ones important for determining birth and death dates, which might be expected since all four have birth and death symbolism clearly indicated. The "Tabernacles" holy day is also on the Enoch and Enoch Fixed calendars, but indications to date imply that those calendars are rarely employed for births and deaths. Similarly, the Priest calendar does not even include any birth or death date symbolism; it appears to be used solely for priesthood officiating and ordinances. The Hebrew calendar appears to be the most important, so much so that every major prophet for whom birthdates have been determined using this method has been born on a Hebrew holy day. That is not true of priesthood ordinations and other important events.

Thus, perhaps the "perfect birthday" would be a day representing birth on all four of those calendars. How often should we expect such a birthday?

As noted above, the principal alignment is between the Hebrew and Venus calendar. Once every 584 years Tabernacles should occur on 1 Birth. Mercury would also be on 1 Birth about once in 9 x 584 = 5,256 years. Requiring 1 Temple also lowers the expectation to one day in 20 x 5,256 = 105,120 years. Are there any such dates? Having the computer search for 8,000 years (4700 BC to AD 3300) results in no such dates at all.

Removing the last requirement of 1 Temple results in two days in the 8,000 years on which the other three calendars indicate birth. The only BC date is Sat 17 Oct 4070 BC. That looks very promising, being in the right period of time. Moreover, there are several witnesses that it may well be Adam's b-day. One is that it was also the Last day of Tabernacles on the Enoch calendar, which is a bonus. While that calendar does not seem to be used much for birthdates, it could well be another witness that this date is correct. If this extra alignment is not just by chance, then usually a similar alignment will also be present in the death date.

The surprising witness to me was from the Priest Calendar, which doesn't even have a "birth" day on it. It is simply a succession of 24 priests, who each preside for one week. It turns out the afternoon of this possible b-day for Adam began the day "1 Jehoiarib", the first day of the Priest cycle! That occurs only once every 168 days. If this day does indeed turn out to be Adam's b-day, then it may indicate that he was ordained to be the presiding high priest on that very same afternoon that he took his first breath. If that interpretation is correct, I would expect the second witness to be that the priesthood keys were passed on from Adam to the next one officiating on the day "1 Jedaiah" because that is the day following "7 Jehoiarib" (the last day he presides).

4.2 Adam's Death Date

The Book of Genesis says that Adam lived 930 years (Gen. 5:5). Is that counting from his b-day, or from when his mortality began? And did mortality begin? Was it when he partook of the fruit, or when God judged him, or when he was expelled from the Garden of Eden from Paradise into this lower kingdom?

Because the answer isn't obvious, let's search for the matching "perfect" death date in those same 8,000 years. What is the ideal death date on the Venus and Mercury calendars? One would expect it to be "1 Death" but that may not be quite perfect because it is not a holy day. There are two other obvious possibilities: 0 Creation, the last day of the cycle, and 0 Resurrection, which is the last day of death. Looking for a Last Day of Tabernacles on one of those three dates leads to a real winner. That day is Tue 26 Sep 3071 BC, the Last Day of Tabernacles, and 0 Creation on both Venus and Mercury. That match is about in the right part of that 4,000 years. Moreover, the day was Atonement on the Enoch calendar, which was same the "extra" witness calendar used on the b-day. That is yet another indication that we are on the right track.

Could these dates really be correct? They would imply that Adam lived 999 years. Comparing that to the Genesis declaration that he lived 930 years could mean either that the dates are wrong, or that he lived 69 years in the Garden of Eden, and then 930 in mortality. Is there any evidence that he could have been in the garden that long?

Two different religions provide support for that very idea. First, there is the following Hebrew tradition: "[Adam's] appointed span was to be a thousand years, one of the Lord's days."[23] It was felt that the longest time he could live would be 1,000 years, because God had warned him that "in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:17). The tradition goes on to say the he gave seventy years of his life to someone else, so that he lived 930 years. This teaching could be based of the belief that he did indeed live nearly 1,000 years.

A modern confirmation comes from statements attributed to the Prophet Joseph Smith. Charles Walker recorded in his diary that he heard Wilford Woodruff state:

Our Father [Adam] held [the Priesthood], and he was the oldest man that ever lived, according to the Prophet Joseph's sayings. He lived until he was 1,000 years old within a few months.[24]

Edward's Stevenson's journal is a second witness, which states that he learned personally from Joseph Smith that

Father Adam began his work and finished what was to be done in his time, living to be one thousand years old with the exception of about six months. Truly the Bible gives Methuselah the credit of being the oldest but the Prophet Joseph had it revealed to him otherwise. It is only an error of man in translating the record.[25]

Further evidence that the Prophet believed that Adam lived nearly 1,000 years, and believed also that the Biblical record was mistranslated is that in the earlier versions of his inspired translation of the Bible, he corrected the Genesis account to state that Adam lived 1,000 years.[26] That makes three witnesses of the Prophet's belief concerning the length of Adam's life.

But then, surprisingly, in the final revision of his new translation, he changed it back to 930 years, as it now stands. Why? Perhaps the Prophet realized that even though Adam lived nearly 1,000 years, the Biblical chronology is reckoned from the beginning of Adam's mortality. If so, then it was not a mistake in Genesis, it was just that he had misunderstood at first how time was measured.

5. The Beginning of Mortality

Let's continue with the understanding that Adam lived 69 years in the garden and 930 years thereafter. Now the question is, precisely when was the beginning point of time from which the Genesis chronology is reckoned. It seems extremely important, because that "Beginning of Mortality" would most likely be the point form which the 7,000 years of the earth's "temporal existence" would also be measured (D&C 77:6).

Looking back 930 years from the proposed date for Adam's death leads to the "perfect date" for the official Beginning of Mortality. The day Sun, 9 Apr 4001 BC, was Passover on the Hebrew calendar, Easter on the Enoch calendar, and 1 Creation on the Venus calendar. The alignments with the Mercury and Enoch Fixed Calendars occurred two weeks earlier on the Hebrew New Year's Day, on Sun 26 Mar 4001 BC.

The Passover symbolism helps us to understand just what event occurred at the Beginning of Mortality. Passover is the traditional time to "go into the wilderness." Israel went into the wilderness for 40 years at their exodus from Egypt at Passover, and Lehi most likely went into the wilderness at Passover[27]. This symbolism implies that the Beginning of Mortality occurred when Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden into the wilderness.

5.1 4,000 years from Adam to Christ

Note the close tie of this date to the birth of Jesus Christ, Wed 5 Apr 1 BC pm*, which was also Passover. On the Hebrew Calendar, it was 4,000 years to the very day from the Beginning of Mortality until Christ was born. On our calendar the two dates are separated by four days (April 5 and April 9), but there is no indication so far that God ever uses our Roman calendar.

There are several traditions that 4,000 years would separate Adam and Christ. First, if one simply adds up the lengths of lives and kings reigns in the Bible, one gets a number very close to 4,000 years. When Bishop Ussher determined that the history of the earth began on the Sunday after the fall equinox in 4004 BC, that year was calculated as exactly 4,000 years before the usually accepted date for the birth of Christ in 4 BC.[28] That chronology was published in Bible dictionaries throughout the 18th and 19th centuries and has been the starting point for most subsequent refinements.

Secondly, it is the Hebrew tradition that "The world is to exist 6000 years. The first 2000 are to be void; the next 2000 are the period of the Torah; and the following 2000 years are the period of the Messiah."[29]. Thus, there would be 4,000 years from Adam to Christ, the Messiah. They also believed that during the subsequent seventh thousand years that the earth will rest during the Millennium.

Third, 4,000 years from Adam to Christ is an unofficial LDS tradition, as evidenced in the "Chronology" entry in the LDS Bible Dictionary noted above. Moreover, it may be implied in the concept that Christ would come at the "meridian of time" (Moses 5:57). It is official doctrine that the temporal existence of the earth, will last for 7,000 years (D&C 77:6) and that a day of the Lord is 1,000 years (Abr. 3:4). If a day cannot be divided, then the meridian (midpoint) of 7 days would come after 4 complete days.

5.2 Overwhelming Odds

Both the proposed date for the Beginning of Mortality and the Savior's birth were the day 1 Creation on the Venus Calendar. By now the reader is familiar with how rare Venus alignments are with the Hebrew Calendar. One only expects 1 Creation to fall on Passover once every 584 years. To have one of those rare coincidences occur exactly 4,000 years before Christ and also 930 years before the proposed date of Adam's death, is overwhelming evidence that all of the proposed dates are correct.

If the reader is not convinced, let us calculate the chances of having all three of these dates just happen to be in the right years to have mortality begin in exactly 4001 BC, and Adam live 930 years as a mortal and 69 or 70 years before mortality. The chance of Tabernacles in 4070 or 4071 BC being on 1 Birth Mercury and Venus and also any holy day on Enoch is 2/584 x 1/9 x 2/11 = 1/14,400. That means there is only one day like that b-day every 14,400 years.

Before continuing, note that in the case of these calendars, we can go beyond probability. We can actually verify our calculations by exhaustively checking every day in history to see how many matches there are. In this case, the computer tested every date in the range of its program, from 4700 BC to AD 6700. It can be definitely stated that there is only one date in 11,400 years meeting those criteria: Sat 17 Oct 4070 BC. We use the word "chance" only to describe our ignorance of the actual answer. In this case, we can know the answer, and thus remove "chance" from the conclusion.

But let us return to the probability calculation, because the results are instructive. The probability of the Last Day Tabernacles in 3071 BC being either 1 Death, 0 Creation or 0 Res on both Mercury and Venus, and any holy day on Enoch is 3/584 x 1/9 x 4/11 = 1/4,800. And the chance of Passover in 4001 BC being on any holy day on Venus and any holy on Enoch is 8/584 x 1/3 = 1/219. We multiply these three results to find how often we would expect to find the set of all three related dates to be winners from chance alone. Multiplying 1/14,400 x 1/4,800 x 1/219 tells us that the odds of blind luck having led to three such ideal dates are 1 in 15 billion!

As a final witness of design, even those tremendous odds were calculated for having the Beginning of Mortality be any Venus holy at all. But it turned out to be the first day of the cycle, 1 Creation. That is ideal for the beginning of any long era, like the 7,000 years of the mortality of the earth. Moreover, it means that Adam lived exactly 582 Venus cycles in mortality, because he died as a cycle ended. As far as this researcher is concerned, the Lord has provided sufficient witnesses to leave no reasonable doubt that these proposed dates are correct.

The following table summarizes important dates in this article on the five relevant calendars.

EventGregorianHebrewVenusMercuryS. RoundEnoch
Adam b.Sat 17 Oct 4070 BC pmBegin Tab.1 Bir1 Bir1 EagleEnd Tab.
MortalitySun 9 Apr 4001 BCPassover1 Cre—1 DeerEaster
Adam d.Tue 26 Sep 3071 BCEnd Tab.0 Cre0 Cre13 GrassAtonement
Christ b.Wed 5 Apr 1 BC pm*Passover1 Cre1 Cre1 Reed—
Christ r.Sun 3 Apr AD 33 am*Easter1 Res1 Cre13 TempleEaster
B. MormonThu 25 Apr 1830New Year's1 Res1 Cre1 Eagle—
Table 1. Dates for some key events in religious history. (* means night.)

5.3 Adam and Christ: A Related Pair

Why was this unorthodox new method of chronology so successful? Why was it that we were so lucky that the Venus calendar worked? Adam's vital dates might have been related to a Saturn calendar or some other undiscovered calendar. Was it just luck that we found these dates?

As this article was nearly finished, it occurred to me that the reason is that Adam's vital dates are based on Venus is that he is so closely related to Christ:

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. — 1 Cor. 15:22
That is, the dates of Adam and the Beginning of Mortality form a related set of dates with the birth and atonement of Jesus Christ. The relation is similar to the beginning and end of the Babylonian captivity discussed above. Adam and Christ are the beginning and end of the captivity of man by sin and death. They are a such a tightly related set that it must have been planned from before the creation of the orbits of the earth, moon, and Venus that there would be exactly 4,000 years to the very day separating the Beginning of Mortality and the coming of Jesus Christ. Thus, the reason that Venus is so important in Adam's life may well be that he is tied to Christ, and Christ is the "bright and morning star" (Rev. 22:16).

6. Conclusion

It is proposed that some key dates in Genesis might be found by seeking dates when the Venus and Hebrew calendars have simultaneous holy days because several known religious dates in history had that happen. The hypothesis that Adam may have breathed his first and last on the perfect birth and death dates on three sacred calendars led to the discovery of two very rare dates which seem ideal. The separation of those two dates was 999 years, the length of Adam's life according to the Prophet Joseph Smith. Moreover, a matching "Beginning of Mortality" date was found 930 years prior to the death date, that being the age listed in Genesis for Adam's mortal life. That latter date is also Passover on the Hebrew and 1 Creation (Venus), both being the same as the birth date of the Savior, which was precisely 4,000 years later to the very day. As a final witness of all three dates, they are also all holy days on the Enoch calendar. The chance of all of those synchronisms being due to blind chance is negligible. Thus, it is concluded that Adam first breathed on Sat 17 Oct 4070 BC and died on Tue 26 Sep 3071 BC. Moreover, the fundamental anchor date from which the Genesis chronology is measured is the Beginning of Mortality: Sun 9 April 4001 BC.

Having a firm starting point, let us proceed to find selected anchor points throughout the chronology of Genesis. In next month's article we will see how Venus cycles can be used to determine precise dates in Genesis, including the exact day the Flood began.

Notes

  1. All Roman dates in this paper refer to our modern Gregorian Calendar. It turns out in that example, researchers at Oxford University discovered hints in the Bible of that very eclipse, and used it as evidence supporting that proposed Crucifixion date, which agrees with all of my research. Humphries and Waddington, "Dating the Crucifixion," Nature 306 (Dec 22/29, 1983) pp. 743-746, quoted in Pratt, John P., "The Restoration of Priesthood Keys on Easter 1836, Part I: Dating the First Easter," Ensign (June 1985), pp. 59-68.
  2. Pratt, John P., "Venus Resurrects This Easter Sunday," Meridian Magazine (27 Feb 2001), sec 5.2.
  3. Pratt, John P., "A Native American Easter," Meridian Magazine (28 Mar 2001).
  4. More information on the meaning of the 20 glyphs can be found on my web site at http://www.johnpratt.com/items/calendar/mayan/daynames.html.
  5. Pratt, John P., "Passover: Was it symbolic of his coming?" Ensign (Jan. 1994), pp. 38-45.
  6. Pratt, John P., "Seven Sacred Calendars Testify of Christ," Meridian Magazine (9 Apr 2003)
  7. Because the days begin at different times of day on the Venus and Hebrew calendars, if we also consider "partial alignments" in which the calendars align only for six hours in the evening, then the number of alignments doubles, and the probability becomes 2/584 or 1 in 292 years.
  8. The first day will also be 1 Creation on the Mercury calendar about once every 9 x 584 = 5,256 years. One time in 20 that day will also be 1 Light on the Sacred Round, or once in 105,120 years. About one in 44 of those days will also be 1 Spring on the Enoch calendar, or once in 4,600,000 years. About one in 52 of those days will coincide with 1 Spring on the Enoch fixed calendar, or once in 240,000,000 years. And finally, the Priest calendar is locked to the Enoch Fixed Calendar, so that only 6 of the 24 priests may ever preside over any given holy day on the Enoch Fixed Calendar. Jehoiarib, the first priest, never presides over New Year's Day, but if he did, then he would exactly once every 6 years. That would be once in 1,400,000,000 years.
  9. The Enoch Calendar is linked to the Hebrew (also based on week, sun, and moon), The Enoch Fixed closely linked to Enoch (having the same format and holy days), and the Priest is linked so closely with the Enoch Fixed, that the cycle of the two repeat exactly every 6 years. The Mercury calendar is linked to the Venus so that there is a 4/9 chance that a holy day on Venus will be some holy day on Mercury and a 1/9 chance that the holy days will coincide. And the Sacred Round is so tightly linked to the Venus that every holy day on Venus is some holy day on the Sacred Round.
  10. Proctor, Scot Facer, Witness of the Light, Deseret Book, p. 22.
  11. The Biblical date for the fall is 9 Tammuz (Jer. 39:2), but on the PHC the day is 10 Tammuz to be symmetrical with the other 4 holy days 10 Tishri, 10 Nisan, and 10 Tebeth. At the time of the fall of Jerusalem the calendars could have easily differed by a day.
  12. Pratt, John P., "From Martyrdom to Celebration!" Meridian Magazine (6 Jun 2002).
  13. Pratt, John P., "When Was Judah's 70-Year Babylonian Captivity?" Ensign (Oct 1998), pp. 64-65.
  14. Aveni, Anthony, Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico, (Austin, U. of Texas, 1980), pp. 85, 191.
  15. See ref. in fn. 13 for how the 70 years were counted.
  16. See ref. to Pratt in fn. 1.
  17. Pratt, John P., "Newton's Date for the Crucifixion," Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 32 (Sept. 1991), pp. 301-304.
  18. Harold Hoehner, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1977, p. 111) concludes, "Thus, the AD 33 date for the death of Christ best explains the evidence of both sacred and secular history."
  19. There were two methods of determine of Sheaf Offering. The Sadducees' is as described and appears to be correct; the Pharisees (and modern Jews) celebrated the day after Passover, 16 Nisan. See Hoehner, pp. 83-84.
  20. See Pratt, John P. "A Native American Easter," Meridian Magazine (28 March 2001) sec. 7.
  21. See reference in footnote 5.
  22. The clearest declarations in General Conference were by Pres. Harold B. Lee (6 Apr 1973) and Pres. Spencer W. Kimball (6 Apr 1980). See Pratt, John P., "Dating the First Easter," section 3.1. (see footnote 1). The year is implied because 1 BC is the year 1,980 years before 1980. There was no year 0 BC.
  23. Ginzberg, Louis, Legends of the Jews (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Soc., 1968) v. 1, p. 61.
  24. Larson and Larson, Diary of Charles Lowell Walker 2:641-642 (date of Jan. 25, 1885).
  25. Joseph Grant Stevenson, "The Life of Edward Stevenson" (masters thesis, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, 1955), page 73.
  26. Matthews, Robert J., A Plainer Translation (Provo: BYU Press, 1985), pp. 84-85. The author is indebted to Elden J. Watson for providing him with the references in fn 24-26.
  27. Pratt, John P., "Lehi's 600-Year Prophecy of the Birth of Christ," Meridian Magazine (31 Mar 2000).
  28. Barr, James, "Why the World was Created in 4004 B.C.: Archbishop Ussher and Biblical Chronology," Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, vol. 67 (Spring 1985), #2, p. 578.
  29. The Talmud, B. Abodah Zarah 9a (Soncino ed. p. 43) quoted by Barr, p. 581 (see fn. 28).