Astronomical diary VAT 4956
This tablet can set the exact date of the destruction of Jerusalem
Tablet VAT 4956 is an astronomical diary that records 13 lunar
observations, and 15 planetary. It details the position of the moon and the
planets in regard of certain stars and constellations, indicating the days and
the months throughout the year 37 of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, the
king of Babylon; and the astronomical observations recorded in this tablet, can
only correspond to the year 567 BC.
The fact of isolating a single observation in order to attribute the
tablet to some other year would be naive and useless; the astronomers point out
that an identical combination of astronomical positions repeats only every
40,000 years,
so
the observations recorded could only coincide with the astronomical sky of tens
thousands of years before.
The lunar eclipse in the 15th day of the third month, described on 14th
line of the obverse side of the tablet, took place, according to modern
calculations, in July 4th of 567 BC; this eclipse started in the evening and
could not be seen from Babylon. The Babylonian astronomer computed it on the
base of the eclipse cycle called Saros1), and then wrote
“atalű Sin”, or “calculated lunar eclipse”, and “Sa Lu”, or “unseen because of the weather”, perhaps because the sky was cloudy.
1) The Word Saros means eclipse in Chaldean language. A Saros covers a
period of 6585.32 days; 223 synodic months, nearly 18 years, after which the same solar and lunar eclipses repeat. In one Saros, there is a succession of 13 total moon eclipses and 15
partial; and 12 total solar eclipses, 16 annular and 15 partial. The synodic month is the time the moon takes to make one complete
revolution around the Earth and return to the same conjunction point, taking the Sun for
reference. The synodic month is of 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 3
seconds.
This tablet definitely confirms that the year 37 of Nebuchadnezzar’s
reign corresponds to 567 BC in our calendar, and since the destruction of
Jerusalem took place in the 19th year of his reign, that is, 17 years before 567
BC, Jerusalem was undoubtedly destroyed in 586 BC.
Why do some historians argue that the destruction of Jerusalem was in
587?
This dating comes from the interpretation of Jeremiah’s words. He says:
“The word that came from Yahuh to Jeremiah, in the tenth year
of Zedekiah king of Judah. This was the eighteenth year of
Nebuchadnezzar”. (Jeremiah
32:1) And calculate that the year of 37 Nebuchadnezzar was the
568 BC.
But if the 568 was the year of 37 Nebuchadnezzar, the year 18 was
587.
37-18 = 19; 568 +19 =
587
Why can we say that this calculation is mistaken?
In the first place, because Jeremiah does not speak in this verse of the
destruction of Jerusalem, but of the
siege of the city, as may be understood by reading in full the verses 1 and 2 in Chapter 32, which say: “The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahuh, in the tenth year of Zedekiah
king of Judah. This was the
eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, and at that time the forces of the king of
Babylon laid siege to
Jerusalem”. This fact is also confirmed on the 2nd book of Kings,
Chapter 25 and verses 1 and 2, which read: “The tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar, king
of Babylon, and all his army, came against Jerusalem; he camped against it and
put a fence around the city, which was besieged in the eleventh year of
Zedekiah”. So Jerusalem was besieged for a whole year
before it was conquered and
destroyed.
Jeremiah confirms this fact when he writes: “On the tenth day of the fifth month of the nineteenth year
(ordinal number, NdR) of Nebuchadnezzar, king
of Babylon, came the captain of the guard Nebuzaradan and in the presence of the
king of Babylon in Jerusalem, burned the House of Yahuh and the house of the
king along with all the houses in Jerusalem. Any big house burst into
flames and all the walls around Jerusalem were thrown down by the Chaldean army,
which was under the captain of the guard”. (Jeremiah 52:12...14)
Another thing to consider is that in the words of Jeremiah, the 19th year is an
ordinal number, for this reason the
complete years were only 18.
Besides, as we can see on NASA’s image, the eclipse of July 4th indicated
in tablet VAT 4956, did not take place in 568 BC, but in 567
BC.
Therefore the correct calculation of the year in which Jerusalem was
destroyed must be as follows:
If 567 BC was the year 37 of Nebuchadnezzar, the 19th year (18 complete
years) was 586 BC.
37-18 = 19, 567 +19 = 586
Therefore Jerusalem was destroyed in 586
BC.
