Genesis 5 Part 16: Begetting, Synodic Orbits and Retrograde Motion
We have now unpacked what the lifespan of each patriarch means in astronomical terms, but what about the date the patriarchs father their first child.
Hidden From View
As the five planets orbit the Sun, they sometimes move behind it and disappear from view. Once it comes out the other side of the Sun, it’s as though it has been born, or beget.
I wonder if this is the symbolism the writer was inferring. I have tried to find information on how long each planet spends outside the view of those on Earth. All I could find is that Mercury disappears for roughly 90 days (two instances of 45 days each) and Venus goes behind the Sun for 65 days. Both these line up with the age at which Enosh and Malahalel beget their first child.
I couldn’t find any reliable information on Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. It would be interesting to find out if they ‘hide behind’ the Sun for 70, 162 and 105 days respectively.
Predicting Retrogrades
A planetary retrograde is where a planet appears to go backwards or loops in the sky. See the image of Mars at the start of this article. It shows the planet moving in its retrograde motion.
By using the age at which a patriarch begets their first child, we can predict when the next retrograde begins and its location in the Zodiac. I wrote about the Hebrew astronomical zodiac here.
We take the synodic orbit (not sidereal) and divide it by the beget age.
Mercury 120 / 90 = 1 1/3
Venus 585 / 65 = 9
Mars 780 / 70 = 11 approx
Jupiter 399 / 162 = 2 1/2
Saturn 378 / 105 = 3 3/5
The image below shows Venus. We can see that if the retrograde started in Reuben (Taurus), then the next retrograde will be in 585 days in Gad (Sagittarius). It takes 9 steps.
Here is Mars, Reuben to Levi. Here it takes 11 steps.
And here is Jupiter, with Reuben to Simeon. This represents 2 1/2 steps.
I am not 100% sure this is how the ancients used this, but it seems to work with the astronomical data. I do wonder if there are another reasons, so more research needs to be made in this area.
Synodic Orbit Data
Where would an ancient Hebrew obtain the synodic data? Well, we can find it in Genesis 5.
The academic paper written in the 1970s by Baudin tried to make this connection. I took a different approach and whereas the sidereal data is based on addition, I decided that the synodic data could be found through subtraction.
See the tables below.
Mercury 895 - 777 = 118
Venus 910 - 130 - 105 - 90 = 585
Mars 962 - 182 = 780
Jupiter 969 - 500 - 70 = 399
Saturn 930 - 365 - 187 = 378
I find it interesting that no number is used twice and the age after the first child is born is not used.
The next post will look at other astronomical data within the Genesis 5 genealogy.