Genesis 5: Part 7 Astronomical Connection
[Orion’s Belt]
In my next post, I will start to unpack my view on the genealogy in Genesis 5. But before we get there I need to discuss one more concept, the astronomical connection.
In the 1970s, M. Barnouin wrote an academic paper connecting the genealogy in Genesis 5 with the movements of the planets. He pointed out that when you add the synodic orbits of the planets together they equal the life span of some of the patriarchs.
The synodic orbit is the time a planet takes to go back to the same place in the sky. It is different from the sidereal orbit or ‘real’ orbit. For example, Venus takes 225 days to orbit the Sun. But from the Earth, it looks like Venus takes 585 days to go round and end up at the same point in the sky.
Here are the synodic orbits for the planets the ancients would have known about. Uranus and Neptune were not discovered until the second half of the 2nd Millennium AD.
Mercury: 116 days
Venus: 584 days
Mars: 780 days
Jupiter: 399 days
Saturn: 378 day
M. Barnouin discovered was when we add two of the synodic orbits together we get the lifespan of a patriarch. See the table below:
Also when we add up all the synodic periods for the plants, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, we get 2,257. If we then add the lifespans for Adam, Jared and Enoch we get 2,257. What a strange coincidence? Could there be something in this?
Another coincidence is Enoch lived for 365 years before God took him to be with Him. The solar year is 365 years. This has lead some to think there is a connection between Enoch and the Sun.
Sumerian Kings List
M. Barnouin also connected the Genesis 5 geneaology with the Sumerian Kings List. This was created around 2,100 BC. It features the incredible long reigns of kings in Sumer, in modern day Iraq.
In this list, we see the kings reign for 10,000s of years before the Flood. This is reminiscent of the lineage we see in Genesis 5.
I will talk further about the Sumerian Kings List in a later post and reveal what I have found there too.
As I said earlier, I will now begin to unpack my view. I am indeed connecting Genesis 5 to ancient astronomy, but whereas M. Barnouin took an abstract and a more mathematical approach, I am starting with theology and trying to think like an ancient Israelite.
So let’s start by looking at the theological purpose of the lines of Cain and Seth in terms of the Creation of the Heavens.
Brother Alexander thank you for your insightful series on Genesis 5. I've read through each post and I'm now re-reading. I've been looking for answers to the Gen5 genealogy for as long as I can remember, but recently my search intensified. I began to feel desperate to find a viable, reasonable answer - or answers. My faith was on the line because Real Observations were at odds with Scriptural Inerrancy. My soul cried out to God and his Spirit gave me a vision of an enthralling, beautiful scene of twinkling, shimmering stars couched in a nebula painted in shades of violet - all in relation to the genealogy. It feels strange to me to claim such a thing as a vision, I think it always will. Regardless, the vision persisted in my heart and mind. What a strange association, I thought. This is something I had not considered.
Thank God for search engines, because I found your post, this obscure post, specifically, moments after I set finger to key to find if this association was real. I find your series far too convincing for comfort. I am startled. I demand answers.
I love science and reason, but I love God as well. To me these are interchangeable, in that God is truth and he birthed reason. Proper science is 'merely' a methodologized search for truth. It is my fervent attachment to truth that has repeatedly led me to the God of Israel. Loving truth is loving God and I love him.
My plan is to walk carefully through each post and ask questions accordingly. I am hoping and praying you might have the time and inclination to answer.
Again, Thank You.
OG