Thales of Miletus Consider the astronomer Thales of Miletus. Peers his age credit Thales with predicting a solar eclipse that stopped the war between the nations of Lydia and Media. Apparently, Lydia and Media were locked in battle when a solar eclipse occurred. These nations, who worshiped the celestial bodies, realized that the solar eclipse could be a potentially “bad” omen, so they negotiated the end of the military commitment. Conventional chronologists dated this eclipse to 585 BC This date is only one year different from the date proposed by conventional chronologists for the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC Since Lydia (present-day Turkey) is in the same part of the world than Jerusalem, was the eclipse described by Thales that stopped the war between Lydia and Media also visible in Jerusalem around the time of the siege of Nebuchadnezzar? If visible in Jerusalem, was this eclipse documented in the Bible?

The solar eclipse in Turkey (Lydia) in 585 BC. C. was visible over Israel. There were no other solar eclipses in Turkey or Israel since 558 BC. Until 634 a. Therefore, this eclipse could have been seen in Israel and it was the only eclipse that could have been seen in Israel during this time. So does the Bible mention a solar eclipse near the period of Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of Jerusalem? I think so.

Consider the following verses (Jeremiah 6: 4-5):

Prepare war against her; Get up, and let’s go up at noon. Woe to us! Because the day is leaving, because the evening shadows are spreading. Get up, and let’s go at night, and destroy. his palaces. “Many theologians believe that this verse describes a conversation between Nebuchadnezzar’s generals on the day they were to attack Jerusalem. These theologians believe that Nebuchadnezzar’s forces were preparing to attack at noon and found that their attack had lasted until the end of the day so that they would have to continue their attack at night. I have a different interpretation. I believe these verses describe a solar eclipse. I believe that Nebuchadnezzar’s forces started attacking at noon when a solar eclipse occurred. They realized that a very “bad” omen was occurring in the sky (perhaps by some angry god) and then they exclaimed “Woe to us” and stopped the attack. (Interestingly, the forces of Lydia and Media reacted similarly during the same eclipse that was predicted by Thales.) Also note that the characteristics of a solar eclipse, dayfall, and distortion d In the shadows, they are mentioned in the verse to clarify that the solar event took place. Nebuchadnezzar’s generals attacked later at night to prevent the possibility of another solar eclipse occurring and to prevent their attack.

The wording of the verse also points to the uniqueness of the event. Notice the phrase “the evening shadows are spreading.” This is the only place in the entire Bible where this description of shadows is used. There are two different verses used by Solomon to describe the appearance of shadows when night became day, Song of Songs 2:17 and 4: 6: “Until the day breaks and the shadows flee …”. Literally, the phrase “the shadows flee” means that the shadows disappeared, which is a reasonable way to describe the phenomena of the sun transforming night into day. The phrase “the evening shadows spread” from the book of Jeremiah is best translated as “the evening shadows were distorted.” During a solar eclipse, the appearance of shadows exhibits many strange behaviors. As the sun approaches the eclipse, the shadows of the trees appear to have many crescent-shaped outlines, the shadows appear to run across the ground, and the shadows lengthen. I think this is what Jeremiah was describing when he wrote “the evening shadows are spreading.”

If it was a solar eclipse, why didn’t Jeremiah write “the day turned to night at noon”? I think this was a special kind of eclipse, an annular eclipse. A total solar eclipse will result in total darkness in some area of ​​the Earth, however an annular eclipse will not. So what is an annular eclipse? It is an eclipse in which only about 97% of the area of ​​the Sun is eclipsed. Total darkness does not occur; however, the brightness of the sun diminishes as if it were behind a cloud. Therefore, the description of the solar eclipse in Jeremiah 6: 4-5 is consistent with the description of an annular solar eclipse.

Find the eclipse of Thales

If the eclipse in Jeremiah 6: 4-5 is an annular eclipse and is the same eclipse described by Thales of Miletus, then it cannot be the eclipse that occurred in 585 BC. Why? That eclipse was a total solar eclipse.

So what eclipse is it? According to the timeline I propose in my book “The Fourth Day: Why the Bible is Historically Accurate”, the destruction of Jerusalem occurs very close to 390 BC. Instead of the year 586 a. C., as many historians affirm. The closest solar eclipse over Israel in the time period I proposed took place on August 14, 393 BC. C. and it was a cancel eclipse.

While a solar eclipse provides very useful information when it comes to dating an event, it seems that God provides even more clarification to remove any doubt as to which solar eclipse he is referring to (Jeremiah 15: 9): “She who is born seven languishes .: she has abandoned the ghost; her sun has set while it is still day … “Note that it is much clearer in this verse that a solar eclipse has taken place:” … her sun has set while it is still day … “. Also, can you imagine a woman who has her own “sun”? What kind of woman is this? If you read the twelfth chapter of the book of Revelation, a woman in heaven has been associated with Israel and her name is Virgo. Is it possible that Jeremiah is referring to the constellation Virgo? According to this verse, Virgo has given birth to “seven”. I mention elsewhere in my book, “The Fourth Day: Why the Bible is Historically Accurate” that the sign in heaven described in Revelation 12: 3 regarding the heavenly sign of the dragon with seven crowns was the constellation Hydra and seven bodies (sun, moon, and five planets) located in the sky during a solar eclipse. Is it possible that Jeremiah 15: 9 is describing a similar heavenly sign? A solar eclipse occurred over Israel on August 14, 393 BC. During this solar eclipse, the constellation Virgo is in the middle of the sky and seven heavenly bodies, the sun and the moon and five planets, would have been in the sky. Therefore, I believe Jeremiah 15: 9 is a description of the appearance of heaven during the solar eclipse that occurs at the beginning of Nebuchadnezzar’s final siege of Jerusalem, the solar eclipse that Thales predicted, and the solar eclipse that stopped the war. between Lydia and Media.