Ten Big Coincidences for Solar Eclipses - How Likely Are They? or The Mystery of Ancient eclipses

 This text could briefly be called an introduction. Here, the result of this thesis is 'squeezed' into a short text. Let's look at ten remarkable coincidences.

When you have looked at ancient solar eclipses compared to the chronology of the Bible, you come across a surprising number of 'coincidences'. That's exactly how the wise of this world and those who consider themselves wise would treat them. But how likely is such an abundance of coincidences?

Let's start with the discovery of a solar eclipse that happened in the 9th year of the reign of the Assyrian king Ashur-Dan III.

In the past, the following happened: Shalmaneser III fought the Syrian king Benhadad II only in his 11th year of reign. A little later he fought Hazael, king of Syria. In the Bible account, Hazael is said to have become king of Syria some years before Jehu became king of Israel. Soon, already in the 18th year of Shalmaneser III's reign, Jehu sent him a gift showing respect. According to biblical chronology, Jehu became king of Israel around 905 BCE. Given this information, where should Ashur-Dan III's regnal year 9 be dated?

1. coincidence: this is found in the correct year, 824 BCE.

2. coincidence: this is found in the right month. Although this happened in early April, it is possible to date it to the month of Simanu.

3. coincidence: viewed with the current program, this appeared in low quality. There are grounds in the Bible for the fact that the Earth's rotation as changed about an hour after this event.

Let us then consider the solar eclipse that occurred in the 7th year of the reign of the Babylonian king Shimbar-Shipak. According to chronology, this time was 254 years earlier.

4. coincidence: this is found in the correct year: 1078 BCE.

5. coincidence: this is found in the correct month, the month of Simanu.

6. coincidence: here we have to make the same assumption as earlier in point 3.

Let's go back about 700 years. Then we move to the time of Hammurabi and Shamsi-Adad I. A year after the latter was born, there was a solar eclipse. This was 50 years before the beginning of Hammurabi's reign.

7. coincidence: this is found in the correct year, 1746 BCE.

8. coincidence: with the current program, this was on the other side of the globe. However, the Bible gives reasons to assume that during the days of Joshua, the earth's rotation stopped for many hours.

Then let's go back a little more than 200 years. In the 23rd year of King Shulgi of the Ur III Dynasty, a double eclipse occurred. Here it would be limited to around 1960-1990 BCE. This 'sliding' time is influenced by the fact that there is no precise information on how the Larsa dynasty and the Ur III dynasty was simultaeous reigned.

9. coincidence: this is found in 1979 BCE.

10. coincidence: here we should assume the same as in the previous point 8, the position of the earth in relation to the sun has changed a little more than 9 hours.

So a total of 10 'coincidences' would have happened here. Could such a thing be possible 'by accident'?

Many who consider themselves wise are of the opinion that it is self-evident that the earth could not have rotated backwards and could not have stopped.

Nevertheless, such observations can be made with e.g. the Stellarium program. Just the fact that there are so many of these solar eclipses in this way is a great coincidence. And it is also a great coincidence that the Bible gives grounds for changing the position of the Earth if necessary. And it is no small coincidence that these coincide with the chronology of the Bible

There are other coincidences, but these are the most notable. The magnitude of these coincidences is increased by the necessity of changing the Earth's position and the long periods of time.

There is also an extra an unwritten "eleventh" coincidence: when all the evidence is taken into account, no any solar eclipses can be found if we assume that the position of the Earth has remained the same as it is today.

Current 'scientific research' naturally cannot accept any kind of major change in the earth's rotation. However, it doesn't eliminate these big 'coincidences'. These 'coincidences' are and will remain.

Of course, one could say that this treatise reserves the scientific evidence that God has done very great miracles by changing the position of the earth in a very radical way. However, the purpose of this treatise is not to emphasize these miracles, but to state that it is probable that such miracles have occurred.

Is this also a coincidence?

When the Assyrian chronology is dated to 824 BCE. according to the solar eclipse that took place, we notice such a peculiarity that the reign of Ashur-nirari V would end already in 805 BCE.

A careful examination of the reigns of Sargon II, Sennacherib, and Esarhaddon, along with archeological findings, reveals that the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III began in 768 BCE. Note that there will be a surprising 37-year blank period in between.

Is this blank period just a coincidence?

In connection with this, we notice an interesting coincidence: the historian Josephus says that the Assyrian king Pul, or Pulu, ruled for 36 years.

Another surprising coincidence is connected with this passage: During the time of King Menahem of Israel, King Puli of Assyria is said to have demanded a forced tax from the Israelites. According to Bible chronology, Menahem ruled in the 780s BCE.

Since the Bible tells about this king, he can be trusted to rule during that time.

Therefore, it seems very likely that Pul was the king of Assyria at that time. Based on this, it may seem that after Pulu's the possibly violent seizure of power in Assyria, there was an interim period lasting a few months, before Pulu got the kingship for himself.

The positive timing of Esarhaddon's reign is influenced by the eclipse during the month of Tammuz, which occurred at the time of his campaign against Egypt. The chronology of the Bible, together with Sennacherib's writings, on the other hand, dates Sennacherib's reign almost exactly to a certain point. This thesis will provide detailed justifications for these timings.