An Eclipse in the Time of Noah
By: James D. Dwyer
Revision: October 25, 2026
Copyright © 2013-2026 James D. Dwyer
Chapters 7 and 8 of the book of Genesis have detail of a great flood event that occurred in the life of the patriarch Noah. Of significance here is that certain Jewish authors--those who flourished in an era when the old Jerusalem Temple stood--wrote down some additional information as to when on the time line the Genesis flood was believed to have occurred.
To be more specific as to when the Deluge might have occurred, an early-held belief about the Deluge arriving in sync with the spring season can clearly be recognized from writings attributed to the Jewish philosopher: Philo Judaeus (c. 25 BC - 45 AD). The commencement of the great flood on the first day of spring is manifest from a portion of his second dissertation on the book of Genesis--as follows:
"... the deluge fell on the day of the vernal equinox... the first man who was produced out of the earth was also created at the same season of the year, he whom the divine writer calls Adam... Since, therefore, the first beginning of the generation of our race, after the destruction caused by the deluge, commenced with Noah, men being again sown and procreated, therefore he also is recognized as resembling the first man born of the earth... putting them to shame because he would, unquestionably, never, after he had created the universe... have destroyed all the men who lived on the earth... if it had not been for the preposterous excess of their iniquities." (Questions and Answers on Genesis, Part 2:17; translation by Yonge).
The chronology for the patriarchs, shown in Chapter 5 of the book of Genesis, further shows that the flood came 1656 years from the creation of the first man (Adam). So, the composite Hebrew record is explicit in showing the following set of dual (or duplicate) equinox dates:
1. The creation of the first man (Adam) is shown at the time of the spring equinox.
2. The great flood came after 1656 years at the time of the spring equinox.
A possibility here is that a solar eclipse may have occurred in the days of Noah . . . and at the beginning of the Deluge. This possibility can be recognized from certain Sumerian/Babylonian poems that are similar to the Genesis record. These all tell of a hero that survived a cataclysmic flood. Of significance here is that certain verses preserved among the Babylonians have detail of a blackening of the sky on that morning when the earth was destroyed. In example, a stanza within The Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh relates that: "Early in the morning at dawn a black cloud arose from the horizon . . . [the gods] turned everything to blackness" (English translation from Wikipedia).
The set of Babylonian songs or poems that report a blackening of the sky at the beginning of a great flood then add weight to a probability that the flood of Noah might have occurred, not only at the time of a vernal equinox, but also at the time of a solar eclipse.
For additional information about the significance of biblical time cycles, refer to the following online publications:
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Copyright © 2013-2026 James D. Dwyer