The Gentile Times Reconsidered Chronology Christ

332 THE GENTILE TIMES RECONSIDERED
adding, “I believe that the Oates chronology will probably turn out
to be the correct one, but final judgement must await the rest of
the evidence.” 46
Whatever the case, the error in the inscription is a minor
problem that does not affect the reigns of the Neo-Babylonian kings
as given in the Adad-guppi’ inscription. It arose in the attempt to
establish Adad-guppi’s age, which had to be calculated, because, as
pointed out by Rykle Borger, the Babylonians (like Jehovah’s
Witnesses today!) “never celebrated their birthdays, and hardly
knew how old they were themselves:” 47
For Chapter Four:
1. ASTROLOGY AS A MOTIVE FOR BABYLONIAN
ASTRONOMY
In order to depreciate the value of the astronomical texts, some
defenders of the Watch Tower chronology have emphasized that
the Babylonians’ interest in the celestial phenomena was astrologically
motivated. Although it is true that this was an important object of
their study of the sky, it actually contributed to the exactness of the
observations.
In the great collection of ancient omens called Enuma Anu Enlil
(the final form of which dates from the Neo-Assyrian period) the
observer is given this instruction:
When the Moon is eclipsed you shall observe exactly month, day,
night-watch, wind, course, and position of the stars in whose realm the eclipse
takes place. The omens relative to its month, its day, its night-watch,
its wind, its course, and its stars you shall indicate.
For the Babylonian “astrologers” eclipses played the most
prominent role, and all details, therefore, were highly important.
Dr. A. Pannekoek concludes that “the astrological motive, by
demanding greater attention in observing the moon, provided for
better foundations in chronology. 48
Further, it would be a mistake to think that “astrology” in the
sense this word is used today was practiced in the Neo-Babylonian
period or earlier. The idea that a man’s fate is determined by the
positions of the stars and planets at the date of birth or conception
originated much later, during the Persian era. The oldest horoscope
discovered dates to 410 B.C.E. 49 As pointed out by B. L. van der
46 Erie Leichty in the Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 103, 1983, p.220,
note 2.
47 Rykle Borger, “Mespotamien in den Jahren 629–621 v. Chr.,” Wiener Zeitschrift für
die Kunde des Morgenlandes, Vol. 55, 1959, p. 73.
48 A. Pannekoek, A History of Astronomy (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1961),
pp. 43, 44.
49 A. J. Sachs, ‘Babylonian horoscopes,” Journal of Cuneiform Studies, Vol. 6(1952), p.
49.