The 12th Planet (40 page)

The planet's periodic appearance and disappearance from Earth's view confirms the assumption of its permanence in solar orbit. In this it acts like many comets. Some of the known comets-like Halley's comet, which nears Earth every seventy-five years—disappeared from view for such long times that astronomers were hard-pressed to realize that they were seeing the same comet. Other comets have been seen only once in human memory, and are assumed to have orbital periods running into thousands of years. The comet Kohoutek, for example, first discovered in March 1973, came within 75,000,000 miles of Earth in January 1974, and disappeared behind the Sun soon thereafter. Astronomers calculate it will reappear anywhere from 7,500 to 75,000 years in the future.

Human familiarity with the Twelfth Planet's periodic appearances and disappearances from view suggests that its orbital period is shorter than that calculated for Kohoutek. If so, why are our astronomers not aware of the existence of this planet? The fact is that even an orbit half as long as the lower figure for Kohoutek would take the Twelfth Planet about six times farther away from us than Pluto—a distance at which such a planet would not be visible from Earth, since it would barely (if at all) reflect the Sun's light toward Earth. In fact, the known planets beyond Saturn were first discovered not visually but mathematically. The orbits of known planets, astronomers found, were apparently being affected by other celestial bodies.

This may also be the way in which astronomers will "discover" the Twelfth Planet. There has already been speculation that a "Planet X" exists, which, though unseen, may be "sensed" through its effects on the orbits of certain comets. In 1972, Joseph L. Brady of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory of the University of California discovered that discrepancies in the orbit of Halley's comet could be caused by a planet the size of Jupiter orbiting the Sun every 1,800 years. At its estimated distance of 6,000,000,000 miles, its presence could be detected only mathematically.

While such an orbital period cannot be ruled out, the Mesopotamian and biblical sources present strong evidence that the orbital period of the Twelfth Planet is 3,600 years. The number 3,600 was written in Sumerian as a large circle. The epithet for the planet—
shar
("supreme ruler")—also meant "a perfect circle," a "completed cycle." It also meant the number 3,600. And the identity of the three terms—planet/orbit/3,600—could not be a mere coincidence.

Berossus, the Babylonian priest-astronomer-scholar, spoke of ten rulers who reigned upon Earth before the Deluge. Summarizing the writings of Berossus, Alexander Polyhistor wrote: "In the second book was the history of the ten kings of the Chaldeans, and the periods of each reign, which consisted collectively of an hundred and twenty
shar's,
or four hundred and thirty-two thousand years; reaching to the time of the Deluge."

Abydenus, a disciple of Aristotle, also quoted Berossus in terms of ten pre-Diluvial mlers whose total reign numbered 120
shar's.
He made clear that these rulers and their cities were located in ancient Mesopotamia:

    It is said that the first king of the land was Alarus.... He reigned ten
shar's.

   
Now, a
shar
is esteemed to be three thousand six hundred years....

    After him Alaprus reigned three
shar's;
to him succeeded Amillarus from the city of panti-Biblon, who reigned thirteen
shar's
....

    After him Ammenon reigned twelve
shar's;
he was of the city of panti-Biblon. Then Megalurus of the same place, eighteen
shar's.

   
Then Daos, the Shepherd, governed for the space of ten
shar
's....

    There were afterwards other Rulers, and the last of all Sisithrus; so that in the whole, the number amounted to ten kings, and the term of their reigns to an hundred and twenty
shar's.

Apollodorus of Athens also reported on the prehistorical disclosures of Berossus in similar terms: Ten rulers reigned a total of 120
shar's
(432,000 years), and the reign of each one of them was also measured in the 3,600-year
shar
units.

With the advent of Sumerology, the "olden texts" to which Berossus referred were found and deciphered; these were Sumerian king lists, which apparently laid down the tradition of ten pre-Diluvial rulers who ruled Earth from the time when "Kingship was lowered from Heaven" until the "Deluge swept over the Earth."

One Sumerian king list, known as text W-B/144, records the divine reigns in five settled places or "cities." In the first city, Eridu, there were two rulers. The text prefixes both names with the title-syllable "A," meaning "progenitor."

When kingship was lowered from Heaven,

kingship was first in Eridu.

In Eridu,

A.LU.LIM became king; he ruled 28,800 years.

A.LAL.GAR ruled 36,000 years.

Two kings ruled it 64,800 years.

Kingship then transferred to other seats of government, where the rulers were called
en,
or "lord" (and in one instance by the divine title
dingir).

I drop Eridu;

its kingship was carried to Bad-Tibira.

In Bad-Tibira,

EN.MEN.LU.AN.NA ruled 43,200 years;

EN.MEN.GAL.AN.NA ruled 28,800 years.

Divine DU.MU.ZI, Shepherd, ruled 36,000 years.

Three kings ruled it for 108,000 years.

The list then names the cities that followed, Larak and Sippar, and their divine rulers; and last, the city of Shuruppak, where a human of divine parentage was king. The striking fact about the fantastic lengths of these rules is that, without exception, they are multiples of 3,600:

Another Sumerian text (W-B/62) added Larsa and its two divine rulers to the king list, and the reign periods it gives are also perfect multiples of the 3,600-year
shar.
With the aid of other texts, the conclusion is that there were indeed ten rulers in Sumer before the Deluge; each rule lasted so many
shar's;
and altogether their reign lasted 120
shar's—as
reported by Berossus.

The conclusion that suggests itself is that these
shar's
of rulership were related to the orbital period
shar
(3,600 years) of the planet "Shar," the "Planet of Kingship"; that Alulim reigned during eight orbits of the Twelfth Planet, Alalgar during ten orbits, and so on.

If these pre-Diluvial rulers were, as we suggest, Nefilim who came to Earth from the Twelfth Planet, then it should not be surprising that their periods of "reign" on Earth should be related to the orbital period of the Twelfth Planet. The periods of such tenure or Kingship would last from the time of a landing to the time of a takeoff; as one commander arrived from the Twelfth Planet, the other's time came up. Since the landings and takeoffs must have been related to the Twelfth Planet's approach to Earth, the command tenures could only have been measured in these orbital periods, of
shar's.

One may ask, of course, whether anyone of the Nefilim, having landed on Earth, could remain in command here for the purported 28,800 or 36,000 years. No wonder scholars speak of the length of these reigns as "legendary."

But what is a year? Our "year" is simply the time it takes Earth to complete one orbit around the Sun. Because life developed on Earth when it was already orbiting the Sun, life on Earth is patterned by this length of orbit. (Even a more minor orbit time, like that of the Moon, or the day-night cycle is powerful enough to affect almost all life on Earth.) We live so many years because our biological clocks are geared to so many Earth orbits around the Sun.

There can be little doubt that life on another planet would be "timed" to the cycles of that planet. If the trajectory of the Twelfth Planet around the Sun were so extended that one orbit was completed in the same time it takes Earth to complete 100 orbits, then one year of the Nefilim would equal 100 of our years. If their orbit took 1,000 times longer than ours, then 1,000 Earth years would equal only one Nefilim year.

And what if, as we believe, their orbit around the sun lasted 3,600 Earth years? Then 3,600 of our years would amount to only one year in their calendar, and also only one year in their lifetime. The tenures of Kingship reported by the Sumerians and Berossus would thus be neither "legendary" nor fantastic: They would have lasted five or eight or ten Nefilim years.

We have noted, in earlier chapters, that Mankind's march to civilization
—
through the intervention of the Nefilim
—
passed through three stages, which were separated by periods of 3,600 years: the Neolithic period (circa 11,000
B.C.
), the pottery phase (circa 7400
B.C.
), and the sudden Sumerian civilization (circa 3800
B.C.
). It is not unlikely, then, that the Nefilim periodically reviewed (and resolved to continue) Mankind's progress, since they could meet in assembly each time the Twelfth Planet neared Earth.

Many scholars (for example, Heinrich Zimmern in
The Babylonian and Hebrew Genesis)
have pointed out that the Old Testament also carried traditions of pre-Diluvial chieftains, or forefathers, and that the line from Adam to Noah (the hero of the Deluge) listed ten such rulers. Putting the situation prior to the Deluge in perspective, the Book of Genesis (Chapter 6) described the divine disenchantment with Mankind. "And it repented the Lord that he had made Man on Earth ... and the Lord said: I will destroy Man whom I had created."

And the Lord said:

My spirit shall not shield Man forever;

having erred, he is but flesh.

And his days were one hundred and twenty years.

Generations of scholars have read the verse "And his days shall be a hundred and twenty years" as God's granting a life span of 120 years to Man. But this just does not make sense. If the text dealt with God's intent to destroy Mankind, why would he in the same breath offer Man long life? And we find that no sooner had the Deluge subsided than Noah lived far longer than the supposed limit of 120 years, as did his descendants Shem (600), Arpakhshad (438), Shelah (433), and so on.

In seeking to apply the span of 120 years to Man, the scholars ignore the fact that the biblical language employs not the future tense
—
"His days
shall be"—but
the past tense
—
"And his days
were
one hundred and twenty years." The obvious question, then, is:
Whose
time span is referred to here?

Our conclusion is that the count of 120 years was meant to apply to the Deity.

Setting a momentous event in its proper time perspective is a common feature of the Sumerian and Babylonian epic texts. The "Epic of Creation" opens with the words
Enuma elish
("when on high"). The story of the encounter of the god Enlil and the goddess Ninlil is placed at the time
"when
man had not yet been created," and so on.

The language and purpose of Chapter 6 of Genesis were geared to the same purpose
—
to put the momentous events of the great Flood in their proper time perspective. The very first word of the very first verse of Chapter 6 is
when: