A special thanks to Mssrs. Clark and especially Mr. McHyde for devoting an insightful article on his enjoyable website Escape All These Things to this quizzical topic. The chart was especially eye-opening as I've always wondered why, with the tools we have at our disposal today, someone couldn't move the planets and stars back in time to some incredible alignment roughly 6000 years ago, and now someone actually has. Our (at least my) faith in the accuracy of calendars might be somewhat bolstered by this interesting article I discovered:

However, I am having a hard time figuring out how to make sense out of the person's calculations re Ezekiel's prophecy of the Jewish people having to be in exile for seven times 490 years and how this comes out to exactly May 14, 1948. Please read the following excerpt:

The prophet Jeremiah prophesied a punishment upon Israel of 70 years, to be served in Babylonian captivity. The punishment began in 606 B.C.

The prophet Ezekiel, during the captivity, prophesied that it would be extended an additional 390 years. The additional punishment began in 536 B.C.

A small portion of Israel repented and returned to the land of Israel, but most preferred the pagan society of conquered Babylon. Due to the unrepentant nature of Israel at the time, and the fact that most did not even desire to return to the land of Israel at the end of the first 70 years (Jeremiah 25:11), they heaped upon themselves even more punishment. First, an extension of 390 years (Ezekiel 4:3-6), and that was multiplied because of the Torah's requirement to increase the final punishment by 7 times. Lev 26:18 And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.(Also see Leviticus 26:21, 24, & 28).

The remaining 390 years would now be multiplied 7 times! The additional punishment would now end in A.D. 1948

The first 70 years began on the first day of the Babylonian month of Nissan and ended on the first day of Nissan. So the remaining 2485 years also began on the first day of Nissan 536 B.C.

2485 years or, 2521 prophetic years (360 days each) is a total of 907,560 days. With the 'wonder of addition' we arrive at the date of May 14, 1948. Anyone over the last 2000 years could have known the exact day this prophecy was going to be fulfilled - but it was only revealed to us in these last times. On that exact date Israel was miraculously restored it's nation status once the prescribed time was completed.

If I multiply 390 x 7 I get 2730. Can someone please explain how this person applies 2730 years to 536 BC and comes out to 1948? What am I missing here?

Another thought; while, as Mr. McHyde suggeststhe crux of the problem is not knowing when Adam was thrown out of Eden, it seems to me that if this amazing, one-time alignment of the planets occurred at 4001 BC, then the time Adam was expelled falls within this marker anyway. To quote Mr. McHyde:

"He determined that creation week was March 19th-25th, 4001 BCE and that the 8th day, was a new moon marking the first month of the first year (Aviv 1, 1) at March 26th, 4001 B.C.E. What he found was there was a singular planetary alignment on the 5th day of creation as seen in this chart which has never happened since."

This seems to me irrefutable proof that we have our starting of the 6000-year marker. Another factor I had to consider is whether or not the Hebrew calendar, factoring in the 240-year gap that was deliberately deleted by scribes, is accurate at 6006. I would be naive to trust that,while we can share some skepticism about Gregorian calendars, God would make special provisions to keep the Hebrew calendar totally accurate. If it says 6006 then I think we can trust that it is 6006 years since creation. Some have speculated that God has allowed man's time to extend beyond the 6000-year mark into the Millineum. I don't know how sound this theory is, but I have more confidence that we have reached the 6000-year mark after seeing that chart of the planetary alignment. What happens now I have to leave to scholars like Mr. McHyde, since I have no talent whatsoever for figuring out these things. Again, thanks to you gentlemen for contributing to this vexing question and could someone please try to address that issue of the Ezekiel calculation?

Jim