Seder Olam Rabbah (, "The Great Order of the World") is a 2nd-century CE Hebrew language chronology detailing the dates of biblical events from creation to Alexander the Great's conquest of Persia. It adds no stories beyond what is in the biblical text, and addresses such questions as the age of Isaac at his binding and the number of years that Joshua led the Israelites. Tradition considers it to have been written about 160 CE by Jose ben Halafta, but it was probably also supplemented and edited at a later period.
Name In the Babylonian Talmud this chronicle is several times referred to simply as Seder Olam,Shab. 88a; Yeb. 82b; Nazir 5a; Meg. 11b; Ab. Zarah 8b; Niddah 46b and it is quoted as such by the more ancient biblical commentators, including Rashi. But starting in the 12th century, it began to be designated as Seder Olam Rabbah to distinguish it from a later, smaller chronicle, Seder Olam Zuṭa; it was first so designated by Abraham ben Nathan Ha-Yarhi.Ha-Manhig, p. 2a, Berlin, 1855
Structure In its present form, Seder Olam Rabbah consists of 30 chapters, each 10 chapters forming a section or "gate."
The work is a chronological record, extending from Adam to the revolt of Bar Kokba in the reign of Hadrian, the Persian period being compressed into 52 years. The chronicle is complete only up to the time of Alexander the Great; the period from Alexander to Hadrian occupies a very small portion of the work—the end of the 30th chapter.
Many passages quoted in the Talmud are missing in the edition of Seder Olam which has survived.
Methodology The author probably designed the work for calendrical purposes, to determine the era of the creation; his system, adopted as early as the 3rd century CE, is still followed. Adhering closely to the Pharisaic interpretations of Bible texts, he endeavored not only to elucidate many passages, but also to determine certain dates which are not indicated in the Bible, but which may be inferred by calculation. He also recognized the importance of the Jubilee and Sabbatical cycles as a long-term calendrical system, and attempted at various places to fit the Sabbatical and Jubilee years into its chronological scheme.
In many cases, however, he gave the dates according to tradition, and inserted, besides, the sayings and halakhot of preceding rabbis and of his contemporaries. In discussing biblical chronology he followed three principles:Jewish Encyclopedia, Seder Olam Rabbah To assume that the intention of the biblical author was, wherever possible, to give exact dates To assign to each of a series of events the shortest possible duration of time, where necessary, in order to secure agreement with the biblical text To adopt the lesser of two possible numbers.
Chronology
The current Hebrew calendar year numbering system, which counts years from the creation, has been in use for more than 1000 years.Maimonides (Times:Laws of 7th year, chapt 10): For instance this year is ... and which is also counted as 4936 to the creation... is a Shemita year." The dating system of numbering the years from creation was adopted sometime before 3925 Anno Mundi (165 CE), and based on the calculation of Rabbi Yose ben Halafta during about 160 CE in the book Seder Olam Rabbah.p.107, Kantor. Note that the book Seder Olam Rabbah has been continuously edited throughout the ages, and probably reached its current version around 806 CE according to the historian Leopold Zunz.
These years are based on the computations of dates and periods found in the Hebrew Bible. In Jewish tradition, "Year 1" is considered to have begun on the 25 of Elul, 5 days before the beginning of "Year 2" on the first of Tishrei, when Adam was created. The new moon of its first month (Tishrei) is designated molad tohu (meaning new moon of chaos or nothing). By Halafta's calculation Adam was created during the year 3761 BCE. However, Seder Olam Rabbah treats the creation of Adam as the beginning of "Year Zero". This results in a two-year discrepancy between the years given in Seder Olam Rabbah and the Jewish year used now. For example, Seder Olam Rabbah gives the year of the Exodus from Egypt as 2448 AM; but, according to the current system, the year would be 2450 AM.
Despite the computations by Yose ben Halafta, confusion persisted for a long time as to how the calculations should be applied.Leopold Zunz On Time and Literature Zur Geschichte und Literatur opening chapter. During 1000, for example, the Muslim chronologist al-Biruni noted that three different epochs were used by various Jewish communities being one, two, or three years later than the modern epoch.See The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries. The epoch seems to have been settled by 1178, when Maimonides, in his work Mishneh Torah, described all of the modern rules of the Hebrew calendar, including the modern epochal year. His work has been accepted by Jews as definitive, though it does not correspond to the scientific calculations. For example, the Jewish year for the destruction of the First Temple has traditionally been given as 3338 AM or 423/2 BC., who wrote there, in the section entitled "The Traditional Chronology based on Seder Olam", that the First Temple was destroyed in 3338 anno mundi, a year corresponding with 423/422 BCE. This differs from the modern scientific year, which is usually expressed using the Proleptic Julian calendar as 587 BC. The scientific date takes into account evidence from the ancient Babylonian calendar and its astronomical observations. So, too, according to Jewish computation, the destruction of the Second Temple occurred in the lunar month of Av in anno 68 CE, rather than in 70 CE., who wrote there, in the section entitled "The Traditional Chronology based on Seder Olam", that the Second Temple was destroyed in 3828 anno mundi, a year corresponding with 67/68 CE. In this and related cases, a difference between the traditional Jewish year and a scientific date in a Gregorian year or in a proleptic Julian calendar date results from a disagreement about when the event happened—and not simply a difference between the Jewish and Gregorian calendars (see the "Missing Years" in the Jewish Calendar and below, Excursus: Jewish Chronology in the Scroll of Antiochus).
In Jewish thought the counting is usually considered to be from the creation of the world, as has been emphasized in many ancient texts dealing with creation chronology, viz. that the six days of creation till man are literal days—including the days before the creation of the sun and earth.e.g.Maimonides Guide to the Perplexed (chapt 25): For two reasons, however, we have not done so, and have not accepted the Eternity of the Universe.... [A] mere argument in favour of a certain theory is not sufficient reason for rejecting the literal meaning of a biblical text, and explaining it figuratively, when the opposite theory [of literalism] can be supported by an equally good argument. SacredTexts.come.g.Ramban on Genesis 1:3, And there was light: ...You should know that the "days" mentioned in the account of Creation, concerning the creating of heaven and earth, were real days, made up of hours and minutes, and there were six of them, like the [regular] six days of the work[week], in accordance with the simple understanding of the verse. (Translator's footnote:) Although there was no sun or moon for the first three days, so "day" cycles as we know them today did not exist then, nevertheless the six days of creation were six periods of twenty-four hours each. The Torah: with Ramban's commentary translated, annotated, and elucidated. Translated by Rabbi Yaakov Binder in collaboration with Rabbi Yoseph Kamenetsky. Artscroll Mesorah Publications, Ltd. However, some understand these days metaphorically.Rabbi A. Kook (Orot Hakodesh Book 2 Chapt 537): If these six days were simply six days, why then would they be called "The secrets of creation" and why would it be forbidden to learn them until correctly prepared... The theory of evolution is increasingly conquering the world at this time, and, more so than all other philosophical theories, conforms to the kabbalistic secrets of the world. Evolution, which proceeds on a path of ascendancy, provides an optimistic foundation for the world. How is it possible to despair at a time when we see that everything evolves and ascends? ... My Jewish Learning
Genesis to the period of the Judges According to Genesis, the confusion of languages took place in the days of Peleg. Seder Olam attempts to identify when exactly in Peleg's life this occurred. It concludes that the first year of Peleg's life cannot be meant (as at the time of the confusion Peleg had a younger brother, Joktan, who had several children); nor could it have occurred during the middle years of his life (for the designation "middle years" is not an exact one; had the Bible intended to indicate only a general period, it would have used the phrase "in the days of Peleg and Joktan"). The Bible must therefore mean that the confusion of languages took place in the last year of Peleg's life, which (based on the dates of the previous generations in Genesis) occurred 340 years after the Flood, or 1996 years after the creation of the world.According to Genesis, in this year Abraham was 48 years old. When Abraham went into Egypt () he was probably between 80 and 90 years old. Thus, Seder Olam implies that in less than 40 years Egypt was formed with Pharaohs and officials.
After dealing in the first 10 chapters with the chronology of the period from the creation of the world to the death of Moses, the writer proceeds to determine the dates of the events which occurred after the Israelites, led by Joshua, entered the Holy Land. Here biblical chronology presents many difficulties, dates not being clearly given, and in many cases Seder Olam was used by later biblical commentators as a basis of exegesis. It is known that from the entry of the Israelites into the Holy Land to the time of Jephthah a period of 300 years elapsed. By computing the life periods of the Judges and assuming that Jephthah sent his message (alluding to the 300 years) in the second year of his rule, Seder Olam concludes that the reign of Joshua lasted 28 years. The work places two events in the Book of Judges whose date is unclear (the making of the image for Micah and Battle of Gibeah episode) in the time of Othniel.
I Kings states that Solomon began to build the Temple in Jerusalem in the fourth year of his reign, 480 years after the Exodus, that is, 440 years after the Israelites entered the Holy Land. Thus 140 years passed from the second year of Jephthah to the building of the Temple. Seder Olam concludes that the forty years during which the Israelites were harassed by the PhilistinesJudges 13:1 did not begin after the death of Abdon, as it would seem, but after that of Jephthah, and terminated with the death of Samson. Consequently, there was a period of 83 years from the second year of Jephthah to the death of Eli, who ruled 40 years,I Samuel 4:18 the last year of Samson being the first of Eli's judgeship. At that time the Tabernacle was removed from Shiloh, whither it had been transferred from Gilgal, where it had been for 14 years under Joshua; consequently it remained at Shiloh for a period of 369 years, standing all that time on a stone foundation. It is also to be concluded that Samuel judged Israel for 11 years, which with the two years of Saul,I Samuel 13:2 the 40 of David's reign,I Kings 2:11 and the four of Solomon's reign, make 57 years, during which the Tabernacle was first at Nob, then at Gibeon.
Period of the monarchy