Seder Olam: The Rabbinic View of Biblical Chronology

SEDER OLAM

SEDER OLAM THE RABBINIC VIEW OF BIBLICAL CHRONOLOGY

translated a n d with commentary b y

HEINRICH W. G U G G E N H E I M E R

A JASON ARONSON BOOK ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Oxford

A JASON ARONSON BOOK

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Published in the United States of America by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.rowmanlittlefield.com PO Box 317 Oxford 0 X 2 9RU, UK Copyright © 1998 by Heinrich W. Guggenheimer First Rowman & Littlefield Edition 2005 Ail rights reserved. N o part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Seder olam rabbah. English & Hebrew. Seder olam / [edited] by Heinrich Guggenheimer. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-7657-6021 -5 (cloth) 1. Jews—History—To 70 A.D.—Chronology. 2. Bible. O.T.-— Chronology. 3. Seder olam rabbah. I. Guggenheimer, Heinrich W. (Heinrich Walter), 1924II. Title. DS114.S413 1998 221.9'5—dc21 98-14429 CIP HE Printed in the United States of America © The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

To my wife whose patience and support made all my studies possible

Contents

Introduction

ix

PART 1 PENTATEUCH 1 2 2 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Creation to Jacob Jacob Covenant and Slavery The Flood Thornbush to Sinai At Sinai Consecration of the Tabernacle Book of Numbers The Fortieth Year Death of Moses

3 22 37 46 57 72 79 88 92 100

PART II ANTERIOR PROPHETS 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Joshua Judges Samuel, Saul, and David David Solomon Rehabeam to Asa Asa to Ahaziah Joash JehutoUziah The Prophets

109 120 129 136 141 148 153 160 163 170

vii

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CONTENTS

PART III PROPHETS TO END OF SECOND TEMPLE 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Prophets (Continued) Destruction of Samaria Hezekiah Manasseh to Jehoiakim Jehoiakim to Zedekiah Ezechiel Fall of Jerusalem Daniel Ezra and Esther Nehemiah to End of Second Temple

183 191 199 209 216 223 232 237 247 255

APPENDIX THE JEWISH CALENDAR Introduction Calendar Data Computation of the Year Conversion of Jewish and Gregorian Dates

268 270 272 276

INDEXES Index of Biblical Verses Index of Talmudic References Babylonian Talmud Jerusalem Talmud Mishnah and Tosephtah Midrashim and Targumim General Index

277 280 280 281 281 281 283

Introduction

Large parts of the Hebrew Bible are historical, but the information given often is anecdotal, as in the period of Judges, and contradictory, as in the different accounts of the period of Kings. In order to see in the Bible a history of the Jewish people, a systematic interpretation of the Biblical text is r e q u i r e d . The a u t h o r i t a t i v e R a b b i n i c a l interpretation of the historical passages of the Bible is given in Midrash Seder 'Olam. Seder 'Olam is a composition of Tannaitic material, a companion to the Mishnah. It is the basis of the historical world view of the Babylonian Talmud and of our counting of years "from the Creation." The book exists in many manuscripts of different versions and several printed editions. The first printed edition was made in Mantua (1514), followed by Hebrew editions [Constantinople (1517), Venice (1545), Amsterdam (1711), Hamburg (with notes by Jacob Emden, 1757), Prague (1795)], and Hebrew text with Latin translation [Basel (1580), Amsterdam (1693)]. Scholarly editions based on the earliest printed books and manuscripts were published by Adolf Neubauer (in Mediaeval Jewish Chronicles, vol. II, Oxford 1895), Dov Ber Ratner [Wilna (1894-97), reproduced, with an introduction by S.K. Mirsky under the name Midrash Seder Olam by The Talmudical Research Institute, New York (1966)], and in a Yale thesis by C.Y. Minkowski, 1981. The first ten chapters were edited on the basis of all manuscripts then known by Alexander Marx in his K6nigsberg thesis, 1896. In addition, there exists a recent reprint of the book with the notes of R. Eliahu of Wilna and reference notes (together with Seder 'Olam zuta, the Book of Tradition of R. Abraham ben Daud of Toledo, and Midrash Konen), Jerusalem 1971 (no publisher), and a reprint of a 1904 Warsaw edition with Notes of R. Eliahu of Wilna, R. Jacob Emden, and a short commentary by I. Weinberg, Jerusalem (1987). The questions to be answered in a study of the book are: 1) what is its purpose, 2) when and where was it composed, and 3) what ix

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INTRODUCTION

x.

are its sources? The easiest question to answer is the second one. We find that the quotes of h i s t o r i c a l m a t e r i a l in the Babylonian Talmud are either identical with our text of Seder 'Olam or differ from it only slightly in wording. In that Talmud , we find a statement of the Palestinian authority Rebbi Yohanan that the anonymous material in Seder 'Olam belongs to the Tanna Rebbi Yose ben Halaphta, the most authoritative among the students of Rebbi Akiba. Other quotes from Seder 'Olam are given directly in the name of Rebbi Yose, are anonymous, or even as teachings of Rebbi Yehuda the Prince, the editor of the Mishnah . In the Babylonian Talmud, "Rebbi Yose" without indication of his father's name always refers to Rebbi Yose ben Halaphta. In chapter 30 of Seder 'Olam, there is a discussion on the legal status of the obligations regarding agriculture in the Holy Land after the return from Babylon that in the Talmud is given in the names of Rebbis Ismael and Eleazar, the sons of R. Yose ben Halaphta. In general, except for some parts of chapters 3 and 4 that are explicitly attributed to older sources, the remaining parallels in the Babylonian Talmud can be attributed to the school oi Rebbi Yose ben Halaphta . The older sources naturally were also taught in that school. One main point of the commentary will be to show that the entire composition follows a logical rule formulated explicitly by Rebbi Yose ben Halaphta. The situation in the Jerusalem Talmud and other (Midrash) Yerushalmi sources is completely different. Most of the parallels to statements of Seder Vlam are given there in the name of Rebbi Yose ben Hanina, an Amora of the second generation who was very active in the fixation of the texts of the Mishnah and other Tannaitic traditions . Some of the parallels are given in the names oi Rebbi 1

2

3

4

5

1 Yebamot 82b, Niddah 46b. 2 Moid Qatan 7b. 3 Arakhin 32b, Niddah I.e. 4 Professor Mirsky wants to p r o v e that the composition of Seder 'Olam precedes that of the Mishnah since the Mishnayot Idiut II, 8-9 can be understood only on basis of Seder 'Olam chap. III. But since both chapters III and IV of Seder 'Olam and these two Mishnayot are clearly labelled as teaching of Rebbi Akiba, all that one can say that the two texts have a common source and that Seder 'Olam, by its nature, is more explicit and complete than the e x t r e m e l y concise Mishnah. 5 Cf. J.N. Epstein, nw»n noirt Kiaa, pp. 307-310.

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Yose the Galilean and Rebbi Yose bar Ilai, almost always in the name of a sage whose name was "Rebbi Yose." The only Palestinian Amora who seems to quote Seder 'Olam in midrashic sources is R. Shemuel ben Nahmani, of whom we know that he spent considerable time in Babylonia. The Jerusalem Talmud clearly does not know of any composition called Seder 'Olam. From all these circumstances, details of which will be given in the commentary to the text, it seems clear that Seder 'Olam as a separate composition is a product of the Babylonian academies. Since the text is quoted by the earliest authorities, it must be a composition of the first generation of Amoraim. The editor of Seder 'Olam and the editor of the historical statements contained in the Tosephta Sot a must have drawn from the same source (details are given in the commentary, e. g. Chapter 9). Hence, it is most reasonable to assume that Seder 'Olam was edited in the academy of Rav, who brought the teachings of the Galilean academies to Babylonia, and that the editor or e d i t o r s based themselves on material of the school of Rebbi Yose ben Halaphta. This text was never received in the Galilean academies. The other two questions have to be answered together. On one hand, Seder 'Olam is a rabbinic text in the tradition of the Sadducee Book of Jubilees , which treats the history of the world from Creation to the theophany on Mount Sinai. Since Sadduceeism was practically extinct at the time of composition of the book, a polemic against Sadducees cannot be the central theme. Naturally, since Christianity took over some Sadducee tenets, the book may have had some value in the fight against Christian encroachments on the Jewish population. In particular, some fathers of the early church wanted to prove that their savior died exactly in the year 4000 of the world, to finish the 2000 "years of Torah" and to start the "2000 years of the Messiah^". It is known that the Biblical canon u n d e r w e n t a 6

6 The Book of Jubilees exists only in Ethiopian, which may show the Sadducee roots of Ethiopian Jewry, and in a few fragments found in the Qumran caves. An English translation may be found in R. H. Charles, The Apocryphe and Pseudoepigrapha of the Old Testament in English, vol. II, Pseudepigrapha, Oxford 1913. The Book of Jubilees gives Biblical chronology only up to the Revelation on Mount Sinai which it puts on Sivan 15, 2410 A.M., in contrast to our book that by rabbinic tradition has the date of Sivan 6, 2448 A.M. 7 Sanhedrin 97a: Six thousand years does the world exist: 2000 years tohu,

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reevaluation after the destruction of the Temple because certain books (e. g., Ezechiel) seemed to contradict pentateuchal teachings and the historical books show glaring inconsistencies in parallel narratives. Tosephta Sota contains the record of older attemps at harmonization of contradicting sources. Seder 'Olam not only proposes a logical method of dealing with these seeming inconsistencies by introducing a principle in the name of R. Yose that "Scripture does not come to hide but to explain," but in effect uses this principle and others of Talmudic logic to derive a logically consistent, complete chronology that eliminates these inconsistencies from the creation of Adam to the end of the Biblical period at the time of Ezra. The method of derivation is explained in detail in the commentary. It follows that the contents of Seder 'Olam, with the exception of statements attributed explicitly to older sources, can be considered as results of logical investigation of the Biblical texts. In the cases of disagreement between Seder 'Olam and Yerushalmi sources (sometimes also Josephus), tradition is on the side of the Yerushalmi but logical consistence is on the side of Seder 'Olam. It seems that this logical consistence is one of the main reasons for the unquestioned acceptance by the Babylonian academies of Seder 'Olam as authoritative interpretation of Biblical texts. Seder 'Olam also deals with some other issues of interpretation of the Bible. Not only does it explain verses used by Christians as reference to their savior as references to historical events in Biblical times, it also firmly comes down on the side of people who see in all prophecies of the book of Daniel references to the times of the Hasmoneans. In the view of Seder 'Olam, there are no references in Daniel that could be used to predict the time of the coming of the Messiah. Alexander Marx did not include the Amsterdam edition in his sources because he could not find its readings in the manuscripts at his disposal. However, those manuscripts all belong to the European

2000 years Torah, 2000 years Messiah, and by our many sins there passed of them all that is a l r e a d y passed. [It is possible that the insistence on a very short duration of the Persian e m p i r e in Seder 'Olam c h a p t e r s 29 and 30 is d i r e c t e d against C h r i s t i a n i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s . A c c o r d i n g to our source, the c u r r e n t a r e a begins in year 3760 Anno Mundi.]

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(Spanish and French) tradition. The Yemenite Midrash Hagadol, in its quotes of Seder 'Olam, has readings close to the Mantua and Amsterdam texts. It follows that the Amsterdam printer followed an Oriental manuscript. Since we saw earlier that Seder 'Olam is a Babylonian composition, it is best to adopt Oriental sources from communities strongly dependent on Babylonia, of which the Yemenite Jewish community is the best example. Yemenite Jews even used Babylonian vowel signs and the Babylonian (Seleucid) method of dating until the begin of modern times. Therefore, I chose as text that of the Amsterdam edition except for a few places where there are obvious copying or typographical errors. Any deviating Western tradition is noted in the commentary. There exists a Gaonic historical compilation XOIT oViy T?o, "The short order of times." This is a chronicle of the Davidic dynasty and it implies that the Heads of the Diaspora in Muslim times, Bostanai and his descendants, were no members of the dynasty of David but that the earlier Heads of the Diaspora and the later Geonim in the Land of Israel were direct descendants of King Jehoiachin. However, Rav Sherira Gaon, in his letter, and the Eleventh Century Geonim in Jerusalem do strongly imply that the Heads of the Diaspora in Babylonia were true Davidic rulers to the end. T h e c o m m e n t a r y to t h e book c o n c e n t r a t e s on t h e understanding of the text and its derivations. The text of Chapter 4 presupposes a knowledge of the principles of the Jewish calendar. I have added an explanation of the calendar in an appendix that contains all the information needed to compute the calendar and to convert Jewish and Gregorian (civil) dates from one to the other. In the Hebrew text of Seder 'Olam, most Biblical verses are abbreviated. In the translation, these verses are given in full in order to make the text intelligible for the reader.

Part 1: Pentateuch

1 Creation to Jacob

^ r o m Adam to the Deluge 1656 years and the following are the details: Adam 130 years. Seth 108 years. Enosh 90 years. Keinan 7 0 years. Mehalalel 68 years. Jered 162 years. Hanoch 65 years. Methuselah 187 years. Lemekh 182 years. (Gen. 7:6): "And Noah was 600 years old" etc. Hanoch buried Adam and lived after him 57 years. Methuselah ended his life just before the Deluge. From the Deluge to the Language Split 340 years. It follows that Noah survived the Language Split by 10 years. Our father Abraham was 48 years old at the Language Split. Rebbi Yose said: Eber was a great prophet that he called his son Peleg ("split") "because in his days the earth was split" (Gen. 10:25). You cannot say this happened when Peleg was born since his younger brother Yoqtan had 13 families as his descendants at the Language Split. You cannot say that this happened during Peleg's middle life since Scripture does not come to hide but to explain. Therefore, the verse must mean that the Split occurred during Peleg's last year. 2

3

4

5

3

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4

Commentary 1. The number 1656 is the sum of the numbers given in Gen. 5:3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 25, 28; 6:6. The total sum of 1656 years is also quoted in Bereshit rabba 38(6). T h e d e t a i l s of t h e computation are missing in some manuscripts but it seems t h a t they are genuine parts of the original text. 2. The assertion that Methuselah died just before the Flood is also d i r e c t l y d e r i v a b l e from t h e Biblical verses: Methuselah was 187 years old at Lemech's birth {Gen. 5:25), Lemech had Noah at age 182 {Gen. 5:28) and Noah was 600 at the time of the Flood: 187+182+600 = 969, the age of Methuselah at his death. It is characteristic for the compiler of Seder 'Olam that he refrains here and at most o t h e r p l a c e s to introduce aggadic material that cannot be substantiated from the Biblical verse according to his p r i n c i p l e of i n t e r p r e t a t i o n explained below. Rashi quotes the midrash on M e t h u s e l a h ' s death in his commentary on Gen. 7:10: "It was after seven days that the waters of the Deluge were over the earth." His source is the Toseftah Sotah Chap. 10, which contains much material parallel

to Seder 'Olam. P a r a g r a p h 1 there starts with the statement "When a just man is born, good things are happening" and 113 continues: "All the time that criminals are in the world, rage is in the world. When criminals a r e r e m o v e d from the world, rage is removed from the world. But for the just, not only is the world spared during their lifetime but even in their death, as it is said: 'It was after seven days', these are the seven days of mourning for Methuselah the Just that p r e v e n t e d p u n i s h m e n t from engulfing the world." 114: "Another explanation: This (i.e., Gen. 7:10) teaches us that the Almighty changed for them the laws of nature, the sun was rising in the West and setting in the East. 115: "Another explanation: The Almighty gave them seven days like those of the Future World, they ate and drank, so that they would realize what they had lost (by their evil ways)." The many contradicting explanations of one and the same verse indicate clearly the sermonizing tendencies of the text of the Tosephta. Talmudic

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5

quotes of the same material are found in Babli Sanhedrin 108b, Yerushalmi Mo'ed qatan 5:5 (22c), Abot dR. Natan (A) Chap. 32, Bereshit rabba 32, Midrash Tehillim 26, 67. In c o n t r a s t , Seder 'Olam r e f r a i n s f r o m introducing material that cannot be justified by the principles explained in note 5. 3. This computation also is a s i m p l e sum of t h e y e a r s mentioned (Gen. 11:10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19) together with the later statement that the work at the Tower of Babylon was halted in the year of death of Peleg : 2 + 35 + 30 + 34 + 30 + 209 = 340. The sum is mentioned Bereshit rabba 26(4) in the G a l i l e a n tradition. 4. According to Rebbi Yohanan and Rebbi Hanina (Bereshit rabba 64 (1)) did Abraham at age 48 recognize God, t h a t is, as consequence of the Splitting of Languages, against the aggadic opinion of R. Shimon ben Laqish, who puts Abraham's recognition of God at age 3 (loc. cit. cf. Maimonides, Hilkhot Abodah zarah 1:3, Hagahot Maimuniot ad loc.) Only the latter opinion is found in the Babylonian Talmud (Nedarim 32a). For the detail of the computation, see the end of the next note. t

CREATION TO JACOB

5. The argument produced here is at the heart of the entire work and justifies its attribution to Rebbi Yose (who is identified in Bereshit rabba 3 7 ( 1 0 ) as Rebbi Yose ben Halafta). The principle "that Scripture does not come to hide but to explain" contains two exegetical principles. The first one is what I call the axiom of definiteness that I have explored at l e n g t h p r e v i o u s l y (H. Guggenheimer, Logical Problems in Jewish Tradition, in Confrontations with Judaism, ed. Philip Longworth; Anthony Blond, London 1 9 6 7 , pp. 1 7 1 1 9 6 . ) : The Biblical verse has definite and clear meaning. This is a principle accepted in all of Talmudic literature and is the basis of all legal i n f e r e n c e s drawn from Scripture, particularly from the Pentateuch. As an example of the application of this principle, we may study Exodus 2 2 : 1 3 , 1 4 : ur»K VKW*-OI i&y-pK vVya ,n»-w nauni viyi DVD . "And if a man borrow from his fellow man and it was broken or died, its owner not being with him he certainly has to pay. If its owner was with him, he does not have to pay . •.." It is to be noted that at first reading the expressions i»? ,toVT? dangling modifiers since it is not clear whether one should l o o k

l i k c

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t r a n s l a t e "with him" ( t h e b o r r o w e r ) or "with it" ( t h e borrowed implement or animal). Now it is impossible to say that t h e e x p r e s s i o n "its o w n e r being/not being with him" should refer to the owner's accidental presence at the scene of t h e accident since this would deprive the expression "with him" of fixed legal meaning. Therefore, the only interpretation that will make the borrowers obligation unequivocal is to translate "with him," that is, the borrower in his work. The only case in which t h e b o r r o w e r is f r e e d from paying for the accident is if the owner not only lends him the animal but is working alongside the borrower with the animal or implement at the beginning of the lending relation (Baba MezVa 8a). As applied to numbers, the principle reads "if you accept the minimum, you have accepted something; if you try to accept m o r e , you d i d n o t a c c e p t anything" (Rosh Hashanah 4b). This means t h a t if a v e r s e d e s c r i b e s a set of n u m b e r s without upper bound, the minimum is understood. For example, the verse Lev. 15:25 uses the expression "many days." Now "days" a l o n e , as p l u r a l , implies at least two days. "Many days" therefore describes any

6.

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number of days more than 2: 3, 4, 5, and so on. This set clearly has no upper bound. Hence, the only definite interpretation of "many days" is "three days"; this is the t r a n s l a t i o n of t h e A r a m a i c Targum Yerushalmi of the verse (cf. Rashi ad loc). In our case, the number of years of Peleg's life have a beginning and an end. Since Scripture does not indicate a particular date of Peleg's life for the Separation of Languages, it follows that this event fell either at his birth, in that case the name would be given after the event, or at the end of his life, and his father was a great prophet. Now Rebbi Yose uses the principle of definiteness also in a second, c o m p l e t e l y d i f f e r e n t sense for the understanding of the Biblical verse as record of history, not in the legal sense. The argument that the Separation of L a n g u a g e s h a p p e n e d in Peleg's last year is a straightforward application of the legal p r i n c i p l e of definiteness. However, the principle "that Scripture does not come to hide but to explain" has much more far reaching consequences. Obviously, not everybody is born on New Year's Day, and so the question arises, how can one simply add the years of l i f e of s u c c e s s i v e

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generations since there will be an overlap of several months for each birth and this will add up to many y e a r s at t h e e n d . In addition, the a u t h o r uses the same principle of simple addition for the years of rule of the kings of Judah. Now it is well known (Rosh Hashanah 1:1) that if a king dies on Ellul 28 and his son accedes to the throne on Elul 29, then the second year of his rule will start on Tishre 1, the second day of his actual rule. So we have no way of estimating the length of the year of "the begin of his rule" OroVa? n w i ) and to o b t a i n an e x a c t c o u n t of nonoverlapping years. The principle "that Scripture does not come to hide but to explain" therefore must mean that the data in the name lists of Genesis and the regnal lists of l a t e r Biblical books are not raw data but a d j u s t e d to be used in additions to determine the exact time in history a certain event took place. We have to say that a c c o r d i n g to R. Yose, it is impossible to assert that Enosh was born exactly in the year 105 of Seth's life - it could have been 104 or 106 depending on t h e month of birth of father and son - but we a r e sure t h a t t h e addition of years from Adam to the Flood, giving 1,656 years, is an exact measure of time. This

7

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agrees with the general attitude of the scholars of Talmudic times that the essence of Scripture is in the information o b t a i n e d by logical inferences and extralogical rules of transference and not what the Verse means to the untrained ear. Rebbi Yose's special rule is: "Scripture does not come to hide but to explain". In the general opinion of t h e Talmudic sages, any interpretation of Scripture that is not b a s e d on t h e r u l e s of inference and transference is " d i s c o v e r i n g m e a n i n g s in Scripture against the rules," which is a sin precluding an afterlife (Abot 111:15); in their opinion, the traditional rules, or "oral law," are a necessary basis for the understanding of t h e "written law." [C.J. Minkowski, the editor of an eclectic edition of Seder 'Olam (Ph.D. thesis, Yale University 1981), doubts the attribution of the work to R. Yose (ben Halafta) since the only reference to him is a bpraita at t h e b e g i n n i n g of t h e t e x t . However, as we shall show, the statement of R. Yose is the basis and backbone of the entire text and d o u b t l e s s t h e m a t e r i a l belongs to his school.] Now t h a t w e h a v e e x p l a i n e d t h e p r i n c i p l e of interpretation of Scripture that is the basis of Seder 'Olam, the

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argument should be clear. Since Scripture connects Peleg with the Separation of Languages and no other date is given for the event, it must have happened in t h e year of his birth or his death. But Peleg was t h e oldest of Eber's sons (Gen. 11:15); Yoqtan was y o u n g e r . Y o q t a n ' s 13 children (Gen. 10:26-29) w e r e among those whose families were dispersed after the Flood (Gen. 10:32); t h e y h a d t h e i r own families before the dispersions. Therefore, the dispersion happened during Peleg's last year of life. The (much older) S a d d u c e e Book of Jubilees explains that Peleg received his n a m e ("split") b e c a u s e t h e different descendants of Noah split the earth among themselves

8

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at the time of his birth. Hence, the times after Creation given by the Book of Jubilees are less than those of Seder 'Olam. From Gen. 11:19, 20, 22, 24, 26 it follows that Abram was born 32 + 30 + 29 + 70 = 161 years after the birth of Rc'u. On the other hand, Peleg lived 209 years after the birth of Re'u. Hence, Abram was 48 at the time of Peleg's death. In all pointed sources p r i o r t o t h e e n d of t h e Eighteenth Century, the Rabbinic title is Rebbi, Ribbi, *an, not Rabbi, *2n, or also RevI, *an. In old sources, the form "Rabbi" is unique to the New Testament. A discussion of that form is found in my The Scholar's Haggadah, Northvale NJ 1995, p. 261.

Our father Abraham was 70 years old when he was spoken to (by God's presence) at the Covenant Between the Pieces as it is said (Ex. 12:41): "And it was after 430 years," etc. After that he was spoken to he returned to Haran, stayed there five years as it is said (Gen. 12:4): "And Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran." It follows that from the Dispersion until Abraham left Haran there were 26 years. These are exactly (Gen. 14:4-5) "12 years they served Kedorla'omer and 13 years

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they rebelled. came."

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9

And in the fourteenth year Kedorla'omer

Commentary T h e a r g u m e n t is s o m e w h a t cryptic but well known. It is written (Ex. 12:41) "And it was after 430 years, exactly to the day, that all hosts of the Eternal left the land of Egypt." On the o t h e r h a n d , it says at t h e Covenant Between the Pieces (Gen. 15:13) "You should know that your seed will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs for 400 years." Now from t h e children of Abraham only Isaac is called his seed (Gen. 21:12) but not Ismael. Since "Scripture does not come to hide but to explain" and no other dates are given, it follows that the 400 years have to be counted from the birth of Abraham's "seed" but that the Covenant happened in the night of the 15th of Nissan, 30 years earlier. It is also impossible to explain that Israel was in Egypt close to 400 years since Seder 'Olam itself establishes (Chapter 3) that "from the death of Levi to the Exodus 116 years and the years of slavery were not more than these nor less than 76 years, the age of Miriam at the Exodus." Since Abraham was 100 years old at the birth of Isaac (Gen.

21:5), it f o l l o w s t h a t t h e Covenant happened when he was 70 years of age. It also says at the Covenant (Gen. 15:16) "the fourth generation will r e t u r n h e r e , " this m e a n s t h a t t h e Covenant was executed in the Land of Canaan. The "fourth generation" that is mentioned there was Serah, the daughter of Asher, who is mentioned (Gen. 46:17) as one who entered Egypt with Jacob and (Num. 26:46) as one to whom part of the land was to be distributed after the conquest. This p r o v e s t h a t A b r a h a m w a s in C a n a a n , returned to Haran, and left for good five years afterwards with his entire family. By t h e w a y , the harmonization of the dates given in Genesis and Exodus solves another problem that has puzzled commentators. In Gen. 15:1-6 it is reported that after Abraham's victory over t h e kings, God assures him of his protection, p r o m i s e s him numerous descendants and the possession of the Land, and Abraham "trusted the Eternal, who counted it as a merit." Then in v. 8, Abraham

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seems to turn around and ask for a sign that he will inherit. But according to R. Yose, what is told in vv. 1-6 happened 30 y e a r s after what is told in vv. 7-21. From the p r e c e d i n g computation, that Abraham was 48 at the Dispersion of mankind and 75 when he left Haran, it would follow t h a t t h e t i m e difference was 27 y e a r s , the reading of a single manuscript, and not 26 as in the consensus of the editio princeps and the major manuscript sources. It is also clear from the use of the verse Ex. 12:4, with its insistence on "the exact day," that R. Yose a c c e p t s t h e o p i n i o n of R. Yehoshua (Rosh Hashanah 11a) that the patriarchs were born in Nissan. Therefore, he seems to follow the convention that years are counted from the first of

10

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Nissan, not from t h e first of Tishre, and one might explain the reading "26 years" that in the o p i n i o n of t h e c o m p i l e r , A b r a h a m left H a r a n d u r i n g Nissan of his 75th year, at the end of 26 y e a r s a f t e r t h e Dispersion. Therefore, the isolated reading "27 years" is an easy attempt at harmonization and has to be rejected as a gloss. The computation of the years of existence of a settlement at Sodom until the wars of the kings (Gen. 14) is obvious since the settlement cannot have been started before the Dispersion. An alternative translation of Gen. 14:4 would be that "they served for 12 years and rebelled in the 13th year"; see next section. The entire piece is quoted by Rashi and Tosafot Shabbat 10b with no changes in the text.

That same year in which Abraham left Haran was the year of famine; he descended into Egypt and was there for three months, returned and settled at the grove of Mamre in

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11

Hebron; the same year he conquered the kings. He spent there 10 years before he married Hagar as it is said (Gen. 16:3): "Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian her bondmaid, at the end of 10 years of Abram's stay in Canaan, etc" And it is written (Gen. 16:16): "Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore IsmaeL" It turns out that Ismael was Isaac's elder by 14 years. It turns out that from the Dispersion until the birth of Isaac were 52 years. All the time Sodom was settled was 52 years, of which time it and its sister cities were in rest and quiet for 26 years.

Commentary Here again, the fixation of the d a t e s of t h e h a p p e n i n g s recounted in Genesis, chapters 12-17, is based on R. Yose's principle, "Scripture does not come to hide but to explain." It is clear from the context that the war with the kings (Chap. 14) was before the birth of Ismael. Hence, it must be dated at the only explicit date that precedes the marriage of Hagar, that is, the year of Abraham's last move from Haran. Even though the compiler c l e a r l y a c c e p t s t h e principle that the historical parts of t h e T o r a h a r e n o t in chronological order, since by his account the Covenant of Gen. 15:7-21 precedes the theophany of Gen. 15:1-6 by five years, it is impossible to date the war of the kings before the adventure in Egypt since t h e i n c r e a s e in Abraham's and Lot's property

lead to t h e i r split and Lot's residence in Sodom. Therefore, t h e c o m p i l e r is f o r c e d t o c o n c e n t r a t e all the e v e n t s referred to in Gen. 12-14 in one year. He finds support in the computation of the duration of the settlement of Sodom, because if Isaac was born 52 years after the Dispersion and Sodom was founded immediately after the Dispersion, then it was settled for 52 (or 51 by the reading of the editio princeps) y e a r s . An unspoken hypothesis here is that all peoples s t a y e d u n d e r Nimrod's rule for some time after the Dispersion and probably he accepts the identification, found in an anonymous Galilean source (Bereshit rabba 4 2 ( 5 ) ) , t h a t Nimrod and Amraphel a r e one and the same person. As noted above, the interpretation of Gen. 14:4 adopted by Seder Vlam that

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the city of Sodom persevered 13 years in its r e b e l l i o n is not accepted by everybody. There is explicit disagreement reported in Bereshit rabba 42 (10): "Rebbi Yose and Rabban Shim'on ben Gamliel. Rebbi Yose says: 12 and 13 m a k e s 2 5 . Rabban Shim'on ben G a m l i e l s a y s , altogether there were 13 years. How does Rabban Shim'on ben Gamliel explain and in the year 14', in the year 14 of his rule came Kedorla'omer." Similarly, Josephus Flavius, two generations before R. Yose ben Halafta and Rabban Shim'on ben Gamliel, adopts the latter's position in his exposition (Jewish Antiquities) of Gen. 14. According to Rabban Shim'on ben G a m l i e l , it is impossible to d e t e r m i n e t h e length of Sodom's settlement, but, probably, he will agree that it was at most 52 years. The Babylonian Talmud as always follows strictly the interpretation of Seder 'Olam. We read Sabbath 10b: "Raba bar Mehassya says in the name of Rab Hama bar Gurya in the name of Rab: A person should always try to d w e l l in a r e c e n t l y e s t a b l i s h e d s e t t l e m e n t ; since (

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because of its recent settlement the sum of its sins is small. Rab Hanin says: what is the relevant scriptural verse? (Gen. 19:20) 'Here please this city (Zoar) is close by to flee there and it is small, may I please flee there since it is minute, so that I may survive'. What does it mean 'it is minute'? If you would say it is close by and small, the angel can see it (and it does not have to be repeated), but since it is a recent s e t t l e m e n t , its sins a r e less numerous. Rebbi Izhak says: Zoar was settled for 51 years since it says to noVax (may I please flee) and the numerical value of xi is 51. Sodom's time of settlement was 52 years and its peaceful existence 26 years." Rashi ad loc. explains that the years of subjugation were not years of quiet and those of rebellion not of rest, therefore the years of rest and quiet began only after the war, in the year 26 of its s e t t l e m e n t . The t r a n s l a t i o n h e r e follows t h e marginal note of the Munich manuscript. The last sentence is a straightforward quote of Seder 'Olam. Cf. Rashi and Tosafot ad loc.

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1 1

From the Flood to the birth of Isaac 392 years. These are the details: (Gen. 11:10) 'These are the descendants of Sem. Sem was 100 years old when he had Arpakhshad, 2 years after the Flood." Arpakhshad 35 (Gen. 11:12), Shelah 30 (Gen. 11:14), Eber 34 (Gen. 11:16), Peleg 30 (Gen. 11:18), Re'u 32 (Gen. 11:20), Serug 30 (Gen. 11:22), Nahor 29 (Gen. 11:24), Terah 70 (Gen. 11:26). (Gen. 21:5) "Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born to him."

Our forefather Isaac was 37 years old when he was bound to the altar. (Gen. 21:34) "And Abraham dwelt in the land of the Philistines many days". These days were more than those he dwelt at Hebron, the latter were 25 years and the former 26 years.

Commentary Isaac was 37 years old when his mother, Sarah, died since she died at age 127 and he was born when she was 90. The tradition that Sarah died when she heard that her husband had tried to sacrifice her son is explicitly ascribed to (a later) Rebbi Yose (Bereshit rabba 58(5)). However, there is another reading from a single manuscript (Parma) published by C.J. Minkowski in his edition of Seder 'Olam: "Our father Isaac was 26 years old when he was bound to the altar."

This reading was also proposed by E l i a h u of W i l n a in his commentary to Seder 'Olam on logical grounds without r e f e r e n c e to any manuscript evidence [but there is a parallel reading "26 years," not mentioned by Eliahu of Wilna, in Bereshit rabba 57(11)]. That would place the 'Aqedah (the s a c r i i i c e of I s a a c ) a t t h e m o m e n t of Abraham's return from Bcerseba to Hebron. Since A b r a h a m returns from Mount Moriah to Beerseba (Gen. 22:19) and a few

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verses later is found at Hebron, the author of the second version will connect 'Aqedah and return to Hebron, maybe as cause and effect. The reading "26 years" seems also better suited to the theory of interpretation of R. Yose. We understand that the information that Abraham dwelt in the land of the Philistines many days will mean time at Beerseba > time at Hebron a n d by t h e p r i n c i p l e of definiteness, one would conclude that time at Beerseba = time at Hebron + 1. [Since Sarah died at Hebron, another possible interpretation would be that Abraham returned to Hebron just before Sarah's death, which would add another 11 years to the stay at Beerseba. However, the verses Gen. 23:2 ff. are taken to imply that Abraham was i n s t a l l e d at H e b r o n as regular inhabitant some time before Sarah's death.] Since no date is given for Isaac's sacrifice, it would seem to follow from the principle that "Scripture does not come to hide but to explain" that the sacrifice was at the end of A b r a h a m ' s stay at B e e r s e b a . A b r a h a m w a s i n f o r m e d of Rebbeca's birth shortly after he returned to Beerseba from Mount Moriah (Gen. 22:20). If Rebbeca

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was born the same y e a r ( a c c o r d i n g to R e b b i Yose's principle), that would make her 14 years old when Isaac married h e r at a g e 40; s e e b e l o w . However, in all French (Rashi and Tosafot) and O r i e n t a l (Midrash Hagadol Bereshit, ed. M. Margaliut, p. 431) sources, the reading is consistently "37 years." The Sadducee Book of Jubilees gives the age of Isaac at the Aqedah as 34 years when Sarah was only 124 years of age. The Book of Jubilees does not present t h e o r e t i c a l bases for its assertions. The assertion that Abraham's first stay at Hebron was 25 years is based on t h e previous assertion that he moved to the Grove of Mamreh the year he left Haran for the last time, when he was 75 years of age. He stayed there until after Sodom was destroyed. Since the story of Abraham's move to Gerar is told just after the story of Lot's daughters' incestuous relationships with their father, the usual interpretation is that Abraham left Hebron because of the shame brought on his family by Lot (Bereshit rabba 52(3), an anonymous source.) Since Abraham was 100 years old at the birth of Isaac, he was 99 or 100 when he left Hebron.

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J5.

At that time, Rebecca was born. It follows that Isaac married Rebecca when she was 14 years old.

Commentary In most French manuscripts and sources, the reading is "3 years old"; in few, we find "4 years." The reading "3 years" is quoted by Rashi (Gen. 25:20) and Tosafot (Yebamot 61b, s.v. pi) who write: "Seder 'Olam teaches explicitly that she was t h r e e years old when Isaac married her and it is impossible to emend t h e text since we read t h e r e : 'Our forefather Isaac was 37 years of age when he was bound to the altar and at that time, Rebecca was born,' and it is written (Gen. 25:20) 'Isaac was 40 years old when he m a r r i e d Rebecca'." Once one accepts the reading "37 y e a r s " in t h e preceding paragraph, the unlikely conclusion that Rebecca went out alone to fetch water at the age of three seems to be inescapable. The reading "4 years" can also be e x p l a i n e d in t h e s a m e way: A b r a h a m was i n f o r m e d of Rebecca's birth on his r e t u r n from Mount Moriah, so Rebecca can be assumed to have been born in the preceding year This f

argument does not violate any of Rebbi Yose's principles. But if we accept the reading "37 years," it seems better to accept also the r e a d i n g "3 y e a r s " , not only b e c a u s e of t h e o v e r r i d i n g authority of Rashi and Tosafot, who accept the reading, but also, as we have seen before, that Rebbi Yose accepts the opinion of R. Yehoshua that the years start, and the p a t r i a r c h s and matriarchs were born, in Nissan. The tradition is that the 'Aqedah on Mount Moriah was on the first day of Tishre; there seems to be no d i s s e n t to this o p i n i o n . Therefore, the messenger would have more than 6 months from Haran to Beerseba. In addition, Rashi is a very careful reader of manuscripts who never hesitates to point out readings he finds questionable. But nevertheless, it is difficult to accept the reading "3 years." The text "at that time, Rebecca was born" is found in all manuscripts, whether A s h k e n a z i c , S e p h a r d i c , or

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Oriental. This text is the base for the computation of "3 years" as explained. On the other hand, none of the Galilean midrashim has any trace of an opinion that Rebecca married as a toddler; and also the Babylonian Talmud (Yebamot 61b) is clearly of the opinion that Rebecca married as a na'arah, a girl in her puberty, who legally is no longer a minor but has not yet a c q u i r e d the status of an independent adult. This also seems to be implied by the legal language of the verse Gen. 24:16. The Talmud (loc. cit.) has difficulties with reconciling the rule, derived from Gen. 16:3, that a couple after 10 years of childless marriage is obliged to seek ways to have a child with the fact (Gen. 25:20,26) that Isaac w a i t e d 20 y e a r s a f t e r h i s marriage before he was roused to activity. If Rebecca actually was only 3 years of age, the first nine years of her marriage would not count since, for a minor, any pregnancy is a hazard to her health or life (Jebamot 12b). However, t h e Talmud, w h i c h otherwise follows Seder 'Olam very strictly, does not choose this easy way out but instead insists that Isaac was sterile during the first ten years of his marriage. In addition, R. Yose (ben Halafta) is quoted in Pirqe Rebbi Eliezer (Chapter 32) saying "3 years did

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Isaac mourn his mother. After 3 years he married Rebecca and forgot the mourning for his mother," without mentioning that he had to wait anyhow since 3 years is the minumum age after which a father can marry off his daughter. Similarly, the Galilean Bereshit rabba (57(2)) mentions that "after these h a p p e n i n g s " (Gen. 22:20) of the 'Aqedah, Abraham realized that he should find a mate for Isaac and was informed of Rebecca's existence, without insisting that it was a notice of her birth. In fact, as explained in the next paragraph, the notice that A b r a h a m received from his family was a notification of his father's death, with the notices on his brother's children being incidental. Therefore, it seems clear t h a t one s h o u l d a c c e p t t h e reading "14 years" as the original reading of Seder 'Olam, as given in Oriental -Sephardic manuscripts. The Tosafot themselves (Yebamot 61b) give the following argument: "Rebbi Samuel (ben Kalonymos) t h e Pious of Speyer p r o v e d t h a t Rebecca was 14 years old since it is stated in Sifry (Dent. # 357, cf. also Bereshit rabba 100(10)): 6 couples lived the same number of years, and among them Kehat and Rebecca. Kehat lived 133 years as given by Scripture (Ex.

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T7

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17

6:18), and if Rebecca was 14 at the time of her marriage then the computations come out right. When Jacob was born she was then 34 years of age and Jacob was 99 y e a r s old w h e n his mother died (see next Chapter), that makes 133 years. For Jacob was 63 y e a r s old w h e n he received his father's blessing (Seder 'Olam Chapter 2), 14 years he hid in the house of Eber (loc. cit. Megillah 17a), 20 years in Laban's house (Gen. 31:38), 2 years he spent on the road (Seder 'Olam Chapter 2), and at that time Rebecca died (Seder 'Olam C h a p t e r 2) as w e e x p l a i n (Bereshit rabba 81(5), Qohelet rabba 7(2), Tanhuma Teze 4, Tanhuma Buber Wayishlah 26, Pesiqta deR* Kahana Zakhor 24a) "(Gen. 35:8) allon bakhut, aXXov maa ' a n o t h e r c r y i n g ' , two mournings, one for Rebecca and the other one for her wet-nurse; for a total of 99 years. One has to a s s u m e t h a t t h e r e a r e different midrash traditions." We even know that not Rebbi Samuel the Pious is the author of the argument but Rebbi Eliezer ben Natan of Mayence, known as RAVaN (Responsa, #118). He reports to have been a s k e d by Rebbi Samuel ben Kalonymos about the source for the assertion that Rebecca's life was equal in length to that of t

CREATION TO JACOB CREATION TO JACOB

Kehat "and I answered him, it is taught in Seder 'Olam: At the time of the 'Aqedah, Rebecca was born and was married to Isaac at age 4, and Deborah the wet-nurse of Rebecca died (Gen. 35:8) together with Rebecca, and if you compute from the 'Aqedah to the death of Deborah you will find only 123 years and she would have lived 10 years less than Kehat. But certainly, the author of Sifry disagrees with the author of Seder 'Olam and in his opinion she was 10 years old at the time of the 'Aqedah and was married at age 14, or also he might be of the opinion that she was born at the time of the 'Aqedah but he does not accept that she died at the same time as her wet-nurse but lived another 10 years and the entire statement is a tradition (not supported by Scripture)." His interpretation is accepted by the later F r e n c h c o m m e n t a t o r H i z q u n i (Gen. 25:20) as based on the correct r e a d i n g of Seder 'Olam "14 years." As e x p l a i n e d in t h e introduction, it seems that Seder 'Olam is a Babylonian compilation of the school of Rab, based on Rebbi Yose's material. There are also good reasons to accept the a t t r i b u t i o n of t h e editing of Sifry to t h e same school. Therefore, it is most

18

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reasonable to accept the reading that Isaac was 26 years old at the time of the 'Aqedah and Rebecca was married at age 14 as t h e

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original Babylonian text. This is a l s o t h e o p i n i o n of C . J . Milikowski.

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o»p in>n ^^VO n^nffi try/pig) afop j ov/l ^ u r forefather Abraham buried his father Terah two years before the death of Sarah. Jacob served Abraham 16 years. It follows that Jacob served Sem for 50 years. S e m served Methuselah 98 years. Methuselah served Adam for 2 4 3 years. I t follows that four men lived in the span of 2 2 Commentary generations and seven men folded the entire world together and saw lived one another, Adam, Jacob, 2. Methuselah, Abraham was Sem, 160 years old 1. Terah to be 205viz., years Amram, Ahiya of Siloh, Elijah, and the latter is still living. when Jacob w a s b o r n (Gen. (Gen. 11:32), a t that moment 25:26), he died at age 175 (Gen. Abraham was 135 years old (Gen. 25:7). Jacob was born 392 + 60 = 11:26) and when Sarah died at 452 years after the Flood. Sem age 127, Abraham was 137. If lived another 502 years ai ter the t h e n o t i c e of T e r a h ' s d e a t h Flood (Gen. 11:10,11). Hence, reached Abraham together with Sem died when Jacob was 50 the information on R e b e c c a ' s years of age. birth, this would be additional 2

3

4

5

s u p p o r t f o r t h e r e a d i n g "14 years" for Rebecca's marriage.

3. We already noted that Methuselah died just before the

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J9

Flood. Sem was 100 years old two years after the Flood (Gen. 11:10). It seems that the author does not count the year of the Flood among the years of history. Another possibility is that he counts the years of the world from Nissan, following Rebbi Yehoshua, but the Flood from Tishre, following Rebbi Eliezer. In t h a t c a s e , he w o u l d put A r p a k h s h a d ' s b i r t h about 18 months after the Flood, during the second year after the Flood. These problems will be dealt with in Chapter Four.

CREATION TO JACOB CREATION TO JACOB

(Rebbi Shemuel ben grandson of Rashi):

Meir,

4. Adam, who lived to be 930 y e a r s old, was 627 when Methuselah was born.

Talmud: The Rebbis have taught: Seven men folded the world among themselves. Methuselah knew Adam, Sem knew Methuselah, Jacob knew Sem, Amram knew Jacob, Ahiyah of Siloh knew Amram, Elijah knew Aijah of Siloh and he still exists. How could Ahiyah of Siloh h a v e known Amram? Does it not say "and nobody of them was left except for Caleb ben Yephuneh and Joshua bin Nun" (Num. 26:65)? Rab Hamnuna said: the decree of death did not include the tribe of Levi.

5. T h e a s s e r t i o n s h e r e a r e partially based on s c r i p t u r a l verses, partially on interpretations and partially on t r a d i t i o n s not s u p p o r t e d by Scripture. In French texts, one reads of the six men that they "folded the entire world together, saw one another, and studied Torah together"; this addition is an important element of their i n t e r p r e t a t i o n . T h e p i e c e is quoted in the Babylonian Talmud (Baba batra 121b) in a discussion of the rights of inheritance of the people who left Egypt, I am giving here the Talmud text and the c o m m e n t a r y of Rashbam

Rashbam: Seven men. This is a baraita in Seder 'Olam and is quoted here since we are dealing with the property rights of Joshua and Caleb and it comes to tell us that these seven, since they were just and studied Torah, folded the world among themselves, i.e., surrounded it so that the world appeared folded among them. Each one of these seven men served his precedessor as it is stated earlier in Seder 'Olam: "It turns out that Jacob served Sem for 50 y e a r s , Sem s e r v e d M e t h u s e l a h f o r 98 y e a r s , Methuselah served Adam for 243

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years," these statements follow f r o m t h e a c c o u n t of t h e generations that are written in t h e s t o r y of t h e F l o o d . Methuselah died only at t h e beginning of the Flood as it is stated in Heleq (the chapter of Tractate Sanhedrin dedicated to the t h e o l o g y of t h e F u t u r e World, p. 108b): "it was after seven days that the Flood came" (Gen. 7:10), these were the seven days of mourning for Methuselah the Just. At that moment, Sem was 98 years of age as it is written (Gen. 11:10) "Sem was 100 years of age when he had Arpakhshad, two years after the Flood." And Lemekh also knew both Adam and Sem, but he counts only perfectly just people who served one the o t h e r as s t u d e n t s t h e i r master. This Tanna (teacher of the Mishnaic period) is not of the opinion that H a n o k h is M e t a t r o n since otherwise he would have had to say "two people folded the world among themselves," but he is of 1

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the opinion that the verse (Gen. 5:24) "Hanokh ambled with God and he was no more because God had taken him" means that he died after only half his normal life span, as he a l s o s t a t e s "Hanokh buried Adam and lived after him 57 years, Methuselah ended his life just before the Flood." Amram knew Jacob. This is a reasonable inference since his father Kehat was of those who entered Egypt as it is written (Gen. 46:11) "The sons of Levi Gershon, Kehat and Merari," (Gen. 47:28) "And Jacob lived in Egypt for seventeen years" and during these 17 years Amram was born since he was Kehat's first son as it is written (Ex. 6:18): "The sons of Kehat were Amram and Izhar, Hebron and Uziel." Ahiyah of Siloh knew Amram, Elijah knew Ahijah of Siloh. This is a tradition (unsupported by Biblical verses). This Tanna is not of the opinion that Elijah is

1 M I T C V I O O , the herold announcing the r u l e r (Du Cange, Medieval Greek Glossary I, p. 919), a Medieval term applied to the angel who presides over the four Archangels and who in s e v e r a l Gaonic sources is identified with Hanokh about whom it is said {Gen. 5:24) "Hanokh ambled with God and he was no more because God had taken him." The main source is the Jewish "Book Henoch" (A. Jellinek, Bet ha-Midrash, vol. 5, 170-190). In an older midrashic source (Derekh Ere; Zuta I), Hanokh is counted among the nine people who entered the h e a v e n l y Garden of Eden alive, together with Bitya the d a u g h t e r of P h a r a o who rescued Moses and others. Rashbam notes that the author of Seder 'Olam must d i s a g r e e

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21

2

identical with Phineas because otherwise he would have said "Moses knew Amram, Phineas knew Moses and he still exists" and he w o u l d not h a v e to mention Ahijah at a l l A slightly different version of Seder 'Olam is quoted in Abot deR. Natan, version 2, Chapter 38, w h e r e Serah the daughter of Asher is substituted for Amram. This eliminates the need for Rav H a m n u n a ' s explanation. The text of Abot deR. Natan seems to be Galilean.

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By contrast, Rav Hamnuna is one of the foremost students of Rab in Babylonia, a member of the school to whom the editing of Seder 'Olam can be ascribed. To sum up: The assertions p r e s e n t e d in t h i s chapter are all d e r i v e d from Scripture by the method of Rebbi Yose except one which is a reasonable inference and one (Ahijah/Serah and Elijah) or two (Rebecca m a r r i e d at age 14 a c c o r d i n g to B a b y l o n i a n tradition) which are traditions without scriptural justification.

with the authors of Derekh Erei Zuta and the Henoch version of Sefer Hekhalot. 2 This identification is quoted in Yalqut Shim'oni Pinehas in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Laqish from an anonymous midrash; it is presupposed in Tar gum Yerushalmy (Pseudo-Jonathan) to Ex. 4:13, which does not t r a n s l a t e "Please, o Lord, send by anybody You would want to send" but "Please, o Lord, send Phineas who is apt to be sent at the end of days," a reference to Elijah and Mai. 3:23.

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Our forefather Jacob was 63 years old when he was blessed . At that time, Ismael died as it says (Gen. 28:6-9): "Esaw saw that Isaac blessed Jacob and sent him to on the road to Aram to take there a wife for himself, when he blessed him and told him not to take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. So Jacob listened to his father and mother and he went on the road to Aram. Then Esaw understood that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the eyes of his father Isaac. Then Esaw went to Ismael and took Mahalat, the daughter of Ismael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaiot as an additional wife." The verse had no need to mention that she was the sister of Nebaiot. So why does the verse mention that she was the sister of Nebaiot? This teaches you that Ismael betrothed her but then he died and her brother Nebaiot gave her away.

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SEDER OLAM

JACOB

Our father Jacob then spent 14 years in the Land of Israel hidden, serving Eber. Eber died two years after Jacob's departure for Aram Naharaim. He left and came to Aram Naharaim; hence, he was 77 years of age when he was standing by the well. 20 years he spent in the house of Laban: Seven years before he married the Mothers, seven years after he married the Mothers, and six years after the birth of 11 tribes and Dinah. It turns out that all tribes were born within 7 years (except Benjamin), each one after s e v e n month pregancy. He left Aram Naharaim, came to Sukkoth and spent there 18 m o n t h s as it is said (Gen. 33:17) "Jacob traveled to Sukkoth and built himself a house; for his animals he made huts". He left Sukkoth, came to Beth El and spent there six months sacrificing to the Omnipresent one. 2

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Commentary 1. Most statements in this piece are discussed at length in the Babylonian Talmud, t r a c t a t e Megillah, fol. 16b-17a: "Rav Isaac bar Shemuel bar Martha said: The study of Torah is more important than the honor of father and mother since for all the years that Jacob spent in the house of Eber <studying Torah> he was not punished since one said: Why is the length of Ismael's life mentioned ? In order to determine by them t h e c h r o n o l o g y of Jacob's life, since it says (Gen. 25:17): 'Now these are the years of the life of Ismael, 137 years'. How much older was Ismael than Isaac? 14 years, since it says

(Gen. 16:16): ' A b r a m was 86 years old when H a g a r b o r e Ismael for Abram.' And it is written (Gen. 21:5): ' A b r a h a m was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born to him.' It is also written (Gen. 25:26): 'Isaac was 60 years old when they were born." How old was Ismael when Jacob was born? 74 years old! How many of his years w e r e left? 63 years! We did learn: Our father Jacob was blessed at age 63. At that time, Ismael died since it is written (Gen. 28:6): 'Then Esaw understood that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the eyes of his father Isaac. Then Esaw went to Ismael and took Mahalat, the daughter of Ismael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaiot as an

SEDER OLAM

a d d i t i o n a l wife.' Since s h e <Mahalat> is characterized as Ismael's daughter, does this not imply that she was N e b a i o t ' s sister?