Seder Olam Rabbah - Examples of Method

Examples of Method

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 the Seder Olam was used by the later Biblical commentators as a basis of exegesis. Thus, 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 (Judges 11:26). By computing the life periods of the Judges and assuming that Jephthah sent his message, in which he alluded to the 300 years, in the second year of his rulership, the writer concluded that the reign of Joshua lasted 28 years. It may be added that he placed the making of the image for Micah (Judges 27:1) and the destruction of nearly the whole tribe of Benjamin in consequence of the wrong done to the Levite and his concubine in Gibeah (Judges 19-21) in the time of Othniel.

It is further stated that Solomon began to build the Temple in Jerusalem in the fourth year of his reign, 480 years after the Exodus (1 Kings 6:1), that is, 440 years after the Israelites entered the Holy Land. Thus there was a period of 140 years from the second year of Jephthah to the building of the Temple. The author of the Seder 'Olam concluded that the forty years during which the Israelites were harassed by the Philistines (Judges 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 Sam. 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 (ib. 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.

The chronology of the Kings was more difficult, as there were differences to reconcile between the book of Kings and book of Chronicles. Here especially the author applied the principle of "fragments of years" ("shanim meḳuṭṭa'ot"), by which he regarded the remainder of the last year of any king's reign as identical with the first year of his successor's. In the 20th chapter, which closes the second part ("Baba Meẓia"), the author deals with the forty-eight prophets that flourished in the land of Israel. Beginning with Joshua, the author reviews the whole prophetic period which terminated with Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, elucidating as he proceeds many obscure points. Thus, the prophet mentioned in Judges vi. 8 was, according to the Seder 'Olam, Phinehas, and the man of God that came to Eli (I Sam. 2:27) was Elkanah.

The prophecy of Obadiah occurred in the time of Amaziah, King of Judah (comp., however, Yalḳ., Obad.), and those of Joel, Nahum, and Habakkuk in the reign of Manasseh. After devoting the 21st chapter to the prophets that lived before the conquest of the land, to the seven prophetesses, and to the seven prophets of the Gentiles, the author resumes the chronology of the Kings. He continues it to the end of ch. xxvii., where he reaches the destruction of the Temple, which, according to his computation, occurred after it had existed 410 years, or 3,338 years after the creation of the world. Then follow the 70 years of the Captivity and the 420 years of the Second Temple, which was destroyed, as may be seen, in the year 3828 of the Creation.

The 420 years of the Second Temple are divided into the following periods: the domination of the Persians, 34 years; of the Greeks, 180 years; of the Maccabees, 103 years; of the Herods, 103 years. It can be seen that the allowance, contrary to historical facts, of only 34 years for the Persian domination is necessary if the Seder 'Olam chronology is to agree with the Pharisaic Talmudical interpretation (of Dan. 9:24) that the second exile was to take place after 70 Sabbaths of years (= 490 years) from an "issuing forth of a word" to rebuild Jerusalem. If from this period of 490 years the 70 years of the first Captivity is deducted, and the beginning of Alexander's domination over the Land of Israel is placed, in accordance with Talmudical tradition, at 386 years before the destruction of the Second Temple, then there remain only 34 for the Persian rule. From the destruction of the Second Temple, which, according to the Seder 'Olam, occurred at the end of the last week of a Sabbatical year, to the suppression of Bar Kokba's revolt (or the destruction of Bethar) is given as a period of 52 years. But the text here is very confused and has given rise to various emendations and interpretations, as the historical date for the destruction of the Second Temple is 70 C.E. and that for the conclusion of the Bar Kokba revolt is 135 C.E. (comp. Salzer in Berliner's Magazin, 4:141 et seq.).