The Age of the Earth From Judaic Traditional Literature

Abstract

The calculation of the Earth's age, based on ascribing approximately 40 years to each generation mentioned in the Talmud, results in a total of 5,740 years from the "birth" of Adam. For modern scientists holding traditional viewpoints, this "dating" has led to conflicts which have been explained by various semantic gymnastics. The most common of these is that the Biblical "six days of creation" refers not to days as we know them, but to vast periods of time. However, an examination of the writings of Rabbi Abbahu, Rabbi Abbaye, in the Talmud and Midrash, suggest a concept more akin to our present knowledge. Simon Hahasid in the Talmud estimated the Earth's age as 40,000 years. Based on these early sages, many writers of Jewish religious philosophy in the 10th-12th centuries give ages of the Earth from 50,000 to 100,000 years. Certain Kabbalists from Spain in the 12-13 centuries calculated the Earth's age at 900,000 to 2.5 billion years. A continuation of these concepts are expressed throughout Jewish traditional literature from the Middle Ages to the present by Jewish philosophers and Rabbis such as Maimonides, Rabbi Judah Halevi, Rabbi Israel Lipschitz and others.