After a short introduction, taken from the Seder Olam Rabbah, giving the general chronology from
Flood and the confusion of tongues), the chronology recommences with Adam. Seder Olam Zuta is more complete at this point than Seder Olam Rabbah, as it gives the duration of the generations between Adam and Abraham, which is lacking in the Seder Olam Rabbah. It gives also the lifetime of each of Jacob
's twelve sons as recorded by tradition. Otherwise it merely enumerates the generations.
From
Azariah (who served in the time of Rehoboam), Seder Olam Zuta lists 12 high priests. But in Chronicles[1]
only five high priests are enumerated, whose names are not found at all among those given by the Seder Olam Zuta.
Seder Olam Zuta divides these 50 generations into five series, each of 10 generations. The last persons in each series are, respectively, Noah, Abraham, Boaz, Ahaziah, and Jehoiakim.
After the exile
The second part of the work begins with the statement that
Evil-merodach, thus becoming the first prince of the Captivity. Correcting the somewhat confused genealogical account of 1 Chronicles 3:17–19, the Seder Olam Zuta declares that Jehoiachin had four sons, the eldest of whom was Shealtiel
, who succeeded his father.
Notably, according to this chronicle,
exilarchate
.
Then the chronicle enumerates the successive exilarchs, the account being in part taken from
Anan, whose lifetimes extended over a period of more than 600 years, if they are understood to be the characters mentioned in I Chronicles.[4]
With the deaths of
Agrippa, and Monobaz; at the end of Monobaz's reign and during the time of Shechaniah, the son of Shemaiah, the Romans destroyed the Temple. Further, from Nahum
the names are given of the wise men, probably the chiefs of the academy, who assisted the exilarchs.
After having stated that Mar-Zutra II (the 13th exilarch) was executed in the year 502 C.E., and that his posthumous son Mar-Zutra III betook himself, in the year 4280 of the Creation (= 520 C.E.), to Palaestina Prima, where he became chief of the Sanhedrin, the chronicle mentions eight succeeding exilarchs, the last one being Rab Ḥaẓub, son of Rab Phinehas. Apart from certain misstatements, this part contains many authenticated facts, and is therefore considered by modern scholars as a document of historical value. It may be seen that the lives of 31 exilarchs covered a period of more than 900 years, averaging three exilarchs to a century. This might help to determine the time at which the Seder Olam Zuta was written, according to this estimate, would have lived at the end of the 8th century. The additions of the copyists, however, render this task difficult.
As to the determination of the time of its redaction, there have existed many differences of opinion among authorities.
Moses of Coucy with regard to the year 804/3 C.E. (see above) might be the author's colophon—omitted by the copyist—showing the time of composition. Zunz's opinion has since apparently been confirmed by a manuscript of the Seder Olam Zuta[9] which lacks the introduction spoken of above, but has at the end the following sentence: "From Adam to this day, which is the eleventh day of Kislev of the Sabbatical year, 4,564 years have elapsed": this gives November 803 C.E. However, a closer examination of the text seems to show that the enumeration of the eight exilarchs following Mar-Zutra III was added by two later hands—that of six by one, and that of two, Phinehas and Hazub
, by another—and that the chronicle was composed in the first quarter of the 6th century.
For the editions and Latin translations of the Seder Olam Zutta, see
A. Neubauer,[10] where the text of the Mantua edition also is given. The second part, dealing with the exilarchs, has been edited by Lazarus.[11]
Recent scholarship ascribes authorship to the 10th-century Nathan HaBavli of Kairouan.[12]: 19
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Max Seligsohn (1901–1906). "SEDER 'OLAM ZUṬA". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. Its bibliography: