Seder Olam Zutta(Hebrew:סדר עולם זוטא) is an anonymous chronicle from 803 CE, called "Zuta" (= "smaller," or "younger" ) to distinguish it from the olderSeder Olam Rabbah.This work is based upon, and to a certain extent completes and continues, the older aforementioned chronicle. It consists of two main parts: the first, comprising about three-fifths of the whole, deals with the chronology of the 50 generations fromAdamtoJehoiakim(who, according to this chronicle, was the first of the Babylonianexilarch), the second deals with 39 generations ofexilarchs,beginning with Jehoiachin and going until the 9th century CE.
The authorial intention of this work was to demonstrate that the Babylonianexilarchswere direct descendants ofDavid,King of Israel, through a cascading genealogy.
After a short introduction, taken from theSeder Olam Rabbah,giving the general chronology fromAdamto the destruction of theSecond Temple(a period of 3,828 years) and stating the number of years which elapsed between the most important events (such as between theFloodand the confusion of tongues), the chronology recommences with Adam.Seder Olam Zutais more complete at this point thanSeder Olam Rabbah,as it gives the duration of the generations between Adam andAbraham,which is lacking in theSeder Olam Rabbah.It gives also the lifetime of each ofJacob's twelve sons as recorded by tradition. Otherwise it merely enumerates the generations.
FromDavidonward, it gives the names of the high priests and prophets who lived in the time of each king. Thus, for instance, David hadAbiatharas high priest, andNathanandGadas prophets;Solomon,who ascended the throne at the age of twelve, hadZadokfor high priest, andJonathan,Iddo,andAhijahas prophets. In this way it completes the list of the high priests enumerated inI Chronicles.[1]Shallum[2]officiated in the time ofAmon,and between Shallum andAzariah(who served in the time ofRehoboam),Seder Olam Zutalists 12 high priests. But in Chronicles[1]only five high priests are enumerated, whose names are not found at all among those given by theSeder Olam Zuta.
Seder Olam Zutadivides these 50 generations into five series, each of 10 generations. The last persons in each series are, respectively,Noah,Abraham,Boaz,Ahaziah,andJehoiakim.
The second part of the work begins with the statement thatJehoiachin,who reigned only three months and ten days, was carried into captivity byNebuchadnezzar.[3]He was afterward given high rank byEvil-merodach,thus becoming the first prince of the Captivity. Correcting the somewhat confused genealogical account of1 Chronicles 3:17–19,theSeder Olam Zutadeclares that Jehoiachin had four sons, the eldest of whom wasShealtiel,who succeeded his father.
Notably, according to this chronicle,DariusconqueredBabylonafter it had been supreme for 70 years (beginning with the reign ofNebuchadnezzar), and 52 years after the destruction of theFirst Temple.Zerubbabel,Shealtiel's son, who departed forJerusalemin the first year ofCyrus' reign, returned to Babylon after the Temple and the walls of Jerusalem had been rebuilt byEzra,and succeeded his father in theexilarchate.
Then the chronicle enumerates the successive exilarchs, the account being in part taken fromI Chronicles[4]but differing greatly from the text of Chronicles. The list given in the text is confabulated in its genealogical descent, such asShaphat,who is listed as the father ofAnan,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 ofHaggai,Zechariah,andMalachi—more exactly, in the 52nd year of thePersiandomination, or year 3442 sincecreation—prophecy ceased and the period of the wise men ( "ḥakamim" ) began. FromHananiah(Zerubbabel's grandson) onward, every exilarch is indicated as having been guided by wise men. The names of the kings that reigned overJudeafromAlexander the Greatto RomanPalaestinaduring the destruction of theSecond Templeare given. Like theSeder Olam Rabbah,this chronicle gives the reigns of theMaccabeesand theHerodsas covering 103 years each. The Herodian dynasty consisted, according to theSeder Olam Zuta,of three kings only—Herod,Agrippa,andMonobaz;at the end of Monobaz's reign and during the time ofShechaniah,the son ofShemaiah,theRomansdestroyed the Temple. Further, fromNahumthe names are given of the wise men, probably the chiefs of the academy, who assisted the exilarchs.
After having stated thatMar-Zutra II(the 13th exilarch) was executed in the year 502 C.E., and that his posthumous sonMar-Zutra IIIbetook himself, in the year 4280 of the Creation (= 520 C.E.), toPalaestina Prima,where he became chief of theSanhedrin,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 theSeder Olam Zutawas 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.
In a fragment of a chronicle published byA. Neubauer[5]there is a sentence, regarding the reign ofJohn Hyrcanus,which is found in theSeder Olam Zutabut is referred to the "Seder Olam de-Rabbanan." Lazarus[6]supposes that after "de-Rabbanan" the word "Sabura'e" should be inserted, as a chronicle under the title "Seder Olam de-Rabbanan Sabura'e" is mentioned byBaruch b. Isaac of Worms[7]and byMoses of Coucy,[8]in connection with the statement that the year 4564 (= 803/4 C.E.) was a Sabbatical year. This induced many modern scholars, asH. Grätz,Steinschneider,andZunz,to identify the "Seder Olam Zuta" with the "Seder Olam de Rabbanan Sabura'e."
As to the determination of the time of its redaction, there have existed many differences of opinion among authorities.Zunzobserved that the sentence quoted byR. BaruchandMoses of Coucywith 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 theSeder 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 ofKislevof 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 followingMar-Zutra IIIwas added by two later hands—that of six by one, and that of two, Phinehas andHazub,by another—and that the chronicle was composed in the first quarter of the 6th century.
For the editions and Latin translations of theSeder Olam Zutta,seeSeder Olam Rabbah.Abraham Zacutoinserted in hisYuḥasinthe greater part ofSeder Olam Zutta,his text being more nearly correct than that of any other edition or manuscript. Zacuto's text was republished byA. 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 ofKairouan.[12]: 19
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Max Seligsohn(1901–1906)."SEDER 'OLAM ZUṬA".InSinger, Isidore;et al. (eds.).The Jewish Encyclopedia.New York: Funk & Wagnalls.Its bibliography: