parsha bit: Balak

[cellio]

When the torah was given at Sinai, the sound of it travelled from one end of the earth to the other. All the heathen kings assembled by Bila'am, asking "What is this? Is it a flood coming?" Bila'am replied that God had already promised that he would not send another flood. Then what is it? Bila'am replied: God has a precious treasure that he hid away 974 generations before the creation of the world, and he has now brought it out to give to his children. Then the kings all said: God will bless his people with peace. (Zevachim 116a)

(This news doesn't seem to have stopped either the kings or Bila'am from trying to mess with that, mind...)

Comments

[magid.livejournal.com]

I want to know how they figured out that it was 974 generations before the creation of the world! (And how many years to a generation.)

[cellio]

I assume the only path for that information is revelation. I perceive Bila'am to be informed, not smart. :-)

[cellio]

Oh, by "they" did you mean Chazal? I'm not sure where that comes from either; I've heard of a tradition that it will be 1000 generations (from Adam? Avraham? Sinai?) until the moshiach comes; I wouldn't be surprised if there's an idea that creation was the mid-point of the span from torah to redemption, but I'm just guessing. (How many generations from Avraham to Sinai? This would imply six; does that hold up?)

I know it's understood that the torah predated, and was the blueprint for, creation.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Yes, Chazal.

I can imagine there's ideas about there being 1000 generations before creation (to parallel whichever 1000 generations from creation/revelation until moshiach); it was the specificity of 974 that really got me wondering. I mean, I can see the Torah being hidden away 1000 generations before creation; that works.

Huh. Unless there were 26 generations between creation and revelation... which would mean that the Torah had been hidden for 1000 generations. Hrm. Adam to Noah, that's 10; I get fuzzier at that point. But if that's so, then I can totally see it as a "hidden for 1000 generations, then revealed for 1000 generations, and then moshiach" thing.

[zevabe.livejournal.com]

Yep 26 from Adam to Moses: adam to Noah was 10, to Avraham was another 10, Isaac, Jacob, Levi, Kehat, Amram, Moses makes 6 more (I guess it could be 25 if we instead said Levi, Yocheved, Moses, but we don't.)

[cellio]

Ok, so it looks like Moshe is the turning point. (I knew Adam to Noach was 10 and Noach to Avraham was another 10 -- symmetry there. I hadn't counted Avraham onward, but zevabe did.)