Skip to main content
Mi Yodeya

Return to Question

Notice removed Draw attention by CommunityBot
Bounty Ended with no winning answer by CommunityBot
Tweeted twitter.com/StackJudaism/status/1092256804308946949
Notice added Draw attention by DanF
Bounty Started worth 100 reputation by DanF
deleted 167 characters in body
Source Link
DanF
DanF
  • 71.5k
  • 10
  • 68
  • 267

I noticed an apparent conflict when the Torah uses units of a large number. It seems to occur with mentioning someone's age.

Examples:

Breishit 23:1 Sarah lived 100 years and 20 years and 7 years

vs.

Breishit 47:28 Jacobs' life was 7 years and 40 and 100 years

In the first case, the units are in descending value (100, then 20, then 7). IN the 2nd, they are in ascending value (7, then 40, then 100.)

I assume this is some general grammatical rule, and I surmise that if each unit is separated with the word "years", then it is descending, otherwise itWhy is ascending. If this,there a change in fact, is the rule, why is it this wayordering of the units?

I noticed an apparent conflict when the Torah uses units of a large number. It seems to occur with mentioning someone's age.

Examples:

Breishit 23:1 Sarah lived 100 years and 20 years and 7 years

vs.

Breishit 47:28 Jacobs' life was 7 years and 40 and 100 years

In the first case, the units are in descending value (100, then 20, then 7). IN the 2nd, they are in ascending value (7, then 40, then 100.)

I assume this is some general grammatical rule, and I surmise that if each unit is separated with the word "years", then it is descending, otherwise it is ascending. If this, in fact, is the rule, why is it this way?

I noticed an apparent conflict when the Torah uses units of a large number. It seems to occur with mentioning someone's age.

Examples:

Breishit 23:1 Sarah lived 100 years and 20 years and 7 years

vs.

Breishit 47:28 Jacobs' life was 7 years and 40 and 100 years

In the first case, the units are in descending value (100, then 20, then 7). IN the 2nd, they are in ascending value (7, then 40, then 100.)

Why is there a change in the ordering of the units?

Source Link
DanF
DanF
  • 71.5k
  • 10
  • 68
  • 267

Ascending or descending order when mentioning units in a number?

I noticed an apparent conflict when the Torah uses units of a large number. It seems to occur with mentioning someone's age.

Examples:

Breishit 23:1 Sarah lived 100 years and 20 years and 7 years

vs.

Breishit 47:28 Jacobs' life was 7 years and 40 and 100 years

In the first case, the units are in descending value (100, then 20, then 7). IN the 2nd, they are in ascending value (7, then 40, then 100.)

I assume this is some general grammatical rule, and I surmise that if each unit is separated with the word "years", then it is descending, otherwise it is ascending. If this, in fact, is the rule, why is it this way?