Avodah Zarah, Daf Tet, Part 5
Introduction
This sugya provides a way of calculating the sabbatical year.
As an aside we can note that all of these calculations seem to imply that well-known calendars did not yet exist.
אמר רב הונא בריה דרב יהושע האי מאן דלא ידע כמה שני בשבוע הוא עומד ניטפי חד שתא ונחשוב כללי ביובלי ופרטי בשבועי ונשקל ממאה תרי ונשדי אפרטי ונחשובינהו לפרטי בשבועי וידע כמה שני בשבוע וסימניך (בראשית מה, ו) כי זה שנתים הרעב בקרב הארץ.
R. Huna the son of R. Joshua said: If one does not know what the year is in the sabbatical cycle of seven years he is in, let him add one year [to the years since the Destruction of the Temple] and let him reckon the hundreds as Jubilee Cycles and convert the remainder into sabbatical Cycles [of seven years each] and take two out of every hundred and add it to the years and then calculate the years of the cycle and he will know they year in the current sabbatical cycle. As a mnemonic [for adding two years for every century, think of the verse]. For these two years has the famine been in the land (Genesis 46:5).
R. Huna provides a way of remembering what year in a sabbatical cycle one is in. Let s say it s been 153 years since the Destruction of the Temple (in 70 C.E.) He adds one year and gets to 154. That s two sabbatical cycles, leaving us with 54. Those divide into 7 sabbatical cycles, leaving us with 5 remaining years. He has to add two for every 100 leaving him with 7. Thus the year 153 is a sabbatical year.
אמר רבי חנינא אחר ארבע מאות לחורבן הבית אם יאמר לך אדם קח שדה שוה אלף דינרים בדינר אחד לא תקח.
במתניתא תנא אחר ארבעת אלפים ומאתים ושלשים ואחת שנה לבריאת עולם אם יאמר לך אדם קח לך שדה שוה אלף דינרים בדינר אחד אל תקח.
R. Hanina said: From the year four hundred after the destruction and onwards, if one says unto you Buy a field that is worth one thousand denarii for one denar, do not buy it.
In a baraita it was taught: From the year four thousand two hundred and thirty-one of the creation of the world onward, if one says to you, Buy a a field that is worth a thousand denarii for one denar, do not buy it.
These sources suggest a messianic calculation. Why would one buy a field if he knew the messiah was coming? According to R. Hanina the Messiah will come 400 years after the destruction of the Temple. According to the baraita, the Messiah was supposed to come in the year 4231.
איכא בינייהו תלת שנין, דמתניתא טפיא תלת שני
What difference is there between these two [given periods]?
There is a difference of three years between them, for the baraita is three years longer.
The baraita is 3 years longer. So it seems that people were heavily anticipating the messiah around the year 470 C.E.