HIS DAY IN JEWISH HISTORY, 1687: Isaac Newton published “Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica,” the ground breaking three volume work that included Newton’s Laws of motions and revolutionized the field of physics. Based on documents from the Jewish National and University Library first shown to the general public in 2007, we know that we that Newton “found time to write on Jewish law” and used the Book of Daniel “for clues about the” date for the end of the world. “In one manuscript from the early 1700s, Newton used the cryptic Book of Daniel to calculate the date for the Apocalypse, reaching the conclusion that the world would end no earlier than 2060. ‘It may end later, but I see no reason for its ending sooner,’ Newton wrote. However, he added, ‘This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, and by doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predictions fail.’ In another document, Newton interpreted biblical prophecies to mean that the Jews would return to the Holy Land before the world ends. The end of days will see ‘the ruin of the wicked nations, the end of weeping and of all troubles, the return of the Jews captivity and their setting up a flourishing and everlasting Kingdom,’ he posited.” Newton also wrote “treatises on daily practice in the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. In one document, Newton discussed the exact dimensions of the temple — its plans mirrored the arrangement of the cosmos, he believed — and sketched it. Another paper contains words in Hebrew, including a sentence taken from the Jewish prayerbook. For more about Newton and the Jewish religion see Judaism in the Theology of Sir Isaac Newton by Matt Goldish For more on the exhibit of his papers see: usatoday/tech/science/discoveries/2007-06-19-newton-religious-papers_N.htm# jnul.huji.ac.il/dl/mss/newton/
Posted on: Fri, 05 Jul 2013 11:57:37 +0000
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