For the source text click/tap here: Avodah Zarah 9
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Our daf brings a teaching from Tanna deVei Eliyahu:
The world will last for six thousand years –
Two thousand of tohu (waste)
Two thousand years of Torah
Two thousand years of Messianic times.
The tanna continues that due to our sins we have already lost some of the years of Messianic times, since mashi’aḥ has not yet come.
Rashi explains that this exposition is based on the model of the days of a week (as in the passage in Sefer Tehillim 90:4), where each day represents one thousand years. The seventh day – Shabbat – parallels the thousand years of aḥarit ha-yamim – the End of Days – a period of peace and tranquility on earth. The two thousand years of Messianic times is the time period during which mashi’aḥ has the potential to arrive, although he can arrive at any point during that time.
We explore Rabbinic Chronology, Astronomical Knowledge, and Historical Consciousness in Light of Modern Scholarship