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The high value of astronomical knowledge is already demonstrated by the astronomical section of the Book of Enoch ( about 72-80 BCE ), as well as by such sayings as those of Eleazar Ḥisma ( about 100 ), a profound mathematician, who could " count the drops in the ocean " ( Hor.
10a ), and who declared that " ability to compute the solstice and the calendar is the ' dessert of wisdom '" ( Ab.
iii.
18 ).
Among the sciences that Johanan ben Zakkai mastered was a knowledge of the solstices and the calendar ; i. e., the ability to compute the course of the sun and the moon ( Suk.
28a ).
Later writers declare that " to him who can compute the course of the sun and the revolution of the planets and neglects to do so, may be applied the words of the prophet ( Isa.
v. 12 ), ' They regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands.
'" To pay attention to the course of the sun and to the revolution of the planets is a religious injunction ; for such is the import of the words ( Deut.
iv.
6 ), " This is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations " ( Shab.
75a ).

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