The Mind-Blowing Connection Between Sand Grains and Stars

Written in the Torah:

"I will surely bless you,

like the stars of the heavens

and as the sand on the seashore."

(Genesis 22:17)

Hashem blesses our patriarch Abraham with these two figures: the number of stars and the grains of sand. According to the Torah, these numbers are of a similar magnitude.

Let's ponder that for a moment. In ancient times, without modern instruments or advanced mathematics, how many stars could be estimated in the universe? On an exceptionally clear night, a few thousand stars could be observed.

And how many grains of sand could one see on the beaches and shores? An enormously larger number, far exceeding the count of visible stars.

So how could anyone have claimed that the number of sand grains is similar to the number of stars?

An astonishing revelation, it turns out to be true.

In the 21st century, scientists using mathematical calculations have estimated the total grains of sand on Earth's surface:

Approximately10¹⁸ grains of sand.

That is, a 1 followed by 18 zeros:

1,000,000,000,000,000,000 grains of sand.

2,000 years earlier, the Talmud in Tractate Berachot provides the number of stars during the universe's inception, as we've seen before:

"Hashem said to the people of Israel:
 I have created 12 constellations in the sky.
For each constellation, I created: 30 divisions
For each division, I created: 30 legions
For each legion, I created: 30 cohorts
For each cohort, I created: 30 cartons
For each carton, I created: 30 hosts
And in each host, I hung -
365,000 myriad stars for each day of the solar year.
And all of these I created only for you."

(Berachot 32b)

The calculation above results in:

12 X 30 X 30 X 30 X 30 X 30 X 365,000 X=  10,000

Approximately10¹⁸ stars

That means a 1 followed by 18 zeros:

1,000,000,000,000,000,000

The number of grains of sand on Earth aligns with the number of stars according to the Talmud — they are of the same order of magnitude. Remarkable.

Let's understand what this means. It implies that the writer of the Torah 3,300 years ago and the authors of the Talmud 2,000 years ago precisely matched a scientific number that humanity only discovered in the 21st century.

It's beyond possible, supernatural, and superhuman.

Clarification:

The number of stars in the Talmud refers to the count at the universe's creation, in the past (the Talmud says "I created"), not their current number, as explained earlier in the "Galaxies" section.

This text is drawn from the book "Intersecting Worlds." To download and read the chapter in PDF, click here.

The author holds a B.Sc in Physics with honors from the Technion.