What is the greatest age difference between a married couple in Tanach?

Question

In many instances, we know the ages of personalities in Tanach and when they got married. In some cases, we aren't given enough information within the text and in some of those instances, the Midrashim or later works provide the missing ages. Often, this can be very enlightening for understanding the interactions between characters in Tanach.

For example, there are various Midrashic and later sources which discuss the ages of Avraham and Sarah being either 25 and 15, or 50 and 40.

As another example, We know that Yitzchak was 40 at the time he married Rivka, and that she was either 14 (according to Tosafot on Yevamot 61b) or 3 (Rashi to Gen. 25:20).

What is the largest known age difference between a married couple in Tanach?

I don’t know about the largest age difference, but I can tell you that the smallest age difference was Adam and Chavah, who were born only an hour or two apart. — DonielF, Mar 14 '19 at 16:12
I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is a riddle question. — רבות מחשבות, Mar 14 '19 at 16:44
@רבותמחשבות This is a legit question as it has lots of applications and נפקא מינות. — Al Berko, Mar 14 '19 at 20:05
@AlBerko how are those nafka minas to who in tanach had the largest age difference? — רבות מחשבות, Mar 14 '19 at 20:28
@רבותמחשבות Based on the discussion here, I don’t think this is asked in the spirit of a riddle question that it should be closed. Riddle questions are ones where the OP knows the answer already. How is this different than, say, all the recent questions about “How old was X during the Purim story?” — DonielF, Mar 14 '19 at 21:37

Heshy · Answer 1 · 2019-03-14T21:02:26

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Based on certain midrashim and assuming they're compatible, Naamah was Noach's wife and was born, at the latest, in 129. Noach was born in 1056. That makes her at least 927 years (+/- rounding errors) older than him.

edited Mar 14 '19 at 21:02

answered Mar 14 '19 at 16:27

Heshy

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926.001 at least – Double AA Mar 14 '19 at 16:39
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Nice find. Maybe I should have specified "post-שנות תוהו" :) – Chaim Mar 14 '19 at 16:50
Is it a given that Naamah was born before Shet? – Joel K Mar 14 '19 at 17:26
@JoelK If you accept all the midrashim in Rashi, yes it is. The pasuk wouldn't stress that she's אחות תובל קין if he died before she was born, and he died before Sheis was born. – Heshy Mar 14 '19 at 17:54
After the mabul kalev married batya when she was about 90, and he was about 20 – Lo ani Mar 14 '19 at 18:19
@Loani did you mean Miriam? You could write an answer. – Heshy Mar 14 '19 at 18:29
No I mean batya. I don’t have sefarim with me now, and I’m not sure it’s the longest, so I won’t post for now. – Lo ani Mar 14 '19 at 18:31
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You should probably quote the whole passage from B"R - this is only דעת יחיד - "אָמַר רַבִּי אַבָּא בַּר כַּהֲנָא", and "וְרַבָּנָן אָמְרֵי נַעֲמָה אַחֶרֶת הָיְתָה, וְלָמָּה הָיוּ קוֹרִין אוֹתָהּ נַעֲמָה, שֶׁהָיְתָה מַנְעֶמֶת בְּתֹף לַעֲבוֹדַת כּוֹכָבִים." The others don't accept it and we usually follow the majority. – Al Berko Mar 14 '19 at 19:59
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the whole passage is here: https://www.sefaria.org.il/Genesis.4.22?lang=bi&aliyot=0&p2=Rashi_on_Genesis.4.22.3&lang2=bi&p3=Bereishit_Rabbah.23.3&lang3=bi&w3=all&lang4=en – Al Berko Mar 14 '19 at 20:00
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@AlBerko I qualified the answer with "Assuming all the relevant midrashim are compatible" – Heshy Mar 14 '19 at 20:14
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No you're totally wrong. 1. You should quote the exact Midrash (B"R) and the whole passage. 2. You should mention whose opinion it is. 3 You should stress that the Chachamim disagree!. – Al Berko Mar 14 '19 at 20:17
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@AlBerko 1. Even if the Chachamim disagree, Rashi still holds like R’ Abba (Bereishis 4:22 DH Ne’amah). 2. Do the normal rules of psak apply to this kind of situation? 3. He said “assuming that all relevant Midrashim are compatible” - i.e. that R’ Abba’s opinion that it’s the same Ne’amah with the Midrashim relevant to when she was born. – DonielF Mar 14 '19 at 21:33
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While Al is off base regarding the "other opinions" and "majority" mattering, it is always best to cite the relevant Midrashim explicitly in the post. – Double AA Mar 14 '19 at 22:38
@DonielF 1. Rashi brings it because that's the only thing that can be possibly said about Naamah. So why does he care? 2. If the majority of the Sages explicitly reject a single opinion on the spot(!) not in "another midrash" we have the ruling rule of the majority. I think that the other opinion is viable only if it has followers or some special נ"מ we can use. Especially here when it contradicts the simple common logic it must be disregarded by all means. It still can be cited but clearly stressed that that's דעת יחיד against all others. – Al Berko Mar 15 '19 at 10:45
another midrash said that his niece, who's name was Amzarach, was his wife. – Adam Jul 05 '20 at 23:10

What is the greatest age difference between a married couple in Tanach?

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