“One generation passes, and one generation comes; and the earth abides forever. The sun rises and the sun sets, and hastens its place where it rises” (Ecclesiastes 1:4–5). “One generation passes, and one generation comes” – Rabbi Yudan says in the name of Rabbi Levi: There is no day on which six hundred thousand are not born and on which six hundred thousand do not die. What is the reason?
“One generation passes, and one generation comes…the sun rises and the sun sets.” Rabbi Berekhya, Rabbi Yaakov bar Avuna, and Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba [said] in the name of Rabbi Levi bar Sisi: From when the sun rises until the sun sets, one generation passes, and one generation comes. From where is it derived that a generation consists of six hundred thousand? It is as it is stated: “If any man among these people, this wicked generation” (Deuteronomy 1:35), and that generation consisted of six hundred thousand.
Rabbi Berekhya said: [When a] potter places [vessels] into the furnace, what he places first [he removes] last. However here, one who passes first comes first, and one who passes last comes last.18The reference here is to death and the revival of the dead.