R. Yose b. Halafta, the presumed author of Seder Olam Rabbah, probably had access to old traditions that also underlay the chronological computations of the Jewish Hellenistic chronographer Demetrius (third century B.C.E.). The most significant confusion in Yose's calculation is the compression of the Persian period, from the rebuilding of the Temple by Zerubbabel in 516 B.C.E. to the conquest of Persia by Alexander, to no more than 34 years. Like other rabbinic scholars, he believed that Zerubbabel (sixth century B.C.E.), Malachi, Ezra, Nehemiah (all fifth century B.C.E.), and Simeon the Just (third century) were all contemporaries.

The book has gone through many editions and was commented upon by many scholars, among them R. Jacob Emden, R. Elijah b. Solomon Zalman Gaon of Vilna, and B. Ratner who devoted to the book a separate large introduction (mavo) containing valuable critical references.