Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Dave Washburn <dwashbur AT nyx.net>]

On Friday 18 November 2005 09:51, Robert Newman wrote:
> Peter wrote:
> Robert, I have not brushed off the examples of PAST `olam which you
> gave, but have accepted that they, and this is also true of your new
> ones, are somewhat different from the future examples, such that they
> cannot be rendered "for ever" in English. But I continue to insist that
> the meaning here is something like "since the very beginning", that at
> least in the understanding of the author there was no time before the
> beginning of that `olam period. That is more or less a definition of
> eternity past.
>
> Hi Peter,
> I understand your argument, but I don't see how it fits the examples.
>
> Ge 6:4 "heroes of old" - olam refers back to the time of the Nephilim, not
> the "very beginning" and not eternity past from tne viewpoint of the
> writer!
>
> De 32:7 "Remember the days of old" when? "ask your father to inform you"
> about what? The period of human history described in the subsequent verses,
> not 'the beginning of time'.
>
> Jos 24:2 "long ago your forefathers" . How can this mean "ever since
> creation, as far as we know"?
[snip]

I notice that two of these examples are actually M"(OWLFM.  I can't help 
wondering if the addition of the preposition alters the sense of the term in 
some way?

-- 
Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
"Maybe I'll trade it for a new hat."