Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Gary Hedrick <GaryH AT cjfm.org>]

1. You might want to check the archives. In some ways, this thread is 
reinventing the wheel, so to speak, although I have to admit that your point 
of view is definitely unique.
2. Re: a possible agenda, fair enough.
3. Re: olam and your quest for a one-size-fits-all definition; I guess this 
begs the question, how do you translate it when it refers to God?

Gary

On Dec 9, 2010, at 7:44 PM, fred burlingame <tensorpath AT gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello Gary:
>  
> Thanks for your comments. Please allow me to respond.
>  
> 1. I have not reviewed the archive you referenced.
>  
> 2. I do have an agenda by coming here: to learn more of biblical hebrew 
> language. That's the limit of it, for however long I might be here. 
>  
> 3. I appreciate your comments concerning olam. My experience with all uses 
> of the word in the masoretic text leads me to a somewhat different 
> understanding of the word. I see the word as meaning "a concealed (or 
> hidden) period of time." Other parts of the text sometimes reveal the 
> length of that particular time, such as jonah in the whale for 3 days. And 
> other instances of the word sometimes contain no such revelation of the 
> length of time intended.
>  
> 4. Hence, for the verse in question I see the term of the priesthood duties 
> and functions as simply an unknown period of time. The later disclosure (in 
> jeremiah) of the subsequent destruction of the first temple, including the 
> loss of the aaronic line of priests, confirms to me that the period of time 
> intended in this verse consumed approximately 1400-587 b.c.