Dear List,
1. The subject line has been changed which should have been done a while back,
but is digress.
2. The following is from TWOT, Volume 2, #1631a, pp 672-673, by Alan A.
Macrae.
(WLM, forever, ever, everlasting, evermore, perpetual, old, ancient, world,
etc. (RSV similar in general, but substitutes "always for "in the world" in Ps
73:12 an "eternity" for "world" in Ecc 3:11.) Probably derived from (alam I,
"to
hide," thus pointing to what is hidden in the distant future or in the distant
past. The Ugaritic cognate is (lm, "eternity."
Though (WLM is used more than three hundred times to indicate indefinite
continuance into the very distant future, the meaning of the world is not
confined to the future. There are at least twenty instances where it clearly
refers to the past. Such usages generally point to something limitless past.
Thus in Deut. 32:7 and Job 22:15 it may refer to the time of one's elders. In
Prov 22:28; 23:10; Jer 6:16; 18:15; 28:8 it points back somewhat farther. In
Isa
58:12; 61:4; Mic 7:14; Mal 3:4, and in Aramaic of Ezr 4:15, 19 it clearly
refers
to the time just before the exile. In I Sam 27:8; in Isa 51:9 and 63:9, 11 and
perhaps Ezk 36:2, it refers to the events of the exodus from Egypt. In Gen 6:4
it points to the time shortly before the flood. None of these past references
has in it the idea of endlessness or limitlessness, but each points to a time
long before the immediate knowledge of those living. In Isa 64:3 the KJV
translates the word "beginning of the world." In Ps 73:12 and Eccl 3:11 it is
translated "world," suggesting the beginning of a usage that developed greatly
in postbiblical times.
... J. Barr (Biblical Words for Time (2
1969), p. 73) says, 'We might therefore best state the 'basic meaning' as a
kind
of range between 'remotest time' an 'perpetuity.' ' But as shown above it is
sometimes used of a not-so-remote past. ...
... That neither the Hebrew nor the Greek word in itself contains
the idea of endlessness is shown both by the fact that they sometimes refer to
events or conditions that occurred at a definite point in the past, and also
by
the fact that sometimes it is thought desirable to repeat the , not merely say
"forever," but "forever and ever."
Much more frequently, ʻôlām refers to the future. It can refer to a future of limited duration; i.e. to conditions that will exist continuously throughout a limited period of time, often a single life span. The nom. is sometimes used in a construct phrase to modify another nom. (perpetual, continual). According to Prov 10:25, while a wicked person is blown away by the whirlwind, the righteous "stand firm forever" (yᵉsôd ʻôlām), which lasts one's entire life. In Exod 21:6, a slave who chooses to stay with his master for life is called a "servant for life" (see also Deut 15:17; cf. 1 Sam 27:12). Similar constructions are found in Jer 20:11, where the prophet predicts that his oppressors will be "thoroughly disgraced" (lit., disgrace of perpetuity), and Jer 20:17, where he wishes that his mother's womb had been "enlarged forever" (i.e., that he had never been born). In each of these cases, the nom. essentially means "his/her whole life."
The same is true in many cases where the nom. is used to modify a vb., sometimes standing alone, but usually with prepositions l- or ʻad. In Exod 19:9 the Lord tells Moses that he will come to him in a thick cloud, so that the people will trust Moses lᵉʻôlām, ever after, for the rest of his life. In 1 Sam 1:22, Hannah vows that her child will remain in the house of God at Shiloh ʻad ʻôlām, the rest of his life. Likewise when Jonathan asks David to swear not "ever" (ʻad ʻôlām, 1 Sam 20:15) to harm Jonathan's descendants, they agree that the Lord is witness "between me and you forever" (ʻad ʻôlām, 20:23), i.e. that God will oversee the vow all their lives. In Ps 45:2[3], the king is "blessed ... forever" by God, while in 61:7[8], he is enthroned in God's presence perpetually. According to Ps 21:4[5], God grants the king "length of days, for ever and ever" - a phrase that calls to mind the cry of royal veneration, "May my lord King David, live forever" (1 Kgs 1:31; Neh 2:3). In each case, the expected blessing is not eternal life, but long life.
Also in the Psalms, the Lord tells a king that he is "a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek" (Ps 110:4) - probably referring to royal prerogative to exercise a certain amount of priestly power, just as Melchizedek had been both priest and king of Salem (cf. Kraus, 351). Elsewhere, authors of different psalms declare that they will do various acts ʻad ʻôlām or lᵉʻôlām (perpetually): praise the Lord (Ps 52:9[11]), give thanks (30:12[13]; 79:13), glorify the Lord's name (86:12; 145:2), bless the Lord's name (145:1), sing praises (61:7[8]; 89:1[2]), declare the Lord's justice (75:9[10]), trust in the Lord's mercy (52:8[10]), and abide in God's dwelling/presence (41:12[13]; 61:4[6], 7[8]). The nom. is also used in negative constructions: the righteous person will "never be shaken" (15:5; Prov 10:30; cf. Ps 30:6[7]; 55:22[23]); the psalmist prays that he should never be put to shame (Ps 31:1[2]). In each of these vv., the phrase obviously means the rest of the speaker's life.
In many more cases, the nom. is used with longer time periods in view - indeed, it often implies unceasingness of perpetuity. The nom. is used in this fashion to describe aspects of creation: in Ps 78:69; 104:5; Eccl 1:4, the earth is said to have been established "forever," i.e. it will continue to exist into the most distant future. ...
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