Olam
Olam
No word is so largely used to express duration as Olam (). It has twice been rendered long, namely, in Ecc 12:5, where we read of a man going ‘to his long home’ ( ); and Isa 42:14, ‘Shall I long be silent?’ (). Five times it is rendered ‘always,’ namely, Gen 6:3, ‘My spirit shall not always ( ) strive with man;’ 1Ch 16:15, ‘Let us always remember his covenant;’ Job 7:16, ‘I shall not live always’ (i.e in this world); Psa 119:112, ‘I have inclined my heart to perform thy statutes always;’ also in Jer 20:17.
It is translated ‘perpetual’ with reference to the covenant made with Noah (Gen 9:12), to the priesthood of the house of Levi (Exo 29:9), to the Sabbat has a sign of God’s covenant (Exo 31:16), and to various other religious rites. It is used with a negative in several passages, e.g in 2Sa 12:10, of the sword never departing from David’s house; in Psa 15:5, of the godly man never falling. See also Psa 55:22; Isa 14:20; Isa 25:2; Joe 2:26.
In Isa 60:15 Olam is rendered eternal, ‘I will make of thee an eternal joy.’ It is rendered for ever in a large number of passages, e.g. Gen 13:15, of the l and being given to Abraham; Exo 21:6, of the slave serving his master for ever ( ). See also Psa 12:7; Psa 29:10; Psa 61:4; Psa 73:26; Psa 81:15; Psa 112:6; Psa 125:2; Ecc 3:14; Isa 40:8; Isa 51:6; Dan 7:18; Dan 12:3.
Some passages where Olam is rendered , and used with reference to the wicked, may here be cited:–Psa 78:66, ‘He hath given them perpetual reproach;’ Jer 18:16, ‘He hath made their l and desolate and a perpetual hissing;’ 23:40, ‘Perpetual dishonour;’ 51:39, 57, ‘I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep;’ Eze 35:5; Eze 35:9, ‘Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, . I will make thee a perpetual desolation;’ compare Zep 2:9 in Dan 12:2, the word is applied not only to everlasting life, but also to everlasting contempt, which shall be the lot of some after the resurrection.
In the passages quoted, which are a considerable proportion and a fair specimen of the whole, the LXX rendering is usually or ; these Greek phrases, therefore, when they reappear in the N.T., must be interpreted in accordance with the usage of the word Olam. They give a conception which, though negative, is sufficiently clear. Eternity is endlessness; and this idea is only qualified by the nature of the object to which it is applied, or by the direct word of God. When applied to things physical, it is used in accordance with the revealed truth that the heaven and earth shall pass away, and it is limited by this truth. When applied to God, it is used in harmony with the truth that He is essentially and absolutely existent, and that as He is the causa causarum and without beginning, so in the very nature of things it must be held that no cause can ever put an end to his existence. When the word is applied to man’s future destiny after the resurrection, we naturally give it the sense of endlessness without any limitation, except suc has the post-resurrection state shall involve; and this is not revealed.
Use of the Word Eternal in the New Testament
The use of the words and in the N.T. deserves careful attention in a number of passages our Lord speaks of ‘This age’ (), of its cares (Mat 13:22), of its end (13:39, 40, 49, 24:3, 28:20), of its children (Luk 20:34). So St. Paul speaks of conformity to this age (Rom 12:2), of the seeker of this age (1Co 1:20), of its vaunted wisdom (1Co 2:6; 1Co 3:18), of its rulers (1Co 2:6; 1Co 2:8), of its god (2Co 4:4), of its being a present evil age (Gal 1:4), of the age of the world (Eph 2:2), and of those who love it (2Ti 4:10).
In Joh 9:32 it is said, ‘Since the world began,’ &c. We here find , which points backwards, as does forwards. We find in the same sense in Act 3:21; Act 15:18, Eph 3:9, and Col 1:26; also in 1Co 2:7.
There are a few passages which speak in a very special way of .an or age to come, e.g. Mar 10:30, Luk 18:30; Luk 20:35; and of its powers, Heb 6:5. Some interpreters connect these passages with the Millennium in Eph 2:7 the Apostle speaks in the plural number of the ages to come.
In other passages we have the expressions , , , ; see, e.g., Luk 1:33; Luk 1:55; Joh 12:34; Joh 13:8; Rom 9:5; Gal 1:5; 1Ti 1:17. Some translators have rendered these passages literally, and without respect to their usage in the LXX; (e.g. ‘unto the age,’ ‘unto the ages,’ &c.) in 1Ti 1:17, God is called ‘the King of ages’ (A. V. King Eternal); whilst in Heb 1:2; Heb 11:3, He is said to have made ‘the ages’ (A. V. the worlds). The rendering of the A. V. is no doubt right in the first case, and probably in the second also. Ages and worlds bear the same relation to one another as time and space do, and the process of creating worlds was the means of bringing ages into being. [Olam has been occasionally rendered world in the A. V., as in Ecc 3:11, where, however, some would render the words, ‘He hath put (a conception of) eternity in their hearts.’ It is curious that several translators have rendered the last verse of the 139th Psalm, ‘Lead me in the way of the world.’ in later Hebrew Olam was constantly used in this sense.]
In 1Co 10:11 we read that even up on those who lived in apostolic days the ends of the ages had come (A. V. ends of the world); and in Heb 9:26 we are told that Christ has come once in the completion of the ages (A. V. end of the world) to put away sin. The word ages is here thought to answer rather to the sense in which the word dispensation is now used; and a more literal rendering would have been preferable.
In 2Pe 3:18 we meet with the expression , to the Day of the Age (A. V. for ever), by which we understand the dawn of eternity.
The adjective is used more than forty times in the N.T. with respect to eternal life, which is regarded partly as a present gift, partly as a promise for the future. It is also applied to God’s endless existence in Rom 16:26; to the endless efficacy of Christ’s atonement in Heb 9:12; Heb 13:20; and to past ages in Rom 16:25, 2Ti 1:9, Tit 1:2.
This word is used with reference to eternal fire, Mat 18:8; Mat 25:41, Jud 1:7; eternal punishment, Mat 25:46; eternal judgment or condemnation, Mar 3:29, Heb 6:2; eternal destruction, 2Th 1:9. the word in these passages implies finality, and apparently signifies that when these judgments shall be inflicted, the time of probation, change, or the chance of retrieving one’s fortune, will have gone by absolutely and for ever. We understand very little about the future, about the relation of human life to the rest of existence, and about the moral weight of unbelief, as viewed in the light of eternity. If, on the one hand, it is wrong to add to God’s word, on the other we must not take away from it; and if we stagger under the doctrine of eternal punishment as it is set forth in Scripture, we must be content to wait, cleaving to the Gospel of God’s love in Christ, while acknowledging that there is a dark background which we are unable to comprehend.