Hi Kevin,
The Hebrew word translated as ‘to the age’ in YLT and ‘forever’ in most other translations is
owlam. I would venture to say that the English phrases ‘to the age’ or ‘age-lasting’ or ‘age-during’ are more correct than ‘forever,’ but still do not convey the entire scope of what this word may have meant to the Hebrews. Here’s what I mean:
The root word from which the word
owlam comes is
alam. And according to Strong’s,
alam means the following:
to conceal, hide, be hidden, be concealed, be secretIn other words,
owlam can refer to a duration that is hidden and concealed beyond the sight of individual or collective human knowledge or understanding.
In the Scriptures, it refers to a duration of time as little as three days and three nights in the case of Jonah in the belly of the whale…
Jonah 2:6 …the earth with her bars was about me for ever (owlam).
…or as much as the length of time that God has been and will be God.
Psalm 90:2 …even from everlasting (owlam)
to everlasting (owlam),
thou art God.Whatever is being spoken of in relation to this word
owlam extends beyond the limits of our sight, whether it be into the future, into the past, or both. While in regards to the Father, 'everlasting' may be a legitimate description of His existence and many of His attributes, that definition alone does not convey the entire meaning of the word as it is used throughout the rest of the OT Scriptures.
Though it deals with distance and not time, one practical example that I have read that may convey what I'm trying to say is that of the sea stretching to the horizon. How much further does it go? Of course, today, all we have to do is look at a map or globe, and we can tell exactly how far the sea stretches from one point to another, but to the ancient Hebrews, the limits of the seas (or at least some of them) beyond the horizon was unknown or hidden from their sight and understanding.
Same with the hills in Scripture:
Gen 49:26 The blessings of your father Have surpassed the blessings of my ancestors Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting (owlam)
hills...Though scientists today can at least give a round-about number of billions or millions of years that these hills or those mountains were formed by the action of glaciers or the effects of volcanoes,...etc, to the ancient Hebrews the hills and mountains were formed by God sometime in the distant past beyond the limits of their sight or knowledge. Obviously, they understood, as we do, that God created all things, including the earth and everything in it, so naturally the hills could not be described simply as 'everlasting' or existing 'forever.'
While the Greek word
aion is closely associated with this Hebrew word
owlam and can mean the same (
aion and its adjective form
aionios are used in the Greek version of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, to translate the Hebrew
owlam),
aion is used many times in the New Testament to refer to a more specific duration of time, i.e the age to come, this present age, and the end of the age.
And for a thorough explanation of
aion and
aionios, I will refer you to Ray’s paper: “Is Everlasting Scriptural” at the following url:
http://bible-truths.com/aeonion.htmDoes this help?
Eric