Statute of Limitation
But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, Psalm 103:17 NASB
From everlasting to everlasting – “How far is it?” The nine-year-old in the backseat asked this question about every ten minutes until we arrived at the butterfly garden. But as soon as we arrived, the question didn’t matter any more. No one asks how far it is once you are there.
How far is it to the hesed of YHVH? How far do we have to travel before we will see it? How far must we come before we experience it? David replies, “You are already here.” The Hebrew phrase is me-olam vead-olam. The word itself is a bit strange. “Though ʿôlām is used more than three hundred times to indicate indefinite continuance into the very distant future, the meaning of the word 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 that seems long ago, but rarely if ever refer to a limitless past.”[1]
In addition, the Paleo-Hebrew composition is also curious. Ayin (to see, to experience) plus Lamed (control, authority) plus Mem (chaos, massive) hardly seems to be connected to the idea of the temporally limitless future. In what sense is “everlasting” connected with “experiencing control over chaos”? Perhaps the Hebrew concept of temporal existence is essentially eschatological. The very use of the word ‘olam suggests a time when chaos will be completely controlled. That is not now, but it will be someday. Perhaps Hebrew projects what later becomes the sign of the Messianic age in this very word.
By the way, don’t assume that ‘olam means “eternal” in the same sense that the Mediaeval theologians used the word “eternal” as an attribute of God.[2] Frankly, it’s hard to imagine that David viewed me-olam vead-olam as if he meant some kind of ex-temporal existence, either for YHVH or for the “souls” of men. “From everlasting to everlasting” is a relationship term, presupposing continuity in temporal experience. I have no idea (and neither does anyone else) what “outside of time” relationship is like for the obvious reason that everything we experience has a temporal dimension. Extemporal existence is simply unimaginable once we try to define what it means in any way except “not” like everything we know.
So David tells us that YHVH’s hesed is for always. It just never ends. That means it is here, right now, surrounding us with His care and concern. That means we who share in the dynamic of active relationship with Him know what it means to experience the four-fold meaning of hesed now! We might not experience the totality of hesed, but we know enough to be convinced that it is real, tangible and permanent. In fact, this is critically important because we often fall, often fail, often make mistakes but His hesed does not end. It is YHVH’s hesed that maintains the relationships even when we falter. It is “God in search of Man” that makes the bond work. You and I do not need to fear that YHVH will leave us because we fall down. He won’t. It takes enormous effort on our part to break this bond because it exists due to the enormous effort of His part.
Topical Index: ‘olam, eternal, everlasting, hesed, Psalm 103:17
[1] MacRae, A. A. (1999). 1631 עלם. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), TWOT
[2] Just a hint of the problem of time can be seen here: http://www.auburn.edu/~allenkc/eternityexplained.html. Of course, you could also read God, Time and the Limits of Omniscience available on my web site.
Every lover knows how long true love lasts. Forever. They promise it. That is how you know you are truly loved. Promised with a full heart and complete intention, “I will love you forever” is how you know you are loved NOW. And this from lips made of clay! What in the world is this?!
The heart knows what the head cannot possibly wrap itself around. We cannot fathom the age of love, but the heart does not even hesitate. It needs every bit of that age to express itself; demands and fully expects, like a despotic emperor, to be completely backed up on that warranty! It is the ultimate defiance of all that would presume to stand in the way between the lover and the beloved; NOTHING comes between me and you. THAT is what it really means. We use the words of time to define the meaning of timelessness. LOL! When I love you with all my heart, 50 years can pass, but when we see each other, it seems no time has passed for the heart at all. Conversely, when I love you with all my heart, to be separated from you for even as long as it takes to go get the car can seem like forever, for nothing of any value could possibly occur for me until I can experience it with you. That kind of forever.
Forever is a quality statement; a definition of depth, of which duration is only a part. Love is killed by the banal inanities that we grab to fill the space(!) where love should have been. These are the tears in the fabric of eternity; tears that would have killed us if Love had not stepped in, and volunteered to be killed instead. We kill Him anew every time(!) we dodge the challenge of love in each and every moment that we draw breath. Love dies, and we are the murderer, with every opportunity in which we refuse to connect; to touch; to respond. In a creation groaning with the agony of the curses that exist as place holders – as tomb stones – as reminders to us that Love Died Here, to refuse to process that pain is to refuse what Love Would Do (is doing!) in this place. To stand in the gap; to redeem that time back for love in these days of evil, then, is what we who were created as stewards of that time for love are called to. We made the mess; it will get cleaned up when we pay for it, but that payment consists of being willing to take on that pain directly and quit dodging it. Wanna know the truth? Wanna MEET Truth? The Truth is, we are not asked to bear the pain of sin alone. We have been offered a Yoke Buddy to bear it with. HE plumbed the depths of that sorrow, for we made a mess we could never pay (pain) for.
You know, everything has been pawned off. The Redeemer went down and stopped it from going to the next buyer, but, y’all, as stewards, that was our stuff! When I reach out and take responsibility for the mess around me; for ALL the mess, and volunteer to clean it up; to take on the pain of it, that is when I take my job back. I have to feel to heal, and I have to touch – to connect with all around me – to get it back out of that pawn shop. E. T. ran around with a glowing finger, but it is not our finger that does the connecting; it is the Finger of YHVH, His Son, and His Holy Spirit that I CHOOSE to connect with, in the process of reaching out. Then, I am part of that chain. I am no redeemer, but it is clear that I am called to participate in that redemption, for disconnection is what I have to be redeemed from, and to go back (would that be space or time?! LOL!) and take responsibility for the mess, is how my mess gets taken care of. I don’t know what love looks like in a perfect world, but, y’all, this is what I think it looks like in this one. To get back what I am missing, I have to be willing to go stand where I should have been standing last time I missed it. My redemption MEANS that I repent for not being willing to do what it takes to do my job in this world, which is to take responsibility for the rest of it. The problem goes away when your problem looks like my problem, for it is only then that I have all the missing pieces of my puzzle.
Listen to…The King Who Remembers My Name
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QD_wwBRawn0
Regards,
Tom
As you point out, the word “olam” rarely, if ever, means, forever, everlasting or eternal. If it did, we would have some explaining to do in many of its usages.
In 2 Kings 5:27 (MKJV) And the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your seed forever. (Will there be leprosy for all eternity?)
Jos 8:28 (MKJV) And Joshua burned Ai, and made it a heap forever, a ruin to this day. (Will there will be a new heavens and a new earth except for Ai which will be a heap forever?)
Jonah 2:6 (MKJV) I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was around me forever. (Was Jonah in the belly of the fish forever?)
Isa 34:10 (MKJV) It shall not be put out night or day; its smoke shall go up forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none passes through it forever and forever. (Will Edom, and indeed many nations, be desolate for ever and ever? See also Isa 13:20; Jer 50:39; 25:9; 51:26, 62.
Do we believe God will forsake the people and land of Israel forever?
Jer 18:15 – 16 (MKJV) Because My people have forgotten Me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways from the old paths, to walk in by-paths, not in the highway, to make their land desolate and a hissing forever.
Isa 32:13 – 14 (MKJV) On the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, on all the houses of joy in the joyous city; because the palace shall be deserted, the multitude of the city shall be forsaken; instead the mound and tower shall be for dens forever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks
Do the ungodly prosper forever?
Psa 73:12 (KJV) Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. (Note that the word translated “world” is olam. So, in this case, even the King James couldn’t bring itself to incorrectly translate it to forever. However, “world” is unhelpful unless understood as a time frame.)
Deut 15:17 (MKJV) then you shall take an awl and put it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. (Will slaves of Israel be slaves for all time?)
The Young’s and Concordant Literal Translations, for example, more correctly and consistently use phrases such as “age, age lasting, age enduring, eon, or eonian” for olam which makes all these verses understandable. Not only that but we can take solace in the understanding that God may punish us for an age, or even an eon, but not forever.
What We [Now] Know
~ And David said, “Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” ~ ( 2 Samuel 9.1)
~ And David said, “Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him [chesed Short Definition: lovingkindness] for Jonathan’s sake?” ~
Yes, “chesed” or lovingkindness IS very much a relational word. “There is a ‘blood-covenant” Friend who is closer than a (milk) brother.” (Proverbs 18.24) One who is incapable of a lie (Numbers 23.19) One who has promised, “I will NEVER leave you, nor forsake you..” (Hebrews 13.5) and One whose very Name is both Faithful and True! (Revelation 19.11)
How much greater, how “much more” enduring is the “New(er) Covenant” cut by (sponsored by) our LORD and Savior, the ever-living,ever-loving, ever-interceding Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Now “safe and secure” from all alarms, for (it is written) ~ He will tend His flock like a Shepherd; He will gather the lambs in His arms; He will carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those that are with young ~ (Isaiah 40.11)
Safe am I, Safe am I,
In the hollow of His hand;
Sheltered o’er, sheltered o’er
With His love forevermore
No ill can harm me, no foe alarm me,
For He keeps both day and night,
Safe am I, Safe am I,
In the hollow of His hand.
What a Friend We Have in Jesus? We have no earthly idea!
Perhaps Paul’s prayer might help us to “get a grip” on this grace wherein we stand!
~ that Christ (the Anointed One) may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of the Messiah which surpasses knowledge, that you [also] may be filled with all the fullness of God..~ (Ephesians 3.17-19)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVYcDOXczus
Hi Skip, for the past two days I have not received the Daily Word. Please help
Thank you
Me either.
We have investigated. ALL gmail accounts were dropped by the mail server, but they are fixing it. It is NOT an issue on your end. Please be patient.