Owlam or Olam (5976);
this Hebrew noun comes from 5956. It is what is hidden, concealed (i.e., to the
vanishing point); time immemorial, time past, antiquity (from the most ancient
times, Gen 6:4; 1 Sam 27:8; Isa 63:16; Jer 2:20; 5:15; Ps 25:6); eternity, the
distant future (terminus ad quem); duration, perpetual, without end, always,
everlasting time; lifetime. In the plural form it means ages or endless times.
The KJV translates the word as "beginning of the world" in Isa 64:4
and as "world" in Ps 73:12 and Ecc 3:11. There are 440 occurrences of
Owlam in the Hebrew Old Testament. More than 300 of these instances indicate an
indefinite continuance into the very near future. however the meaning of the
word is not confined to the future. There are at least twenty instances where
Owlam clearly refers to the past, though rately a limitless past. Deut 32:7 and
Job 22:15 point to the time of one's elders. Prov 22:28; 23:10; Jer 6:16;
18:15; 28:8 seem to go back even further. Sometimes the time just pr ior to the
exile is referred to (Isa 58:12; 61:4, Mic 7:14; Mal 3:4; Ezra 4:15,19). At
other times it goes back further, to the events of the exodus from Egypt (1 Sam
27:8; Isa 51:9; 63:9,11). Gen 6:4 indicates the time shortly before the flood.
The basic meaning of Owlam is "most distant times," whether the
remote past or the future, depending upon the accompanying prepositions.
therefore, Owlam is a broad range between the remotest time and perpetuity
(from the viewpoint of the speaker). Here are some examples; eternity in the
sense of not being limited to the present (Ecc 3:11); remotest time (1 Chron
16:36), either at the very beginning (Isa 46:9) or from pre-creation until now
(Psa 25:6); from older times (Gen 6:4), for a long time (Isa 42:14); long ago
(Jer 2:20); formerly, in ancient times (Josh 24:2); never (when used with the
negative, Isa 63:19); into the indefinite future (Deut 23:3); forever (i.e.
from the time of the speaker forward, 1 Sam 1:22); as long as one lives (i.e. a
simple duration extended into the indefinite future, Ex 21:6); continuity
without change (Gen 3:22); day by day (Psa 61:7,8); the most distant future
(Gen 9:16); without beginning, without end and ever-continuing (Isa 26:4).
Owlam, the same Hebrew word, can describe a short period of only three days
(though it must have seemed like an eternity to Jonah as "forever",
Jon 2:6) or it can be used in conjunction with God--the God of eternity, the
everlasting God, God forever. Temporal categories are inadequate to describe
the nature of God's existence. The Creator has been "from everlasting to
everlasting" (Psa 90:2). Even then, it still express the idea of a
continued, measurable existence, rather than a state of being independent of
time considerations. El Owlam, "The Everlasting God", was
predominantly associated with Beersheba (Gen 21:33). The God of Abraham was not
touched by the vicissitudes of time. Compare Isa 40:28 'Ad (5703) which has
about the same spectrum of me aning as owlam. the Septuagint generally
translates owlam by aion(G165)cf. New Testament Lexical section, referring to a
long age or period of time, often translated as "world".
(Spiros Zodhaites, Hebrew/Greek Key Study Bible pg. 1757)
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