[B-Greek] AIWN in the plural

Chesster67 at aol.com Chesster67 at aol.com
Tue Nov 16 00:09:09 EST 2004


Steve Puluka wrote:   "I've been told that this is a Septuagintism.  That the expression develops over time in the Septuagint translation.  The Torah using the expression EIS
TWN AIWNA XRONON and the later translations EIS TOUS AIWNAS TWN AIWNWN.  This is supposed to be because Hebrew does not have a word for eternity.  So the Greek is slavishly following the Hebrew expressions trying to speak of
eternity without access to a single word."

Most interesting.  Do you have any further information on this?

At this point, my understanding of OLAM is that it generally denotes 1) time extending from a particular point into the unseen realm, 2) time past, extending into the unseen realm, and 3) the aggregate of all time.  I do not see any legitimate reason, however, to believe that Olam is ever used to denote the nonsensical and inherently contradictory notion of infinite time.  

-Gabe Chesster

-Gabe Chesster.



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