children). Hannah, speaking to Samuel, says, "I will bring him that he may appear before

the Lord, and there abide for ever" (I Sam. 1: 22). In verse 11 she interprets these words

thus, "I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life." There is no room for an

"until" in our words "for ever," yet in Isa. 32: 14, 15 we read, "The forts and towers

shall be for dens for ever. . . . until the Spirit be poured upon us." Here the for

ever has an end, yet if we dare to suggest that it may be so elsewhere, what a shaking of

heads and holy indignation we arouse! Scripture never contradicts itself. If our renderings

make inconsistencies, let us alter our renderings a thousand times, but let us not tamper

with the Scriptures of truth.

Rev.21: 22 tells us of a future period when there shall be no temple, yet the A.V.

teaches  that both the  temple,  priesthood,  and sacrifices were to be for ever

(see Ezek. 37: 26; Exod. 40: 15, and Numb. 18: 8). We have not finished yet. The

word olam is followed many times by the words va ed. The word ed is rendered "till,"

"to," "unto," "yet," &100:, e.g.:--

Va is the Hebrew equivalent for "and." Thus, if we retain the A.V. rendering, the

words le olam va ed would mean "for ever and still," "for ever and yet further"! That the

Hebrew does contain some idea of a period beyond that covered by olam is clear, for the

Hebrew Translators of the Septuagint render the words by ton aiõna kai ep aiõna kai eti

(Exod. 15: 8), which literally translated is, "the age, and upon the age, and still"!

Fifty-one times the A.V. translates eti by the word "yet," besides "further," "any longer,"

and "still." Surely these facts should make us stop and reconsider this tremendous

subject. There is a further consideration which throws its weight against the idea that

aiõn or olam mean eternity, and that is that aiõn is frequently found in the plural and the

genitive case. If the singular can mean "for ever," what can the plural mean? (we cannot

speak of "for evers"--we never shall arrive at the end of eternity, let alone start another).

If we keep to the rendering "age" all is clear. We can then have the expressions "unto the

age," "unto the ages," and "unto the ages of the ages" without any interference with the

divine words, but "eternities of eternities" is absurd.

The root idea of the word olam is something secret or hidden (see Psa. 90: 8, "secret

sins"; Eccles. 12: 14, "secret thing"). Because the period is hidden or secret, is undefined

or unrevealed, man in his arrogance has jumped to the conclusion that because he cannot

see the end, therefore there is none, forgetting that he has limited knowledge and

exceedingly limited vision.  Olam and aiõn signify a period of time whose end is

undefined, or which is hidden from man, but which is by no means "everlasting," for

instances such as the Aaronic priesthood, &100:, have been given of such periods coming to

an end, which were "for ever" according to the A.V. Added to this we have the twenty

passages which speak of "unto the age of undefined limits and yet further" translated "for

ever and ever" by the English, in spite of both Hebrew and Greek.

Let none imagine that the eternal security of the believer is by any means weakened

by these facts. This glorious truth is unquestionably settled by such emphatic words as