Commenting on the phrase עד־עולם (cad-cōlām) does not always denote “forever,” but instead “for a while,” Lyle Eslinger provided the following examples from the Old Testament:
Gen 13.15 the gift of the land to
Abram
Josh 14.9 the land is promised to
Joshua "always" for his obedience, obviously not a promise of
immortality for Joshua.
1 Sam. 1.22 Samuel once weaned, is
supposed to sit before the Lord "always," again without intimation of
immortality.
1 Sam. 2.30 the Elides had been
promised, in the exodus, that they would serve Yhwh "always"; now
"for ever" is at an end.
1 Sam. 3.13-14 Yhwh's negative
judgement on the house of Eli is "permanent": this does not entail an
eternity in hell, only an irrevocable judgement.
1 Sam 13.13 due to misbehaviour,
Saul forfeits the chance at having Yhwh establish (kwn) his kingdom
"without definite term." Saul does not lose immortality; he never had
it.
1 Sam. 20.15, 23 Jonathan binds
David (and David accepts) with a "permanent" vow; not an eternal one
that David could not keep (nor Jonathan envision?).
1 Sam. 20.42 the vow, to be
ensured by Yhwh, is "always," but obviously this does not mean to say
anything at all about the eternality of the lineages of David and Jonathan.
2 Sam. 3.28 here cad-cōlām
seems more of the force, "completely, absolutely." David is not
protecting his lineage throughout the eons; he is only interested in saying 'we
are permanently absolved of this crime.'
2 Sam. 12.10 an interesting
rebuttal to the cad-cōlām of 2 Samuel 7. Now it is
the sword that shall "never" depart (but obviously not for an
eternity, unless we have here another anticipation of the common Christian
version of hell) from the house of David.
1 Kgs 9.3 Yhwh promises Solomon
that he will put his name on the temple "always." There is no
eternity here; a scan five verses later (v. 8) he says that if there is any
disobedience he will destroy the same temple and that Israel will become a
byword among the nations—those who betrayed their god and were punished for it.
(Lyle Eslinger, House of God or House of David: The Rhetoric of 2 Samuel 7
[Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 164; Sheffield:
JSOT Press, 1994], 46-47)
Further Reading
Resources for "We Agree with Moroni 8:18" day (18 August)
