By: Gen. Jim — 2/28/24
This is what Ecclesiastes says (3:11, NKJV.): “He has made everything beautiful in its time, also He has put ETERNITY in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.”
The KJV et al. has the word “WORLD” rather than “eternity.” In footnotes some versions say “The ‘world’ is better translated ‘eternity.’ God has given man a desire for eternity & perpetuity; therefore, man cannot be satisfied with what is merely temporal. Man’s quest for the ‘eternal,’ however is frustrated by his/her finite limitations.”
The Strong’s Concordance has “eternity” listed only once (Isa. 57:15), #5703: ‘ad, from 5710 ‘adah? SC #5703 & 5704 use the same Heb. word, ‘ad, meaning “duration or perpetuity, everlasting, world without end.”
The NIV (footnote) says in ref. to Eccl. 3:11: “… since we were made for eternity, the things of time cannot fully & permanently satisfy.” This longing beyond earthly existence is noted. We’ve all experienced this “what lies beyond this earthly living?”
The RSV et al. use the word “world” (v.11) instead of “eternity,” (SC #5769 = “time out of mind, eternity, continuance, eternal, everlasting, perpetual, without end.” [Heb. ‘owlam or haolam]. In short, “owlam/haolam means that hidden time – the period beyond the present. The original Heb. meaning reads such: “Also that eternity hath He placed in their heart, without which man could not find out the work which God hath made from the commencement to the end.”
The LORD God has deeply rooted the idea of “eternity” in every human heart. All the operations of God are purposed/planned – men will or will not cooperate with Him & them, seeing He also has given man (Humankind) a free will. Verse 14 tells us, “…that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever.” So, my dear readers, we should consider Heaven and Hell – both are eternal, everlasting, never ending. The question is, which abode will we choose to live eternally in? Both will never end, ENDLESS DURATION!
It is only in eternity that man will be able to discover what the LORD has designed by His mind. Even Hell (Gehenna) was created by God. Jesus Himself spoke of “everlasting fire prepared for the devil & his angels (i.e. devils)” -Mt. 25:41. He did not stop there: “And these (sinners) will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life,” –v.46.
Both Gehenna & Heaven have NO END! (see my articles on Hell/Hades/Gehenna).
In the grand consummation of men & things (ref. to v.11) God wants the best for His creation. But sadly most will not receive His best but the worst!
Despite the utterly false teaching –that God has assigned some to Hell- God has created no being that he intends ultimately to destroy. No! When He created the heavens & the earth & all things in them, He said “it was good.” The same went for man/woman as well. He put man/woman in the garden of Eden –perfect paradise! It was man/woman that brought the whole creation into ruin/darkness. They chose to disobey, hence, as David wrote: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, & in sin my mother conceived me” -Ps. 51:5. He was referring to inbred sin or original sin. Because of original sin, all humans are born dying! … They live & wait to die: what they do & do not do seals their future: Heaven or Hell!
Macdonald’s Hebrew Literary Genius, p.214 reads in ref. to Eccl. 3:11, “Each event in life comes in a setting into which it fits,” but God has, by a limitation of man’s power, made it impossible for men to comprehend the whole of His plan/purpose.
Scholars say that 3:11 is the most disputed verse in Eccl. Its interpretation depends on the meaning of the Heb. word hā’olām, vocalized by the Masoretes.
In the beginning God made everything “beautiful” (see Gen. 1:3,12,25,31) in its time.
Hebrew Word Study
Allow me to give out what I’ve dug out concerning the word “hā’olām” (“world”). The meaning given by various scholars was that man’s heart or mind is a microcosm in which the great world is reflected: “God has set the whole world in their minds.” It is pointed out that this particular Hebrew word does not appear anywhere else in the O.T. in the sense of “world,” and is first found in this sense in post biblical Hebrew (see Pirke Aboth 4:7). They say since the Hebrew of Ecclesiastes differs sharply from that of the other O.T. books, & since several words in Ecclesiastes are found nowhere else in the O.T. -e.g., ‘inyan = “task,” “business,” a common expression in Koheleth’s language & in post bibical speech- this argument has no weight whatever.
I do, however, find it hard to think that God has put the whole world in man’s mind – the way we humans think. We think of 1 John 2:15-17 et al. we think of the words “worldliness,” “love of the world” etc. The Vulgate translation is the most interesting as it shows that the Hebrew MS on which it is based differed from the M.T. (Masoretic Text). It renders thus: “et mundum tradidit disputatioui eorum” = “also [God] has handed over the world to their [man’s] heart,” it read, “for their strife or contention” (see Job 31:13).
The Hebrew manuscripts or MSS which the Vulgate used had a text which at least makes good sense & suits the sardonic quality of kohele this mind: the LORD has made every event fit its occasion & has given/handed over to the peoples of the world. In Gen. 3:22 we find that “…man has become like one of us, to know good & evil.”
In Johannes Pedersen’s Israel, Its Life & Culture (1-11, 1926, pp.490-91), he says history consists of all generations of peoples & their experiences in which he calls “eternity.” What is “eternity?” It is, according to some scholars, generations (‘ôlām) of the permanent or continuous in contrast with the fragmentary “times.” As I have pointed out in other articles, “eternity” can mean “endlessness,” “never-ending” as well as “limited duration,” depending on the text/context/content of Scripture. Some do not define “eternity” in terms of “time” but give it a spiritual quality, e.g. “the divine quality which God has placed in man (and) probably thinks of the image of God in which man is made (Gen. 1:26,27). The debate over Hell –will it be eternal/everlasting or be limited- is ongoing. The same word, “eternal,” used in ref. to Heaven, i.e. “endless,” is used for Hell, meaning it too will be “endless.”
No one should want to believe in an “endless” torment, but the Bible does teach it. “Eternity” can mean limited duration” or “unlimited duration.” Eternity as the permanence or continuity of God, in contrast with the transitory of “time-content” of man on earth is obvious.
I’ve studied God’s Word long enough to realize some Scriptures will stand alone – they have their contexts/content. God did not create man (humans) for “extinction,” i.e. their souls/spirits to be annihilated in Hell (Hades/Gehenna) as some believe & teach. No scripture teaches the complete destruction of the “eternal” soul/spirit. Even the English word has a double meaning: completely destroyed or to consider or cause to be of no importance. Since man is made in the image/likeness of God, it is foolish to believe that He can be annihilated! Man’s body-soul-spirit lives on after life on earth – in Heaven or in eternal Gehenna. Man, from the beginning of creation to the END of time on earth, belongs to the successions of time… until timelessness.
After this life there is another dimension of existence, one of BLISS or SORROW. Since the notion of “eternity” would not incapacitate man’s mind in any way, he/she will be able to see/hear/feel/talk etc. in Hades (see Lk. 16:19-31). Hades is not Gehenna, but it is a place of torment (v.24): Hades will eventually be cast into Gehenna (Rev. 20:14,15), where there will be NO END. I read nowhere in the Bible where the unrighteous are annihilated or rescued.
Men know deep down there is a Heaven & Hell – God has put it there but men do not want to accept or believe it. Paul says, “For the WRATH of God is revealed from Heaven against ALL unrighteousness of men, who SUPPRESS the truth” -Rom. 1:18. Take time to read all of Romans one.
There are but 2 choices in life (time):
1- Choose God and live eternally in Heaven;
2- Choose otherwise and live eternally in Hell (Gehenna)!
Eternity is in our hearts (limited sense) to either do what is right or wrong: it will remain there in the afterlife either to haunt us or bless us.