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CWH
01-09-2011, 05:35 PM
It seems to me that there are 2 definitions of long time in the Bible. One is based on human understanding of long time and the other is based on God's definition of long time. Long time in the Bible may start from a few hours, days, months or years to hundreds or thousands of years based on the context and on God's or human definition of long time. Sorry for the long list, the ones in red are what I think of long time of at least a thousand years:

1. Genesis 21:34
And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time.

2. Genesis 26:8
When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.

3. Genesis 38:12
After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him.

4. Genesis 46:29
Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel. As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father and wept for a long time.

5.
Numbers 9:19
When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the Israelites obeyed the LORD’s order and did not set out.

6. Deuteronomy 2:1
[ Wanderings in the Wilderness ] Then we turned back and set out toward the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea, as the LORD had directed me. For a long time we made our way around the hill country of Seir.

7. Deuteronomy 4:25
After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time—if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in the eyes of the LORD your God and arousing his anger,

8. Deuteronomy 4:32
[ The LORD Is God ] Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of?

9. Deuteronomy 17:20
and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.

10. Deuteronomy 20:19
When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees people, that you should besiege them?

11. Joshua 11:18
Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long time.

12. Joshua 22:3
For a long time now—to this very day—you have not deserted your fellow Israelites but have carried out the mission the LORD your God gave you.

13. Joshua 23:1
[ Joshua’s Farewell to the Leaders ] After a long time had passed and the LORD had given Israel rest from all their enemies around them, Joshua, by then a very old man,

14. Joshua 24:7
But they cried to the LORD for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.

15. 1 Samuel 7:2
The ark remained at Kiriath Jearim a long time—twenty years in all. [ Samuel Subdues the Philistines at Mizpah ] Then all the people of Israel turned back to the LORD.

16. 2 Samuel 3:1
The war between the house of Saul and the house of David lasted a long time. David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker.

17. 1 Kings 2:38
Shimei answered the king, 'What you say is good. Your servant will do as my lord the king has said.' And Shimei stayed in Jerusalem for a long time.

18.
1 Kings 18:1
[ Elijah and Obadiah ] After a long time, in the third year, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: 'Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.'

19. 2 Kings 13:3
So the LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and for a long time he kept them under the power of Hazael king of Aram and Ben-Hadad his son.

20. 2 Chronicles 15:3
For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach and without the law.

21. Ecclesiastes 1:10
Is there anything of which one can say, 'Look! This is something new'? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.

22. Ecclesiastes 8:12
Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him.

23.
Isaiah 42:14
'For a long time I have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant.

24. Jeremiah 29:28
He has sent this message to us in Babylon: It will be a long time. Therefore build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.’'

25. Jeremiah 32:14
‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Take these documents, both the sealed and unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time.
26. Jeremiah 35:7
Also you must never build houses, sow seed or plant vineyards; you must never have any of these things, but must always live in tents. Then you will live a long time in the land where you are nomads.’

27. Jeremiah 37:16
Jeremiah was put into a vaulted cell in a dungeon, where he remained a long time.

28. Matthew 24:48
But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’

29. Matthew 25:5
The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

30. Matthew 25:19
'After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.

31. Luke 8:27
When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs.

32. Luke 12:45
But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk.

33. Luke 20:9
[ The Parable of the Tenants ] He went on to tell the people this parable: 'A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time.

34. Luke 23:8
When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort.

35. John 5:6
When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, 'Do you want to get well?'

36. John 14:9
Jesus answered: 'Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

37. Acts 8:11
They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery.

38. Acts 14:28
And they stayed there a long time with the disciples.

39. Acts 26:5
They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I conformed to the strictest sect of our religion, living as a Pharisee.

40. Acts 26:29
Paul replied, 'Short time or long—I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.'

41. Acts 27:21
After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: 'Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss.

42. Acts 28:6
The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

43. Hebrews 4:7
God again set a certain day, calling it 'Today.' This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted: 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.'

Many Blessings.

Brother Les
01-12-2011, 07:38 AM
Cheow Wee Hock
How long is a long time in the Bible?


It seems to me that there are 2 definitions of long time in the Bible. One is based on human understanding of long time and the other is based on God's definition of long time. Long time in the Bible may start from a few hours, days, months or years to hundreds or thousands of years based on the context and on God's or human definition of long time. Sorry for the long list, the ones in red are what I think of long time of at least a thousand years:


Read all of Jeremiah 29. This brings together Gods measurement of time that man can understand as to what is 'long' and what is 'shortly/ at hand. The answer to, 'how long is a long time', is seventy years.

CWH
01-12-2011, 09:27 PM
Read all of Jeremiah 29. This brings together Gods measurement of time that man can understand as to what is 'long' and what is 'shortly/ at hand. The answer to, 'how long is a long time', is seventy years.

I have read Jeremiah 29, nothing mentioned about 70 years as God's measurement of long time. If God's measurement of long time is seventy years, then what is God's measurement of shortly/at hand....hmm...40 years?

If God's measurement of time for human - 40 years for short and 70 years for long.....I think you have lost your sense of time.

For your information, God measure time by the stars, moon and sun so that humans may also know time, days, seasons, years and sacred times:

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.

It is said that we can measure time by the rotation of our own galaxy, the Milky Way and one rotation is at least 250,000,000 years.... that is a hell lots of time! Furthermore, we can measure time by the time it takes light from the furthest galaxy to reached the earth and that is several billon years ago.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080413104210AAXQTfZ

What I am trying to say here is whether it is long time or short time is based on context; a short time could be as short as a minute to a few years based on human definition of time and as long as several minutes to thousands of years or even millions/billions of years. Not so with God who sometimes want us to read a day as a year because God see time not with clocks and watches but through the cosmos i.e sun, moon, stars.

Many Blessings.

Brother Les
01-13-2011, 07:09 AM
3By the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent unto Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon) saying,

4Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon;

5Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them;

6Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.

7And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.

8For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.

9For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD.

10For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. 11For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

12Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.

13And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

14And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

15Because ye have said, The LORD hath raised us up prophets in Babylon;

28For therefore he sent unto us in Babylon, saying, This captivity is long: build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them.



You wanted to know what was considered a long time. The Prophet declares 70 years to be a long time. Thus, with every book in the NT indicating a 'short' timeframe in their proclaiming the Coming of The Lord, would make that less than 70years. The Prophet is telling the captive of Babylon (Jerusalem in metaphor) to build houses and plant fields and Marry the locals, for they will be captive for a long (70 yr.) time. The Apostles onthe hand proclaim that time is very short, even at the door.

CWH
01-19-2011, 04:15 AM
Is a thousand years long? God Yes; Human Yes.
Is a thousand years short? God Yes: Human No.
Is a day long? God Yes; Human No
Is a day short? God Yes; Human Yes.

This is how God see time which is not the way humans see time; humans tend to see time as a thousand years long and a day short, God tends to see time as meanngless:

2Peter 3:8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

However, I interpret 2Peter 3:8 as:
one Lord's day is a thousand human years and
one a thousand human years is one Lord's day.

I do know that preterists interpret it differently, stressing only on a thousand years is like one day :eek:

To God whether it is a thousand years or a day, it doesn't make any difference, for God can condense a thousand years to a day or expand a day to a thousand years. Reminds me of e = mc2 which says that time is meaningless if one travels at the speed of light.

What I am saying here is a thousand years to God is negligible when he has eternity at hand but when dealing with human, a thousand years seems to be a long time based on human understanding of time.

Many Blessings.