The relativity of length of time to the mind is indicated in the conception that to God's mind human measures and standards of time have no inherent reality ('One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,'
2 P 3'}. The notion sliows a trace of philosophical influence in the tliinking which culminates in the apocalyptical conception of the transiency of time and its contrast with eternity (' There shall be time no longer,' Rev 10').
2. Season. — Time from the point of view of its special content or relation to a definite event or events is specifically denoted by the term catpiis (generally, 'definite time'). The most accentuated usage of the term in tliis sense is the Apoca- lyptist's Kaipbv Kal Katpovs Kal T^jiurv Katpou (Rev 12'''), where the evident design is to indicate a period of known duration, like a year (or century). The term is more nearly synonymous with ' season ' when it designates a time (the time during the year) for the appearance of certain events ([Kaip&s] TOU «f/3tcr/ioO, Mt 13™; Ka.tp6s auKoiv, Mk ll'^: cf. Lk 20'° ; Toi/s Kaptroi^ iv rots Kaipots clvtCiv, Mt 21'"). More generally xaipis is any division of time which ditt'ers from all others by some characteristic, as, for instance, that it ought to be observed as more
sacred (ixrivai koX Katpovs, Gal 4'°) ; to be watched against because of the evil influences which it brings {xaipol xa\(Tol, 2 Ti 3') ; chosen by God for special revelation of His word (Tit P) ; a period when certain special events develop, distinguished by the moral character of the Gentiles (/taipoi idvwv, Lk 21'-'') ; events have their own time (Lk 1-'"), jiersons ni.ay have their own time for the full display of their peculiar character or the accomjdi.-ihment of their work [e.g. the time of Jesus, 6 Kaipbs 6 ifi.6s, 0 Kaipbt i ufiircpos, Jn 7°'^). The term Kaipis thus differs from XP^""^ ii designating 'opportune' or 'lit' time, a time associated with, and therefore distinguished by, some special event or feature. In the phrase Tre-n-Xr/puTai 6 Kaipbs (Mk 1") the more appropriate term would have been xpl"'''^> but since the intention of the writer is to show not the lapse of mere time, but the appearance of a new era, the word used expresses the idea more accur- ately.
3. The ages. — The largest measure of time known is the ' age ' {aliiv, ' peon '). An ' age,' however, is not a definite period (though the ' present age ' is estimated by some as 10,000 or 5,000 years in duration). It is rather a period of vast length. It so far transcends thought that it impresses the mind with the mj'stery of the whole notion of time. Hence the combination 'eternal times' (Ro 16^) stretching back into the inconceivably remote past (practically the equivalent of the modern philo- sophical ' species of eternity ').
The conception of the aeon is specially prominent in the apocalyptic system, which looks on all dura- tion as divided into seons. An a;on combines in itself the essential content of the Hebrew 'olam and of the Greek alwp. In the first the emphasis is laid on the mysterious aspect of time without measure and apart from all known conditions. In the second the conception is based on a cyclic re- turn similar to that marked by the seasons of the year. The modern analogy may be found in the geologic period. On a still larger scale the seon has its analogy in the Hindu hilpa. Of such ages there is an indefinite series. This is given in the plural (aW;.es, Gal P, Ph ^'>, 1 Ti 1", 2 Ti 4'8, He 13-', 1 P 4", Rev., passim). The series taken to- gether constitutes all time ('All the ages,' RVni, eis TrAvras tous aluivas, Jude ^).
Later Jewish thought singled out two seons (ages) and largely limited itself to their contempla- tion. P'rom the practical point of view these were the only ones that concerned living men. These two were the ' present age ' (6 aiu>y oiros, 6 fOv alJiv, 0 ivcariii aluf, r;-^n cb^!/, Eph 1=', Mt 12^^ Gal 1^ 2 Ti 4'", Tit 2'=) anil the ' future age ' (6 aluv 6 /i4\\av, 6 alwv 6 ipxip-evos, N3n oSiy, He 6°, Lk 20'° 18™). The doctrine became prominent in the Apocalypses (cf. 4 Ezr. vii. 50). It fitted the apoca- lyptic sclieme wonderfully. On one side it helped to define the older prophetic ' latter days ' (as a distinct period when ideal conditions would pre- vail) ; at the same time it gave a background to the doctrine of the 'Day of Jehovah.' On the other side, by discovering an ideal moral character in the latter age, the doctrine infused comfort into the hearts of the faithful in the present evil days by promising a definite change with the beginning of the new era. Questions of the exact length of the age were raised and by some answered. The author of Ethiopic Enoch, xvi. 1, xviii. 16, xxi. 6, fixes the duration of the ' evil [present] age ' as 10,000 years ; the Assumption of Moses at 5,000. The apocalyptists consider that they are themselves living so near the end of the older age and the beginning of the new that it may be a question as to whether they will be still living when the crisis arrives and the one age yields to the other d Ezr. iv. 37, V. 50 fi'., vi. 20; Syr. Bar. xliv. 8fl'.). These