used to denote the period of a man's life (Ge 47:28), the maturity of life (Joh 9:21), the latter end of life (Job 11:17), a generation of the human race (Job 8:8), and an indefinite period (Eph 2:7; 3:5,21; Col 1:26). Respect to be shown to the aged (Le 19:32). It is a blessing to communities when they have old men among them (Isa 65:20; Zec 8:4). The aged supposed to excel in understanding (Job 12:20; 15:10; 32:4,9; 1Ki 12:6,8). A full age the reward of piety (Job 5:26; Ge 15:15).

A period of time characterized by a certain stage of development of God's grand scheme of redemption (aion) (Eph 2:7; 3:5). The people living in the age. There is the patriarchal age; the Mosaic age or dispensation; the Christian age, in which "the kingdom of God cometh without observation" (and evil predominates outwardly); and the future manifested millennial kingdom: the two latter together forming "the world (Greek: "age") to come," in contrast to "this present evil world" (age) (Eph 1:21; Ga 1:4). The Greek for the physical "world" is kosmos, distinct from aion, the ethical world or "age" (Heb 6:5). If the 1260 prophetical days of the papal antichrist be years, and begin at A.D. 754, when his temporal power began by Pepin's grant of Ravenna, the Lombard kingdom, and Rome to Stephen II., the beginning of the millennial age would be A.D. 2014.

But figures have in Scripture a mystical meaning as well as a literal; faith must wait until the Father reveals fully "the times and seasons which He hath put in His own power" (Ac 1:7). Messiah is the Lord by whom and for whom all these ages, or vast cycles of time, have existed and do exist (Heb 1:2), "through whom He made the ages" (Greek) (Isa 26:4), "the Rock of ages" (Ps 145:13). "This age" (Greek for "world") is under the prince of darkness, the god of this world (Greek: "age") so far as most men are concerned (Eph 2:2; Lu 16:8; Mt 13:22; 2Co 4:4). "The world" when representing the Greek "age" (aion) means not the material "world" (Greek kosmos), but the age in its relation to God or to Satan. Continuance is the prominent thought; so "the ages of ages," expressing continuous succession of vast cycles, stands for eternity; e.g., Messiah's kingdom (Re 11:15), the torment of the lost (Re 14:11).

????. A period of time marked off by that which distinguishes it from other periods, as the Patriarchal age, the Apostolic age, etc. Though these terms do not occur in scripture, many allusions are made to the different ages. Thus we speak of the Antediluvian age, and scripture speaks of the same period as 'the old world,' i. e., the ordered scene which God did not spare. 2Pe 2:5. The 'Patriarchal age' embraces the time from the call of Abraham to the release from Egypt and the giving of the law. From 'Adam to Moses' excluding both, is an epoch when men's sins could not be classed as transgressions, seeing there was no definite law such as was given to Adam, or such as was administered by Moses. Ro 5:13-14. Again, from Moses to Christ formed a definite period: "the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ," Joh 1:17; "the law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it." Lu 16:16. The time when Christ was on earth is in John's first epistle repeatedly called 'the beginning:' the beginning of Christianity, though it is not called an age. We may also distinguish the period of the Church (from the day of Pentecost until the Rapture of the saints), though it is separated from recognised times and seasons. Our Lord not only spoke of the age in which He was on earth, but referred some events to 'the end or completion of the age.' Mt 13:39-40,49. The disciples also asked what would be the sign of that completion. Mt 24:3. Our Lord also spoke of 'the coming age,' when His own should receive life eternal. Lu 18:30; cf. also Mt 12:32; Eph 1:21; 2:7. God's kingdom is 'a kingdom of all ages.' Ps 145:13, margin. Eternity, in reference to the glory of God, to the blessing of the saved, and to the punishment of the wicked, is again and again called the 'age of ages,' often translated 'for ever and ever:' all being consummated in the eternal state. The Greek word is ???? throughout, though often translated 'world' in the A.V.

AGE, in the most general sense of the term, denotes the duration of any substance, animate or inanimate; and is applied either to the whole period of its existence, or to that portion of it which precedes the time to which the description of it refers. In this sense it is used to signify either the whole natural duration of the LIFE of man, or any interval of it that has elapsed before the period of which we speak. When age is understood of a certain portion of the life of man, its whole duration is divided into four different ages, viz. infancy, youth, manhood, and old age: the first extending to the fourteenth year; the second, denominated youth, adolescence, or the age of puberty, commencing at fourteen, and terminating at about twenty five; manhood, or the virile age, concluding at fifty; and the last ending at the close of life. Some divide the first period into infancy and childhood; and the last likewise into two stages, calling that which succeeds the age of seventy-five, decrepit old age: Age is applicable to the duration of things inanimate or factitious; and in this use of the term we speak of the age of a house, of a country, of a state or kingdom, &c.

AGE, in chronology, is used for a century, or a period of one hundred years: in which sense it is the same with seculum, and differs from generation. It is also used in speaking of the times past since the creation of the world. The several ages of the world may be reduced to three grand epochas, viz. the age of the law of nature, called by the Jews the void age, from Adam to Moses. The age of the Jewish law, from Moses to Christ, called by the Jews the present age. And the age of grace, from Christ to the present year. The Jews call the third age, the age to come, or the future age; denoting by it the time from the advent of the Messiah to the end of the world. The Romans distinguished the time that preceded them into three ages: the obscure or uncertain age, which reached down as low as Ogyges king of Attica, in whose reign the deluge happened in Greece; the fabulous or heroic age, which ended at the first olympiad; and the historical age, which commenced at the building of Rome. Among the poets, the four ages of the world are, the golden, the silver, the brazen, and the iron age.

Age is sometimes used among the ancient poets in the same sense as generation, or a period of thirty years. Thus Nestor is said to have lived three ages, when he was ninety years old.

The period preceding the birth of Jesus Christ has been generally divided into six ages. The first extends from the creation to the deluge, and comprehends 1656 years. The second age, from the deluge to Abraham's entering the land of promise, A.M. 2082, comprehends 426 years. The third age, from Abraham's entrance into the promised land to the Exodus, A.M. 2512, includes 430 years. The fourth age, from the Exodus to the building, of the temple by Solomon, A.M. 2992, contains 480 years. The fifth age, from the foundation of Solomon's temple to the Babylonish captivity, A.M. 3416, comprehends 424 years. The sixth age, from the Babylonish captivity to the birth of Jesus Christ, A.M. 4000, the fourth year before the vulgar aera, including 584 years. Those who follow the Septuagint, or Greek version, divide this period into seven ages, viz. 1. From the creation to the deluge, 2262 years. 2. From the deluge to the confusion of tongues, 738 years. 3. From this confusion to the calling of Abraham, 460 years. 4. From this period to Jacob's descent into Egypt, 215 years; and from this event to the Exodus, 430 years, making the whole 645 years. 5. From the Exodus to Saul, 774 years. 6. From Saul to Cyrus, 583 years. 7. From Cyrus to the vulgar aera of Christians, 538 years; the whole period from the creation to this period containing 6000 years.