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372 biblical verses in which Olam appears indicate that it was deemed a physical place, not an abstraction. "Thou art from Olam," the Psalmist declared—God is from a place which is a hidden place (and therefore God has been unseen). It was a place that was conceived as physically existing: Deuteronomy (33:15) and the Prophet Habakkuk (3:6) spoke of the "hills of Olam." Isaiah (33:14) referred to the "heat sources of Olam. " Jeremiah (6:16) mentioned the "pathways of Olam" and (18:5) "the lanes of Olam," and called Yah- weh "king of Olam" (10:10) as did Psalms 10:16. The Psalms, in statements reminiscent of the references to the gates of Anu's abode (in Sumerian texts) and to the Gates of Heaven (in ancient Egyptian texts), also spoke of the "Gates of Olam" that should open and welcome the Lord Yahweh as He arrives there upon His Kabod, His Celestial Boat (24:7-10): Lift up your heads, O gates of Olam so that the King of Kabod may come in! Who is the King of Kabod? Yahweh, strong and valiant, a mighty warrior! Lift up your heads, O gates of Olam, and the King of Kabod shall come in! Who is the King of Kabod? Yahweh lord of hosts is the King of Kabod. "Yahweh is the God of Olam." declared Isaiah (40:28), echoing the biblical record in Genesis (21:33) of Abraham's "calling in the name of Yahweh, the God of Olam." No wonder, then, that the Covenant symbolized by circumcision, "the celestial sign," was called by the Lord when he had imposed it on Abraham and his descendants "the Covenant of Olam:" And my Covenant shall be in your flesh, the Covenant of Olam. DIVINE ENCOUNTERS (Genesis 17:13) In post-biblical rabbinic discussions, and so in modern He-