Aged / Elderly

(Exodus 10:9; Psalm 148:12-13; Proverbs 20:29)

 

There is a tendency in our society to place more value in youth. The Bible, however, judges the very young and the very old to be of equal value.

  • Exodus 10:9 HCSB  Moses replied, "We will go with our young and our old; we will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds because we must hold the LORD's festival."
  • Psalms 148:12-13 HCSB  young men as well as young women, old and young together.  13  Let them praise the name of the LORD, for His name alone is exalted. His majesty covers heaven and earth.
  • Proverbs 20:29 HCSB  The glory of young men is their strength, and the splendor of old men is gray hair.
  • Jeremiah 6:11 HCSB  But I am full of the LORD's wrath; I am tired of holding it back. Pour it out on the children in the street, on the gang of young men as well. For both husband and wife will be captured, the old with the very old.
  • Jeremiah 31:13 HCSB  Then the virgin will rejoice with dancing, while young and old men rejoice together. I will turn their mourning into joy, give them consolation, and bring happiness out of grief.
  • Jeremiah 51:22 HCSB  With you I will smash man and woman; with you I will smash the old man and the youth; with you I will smash the young man and the virgin.
  • Lamentations 2:21 HCSB  Both young and old are lying on the ground in the streets. My young men and women have fallen by the sword. You have killed them in the day of Your anger, slaughtering without compassion.

 

The elderly should not be cast aside. If anything, they should be given first thought when we are choosing our leaders. Though the Bible does not make advanced age a prerequisite for leadership, it is interesting to note that the leaders and judges are referred to as “elders.”

  • Exodus 3:16, 18 HCSB  "Go and assemble the elders of Israel and say to them: Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me and said: I have paid close attention to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt… They will listen to what you say. Then you, along with the elders of Israel, must go to the king of Egypt and say to him: The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.
  • Exodus 4:29 HCSB  Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites.
  • Ezekiel 7:26 HCSB  Disaster after disaster will come, and there will be rumor after rumor. Then they will seek a vision from a prophet, but instruction will perish from the priests and counsel from the elders.

 

If a person has lived a long and godly life, they are a tremendous resource. You should be anxious to sit under their teaching. You should press them for information on what it was like to live in their day. What skills do they possess that would benefit you? Were they successful in raising their children? To what do they credit their success? Rather than relegating the elderly to nursing homes and visiting them on Christmas and birthdays, why not include them in your home? Let a godly grandmother influence your children. Allow an elderly holy man teach your sons and daughters the Way.

  • Job 12:12-13 HCSB  Wisdom is found with the elderly, and understanding comes with long life.  (13)  Wisdom and strength belong to God; counsel and understanding are His.
  • Proverbs 16:31 HCSB  Gray hair is a glorious crown; it is found in the way of righteousness.
  • Deuteronomy 32:7 HCSB  Remember the days of old; consider the years long past. Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will teach you.

 

It is never too late to have a part in building God’s kingdom. It is never too late to receive a vision from God and to pass it on to others.

  • Joel 2:28 HCSB  After this I will pour out My Spirit on all humanity; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will have dreams, and your young men will see visions.

 

We should demonstrate respect for our elderly.

  • Leviticus 19:32 HCSB  "You are to rise in the presence of the elderly and honor the old. Fear your God; I am the LORD.
  • Job 32:4 HCSB  Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were all older than he.

 

Part of God’s curse on Jerusalem was that the young would act disrespectfully toward the elderly.

  • Isaiah 3:5 HCSB  The people will oppress one another, man against man, neighbor against neighbor; the youth will act arrogantly toward the elder, and the worthless toward the honorable.
  • Lamentations 4:16 HCSB  The LORD Himself has scattered them; He regards them no more. The priests are not respected; the elders find no favor.
  • Lamentations 5:12-14 HCSB  Princes are hung up by their hands; elders are shown no respect.  13  Young men labor at millstones; boys stumble under loads of wood.  14  The elders have left the city gate, the young men, their music.

 

God cursed the people of Babylon partly because they had oppressed the elderly. For this and other sins, He removed their kingdom.

  • Isaiah 47:6 HCSB  I was angry with My people; I profaned My possession, and I placed them under your control. You showed them no mercy; you made your yoke very heavy on the elderly.

 

We should show particular reverence for an elderly person who has served the Lord – even if they have made mistakes.

  • 1 Kings 13:29 HCSB  So the prophet lifted the corpse of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back. The old prophet came into to the city to mourn and to bury him.

 

Disregarding the counsel of wise elders will have grave consequences.

  • 2 Chronicles 10:6-8, 13 HCSB  Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon when he was alive, asking, "How do you advise me to respond to this people?"  7  They replied, "If you will be kind to these people and please them by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever."  8  But he rejected the advice of the elders who had advised him and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him, the ones serving him… Then the king answered them harshly. King Rehoboam rejected the elders' advice

 

Being old also does not automatically imply wisdom.

  • Job 32:9 HCSB  It is not only the old who are wise or the elderly who understand how to judge.
  • 1 Kings 13:11-22 HCSB  Now a certain old prophet was living in Bethel. His son came and told him all the deeds that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. His sons also told their father the words that he had spoken to the king.  12  Then their father said to them, "Which way did he go?" His sons had seen the way taken by the man of God who had come from Judah.  13  Then he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled the donkey for him, and he got on it.  14  He followed the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree. He asked him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" "I am," he said.  15  Then he said to him, "Come home with me and eat bread."  16  But he answered, "I cannot go back with you, eat bread, or drink water with you in this place,  17  for a message came to me by the word of the LORD: 'You must not eat bread or drink water there or go back by the way you came.'"  18  He said to him, "I am also a prophet like you. An angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD: 'Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.'" The old prophet deceived him,  19  and the man of God went back with him, ate bread in his house, and drank water.  20  While they were sitting at the table, the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back,  21  and the prophet cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, "This is what the LORD says: 'Because you rebelled against the command of the LORD and did not keep the commandment that the LORD your God commanded you,  22  but you went back and ate bread and drank water in the place that He said to you: Do not eat bread and do not drink water, your corpse will never reach the grave of your fathers.'"
  • Ecclesiastes 4:13 HCSB  Better is a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer pays attention to warnings.
  • Ezekiel 8:12 HCSB  Then He said to me, "Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his idol? For they are saying: The LORD does not see us. The LORD has abandoned the land."

 

It is possible for a person who fully submits himself to the Word to demonstrate more wisdom than an elderly person who does not.

  • Psalms 119:100 HCSB  I understand more than the elders because I obey Your precepts.

 

An elderly person should not raise themselves up in pride for the little wisdom that they have accumulated in their pitifully short life. The Almighty is just as able to remove their understanding as He is to grant them more.

  • Job 12:16-25 HCSB  True wisdom and power belong to Him. The deceived and the deceiver are His.  17  He leads counselors away barefoot and makes judges go mad.  18  He releases the bonds put on by kings and ties a cloth around their waists.  19  He leads priests away barefoot and overthrows established leaders.  20  He deprives trusted advisers of speech and takes away the elders' good judgment.  21  He pours out contempt on nobles and disarms the strong.  22  He reveals mysteries from the darkness and brings the deepest darkness into the light.  23  He makes nations great, then destroys them; He enlarges nations, then leads them away.  24  He deprives the world's leaders of reason, and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.  25  They grope around in darkness without light; He makes them stagger like drunken men.

 

To whom much is given much is required. Not many should desire to be teachers because they will have to live by a higher standard. Our elders should not raise themselves up in pride but instead, should redouble their efforts to fear God and withstand sin. If they don’t, they may be the first to feel God’s wrath.

  • Ezekiel 9:4-6 HCSB  "Pass throughout the city of Jerusalem," the LORD said to him, "and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations committed in it."  5  To the others He said in my hearing, "Pass through the city after him and start killing; do not show pity or spare them!  6  Slaughter the old men, the young men and women, as well as the older women and little children, but do not come near anyone who has the mark. Now begin at My sanctuary." So they began with the elders who were in front of the temple.

 

Let no one think that age alone will protect them from the Lord’s wrath if they disobey Him.

  • 2 Chronicles 36:16-17 HCSB  But they kept ridiculing God's messengers, despising His words, and scoffing at His prophets, until the LORD's wrath was so stirred up against His people that there was no remedy.  17  So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their choice young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary. He had no pity on young man and virgin or elderly and aged; He handed them all over to him.

 

The Bible lovingly depicts the hoped-for end of every person. During the Millennial reign of Christ, its paradisaical conditions are partially defined by the fact that the elderly will once again be able to sit on the side of the streets and enjoy watching children play.

  • Zechariah 8:4-5 HCSB  The LORD of Hosts says this: "Old men and women will again sit along the streets of Jerusalem, each with a staff in hand because of advanced age.  5  The streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in them."

 

The elderly almost universally appreciate grandchildren. Their grandchildren are a clear indication that their line, their thought patterns and beliefs will go on. Grandchildren are, in a limited sense, a type of immortality. If at all possible, do not deprive an elderly person of contact with their progeny. Godly parents should be the pride of their children. Children should be able to point to their ancestors and say with reverence “Those were godly people. I am blessed because of their lives.” A child who does not appreciate that will suffer the consequences of his or her ingratitude. A parent who does not make that possible for his or her children will reap the harvest of their wicked ways.

  • Proverbs 17:6 HCSB  Grandchildren are the crown of the elderly, and the pride of sons is their fathers.

 

The elderly often struggle with their bodies. Their failing health and strength can be a stumbling block to them if they let it.

  • Genesis 18:11-12 HCSB  Abraham and Sarah were old and getting on in years. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.  12  So she laughed to herself: "After I have become shriveled up and my lord is old, will I have delight?"

 

However, simply being old doesn’t mean one can’t still struggle with lust.

  • Genesis 19:4-5 HCSB  Before they went to bed, the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, the whole population, surrounded the house.  5  They called out to Lot and said, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so we can have sex with them!"

 

It is a privilege to live a good long life, be full of years and then pass on. Note that when the godly do pass away they are returning to their people. Death, for the Ransomed, is a family reunion.

  • Genesis 25:8 HCSB  He took his last breath and died at a ripe old age, old and contented, and he was gathered to his people.
  • Genesis 35:29 HCSB  He took his last breath and died, and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
  • Job 42:16-17 HCSB  Job lived 140 years after this and saw his children and their children to the fourth generation.  17  Then Job died, old and full of days.

 

Aged / Elderly Genesis 18:11-12; 19:4-5; 25:8; 35:29; Exodus 3:16, 18; 4:29; 10:9; Leviticus 19:32; Deuteronomy 32:7; 1 Kings 13:11-22 (cp Ecclesiastes 4:13; Ezekiel 8:12), 29; 2 Chronicles 10:6-8, 13; 36:16-17; Job 12:12-25; 32:4, 9 (cp Psalm 119:100); 42:16-17; Psalm 148:12-13; Proverbs 16:31; 17:6; 20:29; Isaiah 3:5; 47:6; Jeremiah 6:11; 31:13; 51:22; Lamentations 2:21; 4:16; 5:12-14; Ezekiel 7:26; 9:4-6; Joel 2:28; Zechariah 8:4-5