Growing old

Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD.

A short law: stand up when a grey head comes in, and honour the old man's face. Age is given a claim on other people's behaviour, and the command is tied to fearing God rather than to whether the elder has earned it.

The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.

The grey head is called a crown of glory, with a condition attached, "if it be found in the way of righteousness." Like the rest of Proverbs this observes how honour usually accrues; it is not a guarantee that the old are in fact honoured.

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, This is it that belongeth unto the Levites: from twenty and five years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the service of the tabernacle of the congregation: And from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the service thereof, and shall serve no more: But shall minister with their brethren in the tabernacle of the congregation, to keep the charge, and shall do no service. Thus shalt thou do unto the Levites touching their charge.

The Levites serve from twenty-five years old until fifty, and then stop. After that they keep the charge alongside their brothers but do no more of the heavy service. It is the Bible's one retirement age: the work ends, the belonging does not.

Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even fourscore years old: and he had provided the king of sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim; for he was a very great man. And the king said unto Barzillai, Come thou over with me, and I will feed thee with me in Jerusalem. And Barzillai said unto the king, How long have I to live, that I should go up with the king unto Jerusalem? I am this day fourscore years old: and can I discern between good and evil? can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king?

Barzillai, eighty years old, is invited to live at the king's table in Jerusalem. He declines, plainly: he can no longer taste what he eats or hear the singers, and would only be a burden. An honest accounting of what he has lost.

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain: In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened, And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low; Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets: Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.

A poem on the body giving out, image by image: hands trembling, the grinders few, the windows darkened, the ear waking at a bird, fear of heights, desire failing, the silver cord loosed. It is sustained and unsparing, and it does not soften the end it describes.

And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:

Simeon has been waiting, promised he would not die before seeing the Lord's Christ. He takes the infant in his arms and asks to be let go in peace. What he had waited his life for arrives at the very end of it.

And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity; And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

Anna, widowed after seven years of marriage and eighty-four years old, is in the temple constantly with fasting and prayer. When the child is brought in she recognises him and tells everyone who is waiting. The recognition falls to the oldest person present.

Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.

The prayer of someone whose strength is failing: do not cast me off now, do not leave me when I am weak. The psalm names old age as a season when people get set aside, and asks not to be treated that way.

Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb: And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.

Spoken to a nation, contrasting idols that have to be carried about with a God who does the carrying, from the womb through to grey hair. The picture is of being borne rather than spared: "I have made, and I will bear."