Attainment of old age

Life expectancy in the OT

Before the flood

Ge 5:5; Ge 5:8; Ge 5:11; Ge 5:27 Methuselah died in the year of the flood; Ge 9:29

After the flood

Genesis 6:3 NASB95

Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”

See also Ge 11:10–25 Following the flood, the span of life gradually reduces; Ge 25:7–8 Abraham’s death at 175 is considered “a good old age”.

In later generations

Psalm 90:10 NASB95

As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away.

See also 2 Sa 5:4–5; 2 Sa 19:34–35

Attaining old age is a blessing from God

Long life as a reward for obedience

Deuteronomy 5:33 NASB95

“You shall walk in all the way which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you will possess.

See also Ex 20:12; Dt 4:40; Pr 3:1–2; Pr 16:31; Ec 8:13

Reaching old age is a mark of God’s favour

Genesis 15:15 NASB95

“As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.

See also Ge 24:1; Ge 35:29 Isaac; Jdg 8:32 Gideon; 1 Ch 29:28 David, like Abraham and Gideon is described as dying at “a good old age”; 2 Ch 24:15 Jehoiada; Job 42:17 Job

People reaching old age indicates God’s blessing on society

Zechariah 8:4 NASB95

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of age.

See also Is 65:20

Seeing grandchildren is a sign of blessing

Proverbs 17:6 NASB95

Grandchildren are the crown of old men, And the glory of sons is their fathers.

See also Ge 48:11; Ge 50:22–23; Ru 4:15; Job 42:16; Ps 128:5–6; Is 53:10

Failure to reach old age is a result of God’s judgment

1 Samuel 2:31–33 NASB95

‘Behold, the days are coming when I will break your strength and the strength of your father’s house so that there will not be an old man in your house. ‘You will see the distress of My dwelling, in spite of all the good that I do for Israel; and an old man will not be in your house forever. ‘Yet I will not cut off every man of yours from My altar so that your eyes will fail from weeping and your soul grieve, and all the increase of your house will die in the prime of life.

The disabilities of old age

Its frailties

Psalm 71:9 NASB95

Do not cast me off in the time of old age; Do not forsake me when my strength fails.

See also Ge 27:1; Ge 48:10; 1 Ki 1:1; 1 Ki 15:23; Ec 12:2–7 an allegory portraying physical decline

The progressive inability to have children

Genesis 18:11–13 NASB95

Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing. Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?’

See also Ge 17:17; Ge 37:3 Children born in old age were rare and therefore special; 2 Ki 4:14; Lk 1:18

The approach of death

Ge 27:2; 1 Ki 1:15; 1 Ch 23:1

God’s provision for the aged

God strengthens and sustains them

Isaiah 46:4 NASB95

Even to your old age I will be the same, And even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will deliver you.

See also Dt 34:7; Jos 14:10–11; Job 5:26; Ps 92:14

God gives them children

Ge 21:7 Abraham and Sarah; 2 Ki 4:16–17 the Shunammite woman; Lk 1:36 Elizabeth

Wisdom and self-control should accompany old age

Job 12:12 NASB95

“Wisdom is with aged men, With long life is understanding.

See also Job 15:10; Pr 20:29; Jn 8:9; Tt 2:2