BEYOND METHUSELAH—WHO IS OLD?

bad place to begin is to ask a simple question—Who is old? We shall start with the Bible .

WHO IS OLD IN THE BIBLE?

How does our biblical tradition define age? A cursory read­ing of Genesis will recall the grand ages of Methuselah as 969 and the rest of his generation(Jered, 962; Seth, 912; and Enosh, 905) without a word of explanation. These ages are slightly more realis­tic than the tens of thousands of years attributed to some Babylonian figures, but that hardly helps us. We do not know what those num­bers mean, but they continue with the patriarchs, who also reached remarkable, but declining, ages: Abraham , 175(Gen. 25:7): Sarah, 127(Gen. 23:1); Isaac, 180(Gen. 35:28:“old and full of days,” 35:29); Rebekah, 133, 143, or 144(Midrash Hagadol , pp. 388f.), 151(Jubilees 35:27); Jacob, 147(Gen. 47:28). For Jacob’s wives we must turn to the much later midrash. Old age is clearly seen as a sign of blessing. Abraham is praised for his vitality:“He died in a good old age full of years, an old man, and full of years”(Gen. 15:15; 24:1; 25:8). Jacob is confined to bed only at the very end of his life(Gen. 48:2). Moses remains vigorous to the end:“And Moses was 120 when he died; his eye was not dim nor his natural force abated”(Deut. 34:7). A few individuals are portrayed as weak in old age; King David is enfeebled toward the end of his life, but he remains in charge(1 Kings 1).

Moses sets the general pattern: at 120 he is still able to climb a mountain to his death; in our tradition 120 remains an appropriate goal when we wish someone well, although most of us would see it differently, at least when we came close. Years are a sign of