WALTER JACOB
Scripture contains no complete biographies and only a few that come close; after the events in which the biblical narrator is interested are over, its heroes simply disappear from view until their death. Unlike the ancient Egyptians, birthdays, even those of longreigning kings, are not celebrated or even mentioned. Although age is considered a blessing, little is made of it with most of the biblical heroes, so we do not know the ages of the various prophets or other biblical figures.
Though the Torah is not shy about presenting precise age definitions on various occasions, it feels no need to do so for the aged. The aged don’t represent a special category, we don’t know when a person is considered“old,” and we don’t have any minimal age for those who are to be grouped as“the elders”(z’kenim). Retirement or abdication due to age is unknown in the Bible .
The disabilities of age are rarely mentioned, and no need to provide special care for the elderly seems felt. The aged appear to be part of a family that looks after them.
We can conclude that the elderly in the biblical period do not represent a class or special group. They remain part of the general population; they receive respect, but as that is mentioned only once, it does not seem to be an issue. The fact that the term for advisor and elder is the same reflects in both directions. On the one hand, it indicates that the advisors may, at times, be old; and on the other hand, it shows that respect is due to younger advisors also.
RESPECT FOR THE AGED IN THE HELLENISTIC PERIOD
We should also briefly look at the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha. These books are often difficult to date but were written in