Words about words. . .

Some have challenged my assertion that retirement is a word not found in Scripture.  They would point to Numbers 4 in which the numbers of those appointed to do the heavy lifting of the Tent of Meeting were aged 30-50.  Aha!  Retirement at age 50!  Or is it that the service of those age 50 and older, like those not yet 30, is different.  That for the specific 20 years mentioned, the service is as directed toward the Tent of Meeting but at other stages of life, the service is elsewhere directed.  I see no statement directing that after age 50 the seniors are free to spend their children's inheritance on a life of self-centeredness and bucket lists.  Unless I have missed that verse.  Or they would point to Leviticus 8:24-36 wherein the Levites are directed to work from 25 to 30 as apprentices and then from 30-50 carrying the full burden of their service until age 50 when they assist but allow the younger both to learn and perfect their service under the oversight of the elders.  Why?  Well, if we think pastoral duties are heavy today, think of the stamina needed for all-day, every day moving large livestock (sheep, goats, cattle) as part of their sacrificial roles. If you allow for the shorter lifespan of men of that time, the age of 50 was probably a reasonable limit for full-time service of these labor intensive duties. Their service did not end but it did change.  Then there is that pesky verse from Leviticus 27:7 in which it might appear that a man over 60 is worth but half a younger man.  Except that this verse is about their value before God and not their value as a man or woman.  Even then, such a senior discount says nothing about them stopping work, going on cruises, spending down their IRAs, and hitting the golf course.

While we are at it, someone challenged my assertion that depression is not in Scripture either.  How awkward it is to go from retirement to depression as if they were inexorably linked.  There is no Hebrew word for depression or being depressed.  What there is in Hebrew is a word that we generally translate as sorrow or sighing.  Isaiah says it.  The redeemed of the Lord shall return to Zion from their exile and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.  Jeremiah holds the promise that God will turning their mourning into joy, comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.  Both of these might apply.  Yes, the Septuagint has the word a time or two but usually translated discouraged.  In any case, that does not say that God is oblivious to or unconcerned about the sorrow of our hearts and our depression.  In fact, just the opposite.  Our Lord Jesus is the answer to all our sorrows, sighings, and discouragements and what we here must bear, we will not endure in eternity.

I must admit that I am almost giddy at the next one.  The byword of our intolerant age is the word tolerance but every time anything close to that occurs in Scripture, it is bad news.  Jesus insist that it will be more tolerable for Sodom on Judgment Day than for those who heard Him and rejected Him.  The Psalmist warned that God would have closed His ears to his need if God had looked upon and tolerated or condoned the sin in his heart (66:18).  But the clincher is in Revelation 2:20 when Jesus criticizes tolerance and accuses Thyatira for tolerating Jezebel that fornicating and idol meat offering woman!  So much for the virtue of our age and Scripture!

Just a little fun with words. . .  oooh, now there is a word to look up.  Is fun in the Bible????