Genesis 24:1, “And Abraham was old, [and] well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.”

In Wednesday night’s prayer meeting our pastor’s son gave the announcements before turning the service over to his father, the pastor, and as he put it, “the old man.” Our pastor had a few words to say about that. I also have a few words to say about that.

When I read this passage in Genesis 24:1, I could not help but think of an article I read, I think it was in the Writer’s Digest, about a tongue in cheek review of the poem Mary Had a Little Lamb.  The reviewer was an editor explaining to the poet all the literary errors in his poem and why he could not publish it.  One criticism was in the phrase, “leave her alone and she will come home wagging her tail behind her.”  The editor told the Poet, “Now come on, are you going to insult your reader in this way?  I mean where else is she going to wag her tail but behind her.”

Now come on is God going to insult the readers of His word by wasting valuable space and time telling you the obvious?  I mean if Abraham was old, obviously he was stricken in age. Actually, in the Hebrew the words old and well stricken in age is zaqen bo bayamim.  This literally means grew old coming in days.  It is the word bo that drives translators to distraction.  It is generally rendered as to go, to have intercourse with, to lead, to have a connection, to bring, to enter and all sorts things other than to be stricken.  Translators translate this as stricken in age or advanced in age, advanced in years, or simply as an adjective modifying the word old as in very old because they just don’t know what to do with that word bo (to come). So they agree it simply means that he wasn’t just old he was very old.

But how old is old or what makes a person very old?  I read were Senator Maddox who was 96 years old was having lunch with Senator Proxmire who was 86 years old. As they were eating Senator Proxmire commented to Senator Maddox that today was his birthday and he was now 86 years old.  Senator Maddox looked dreamily into the air and said, “Oh, to be 86 again.”  From Senator Maddox’s standpoint, 86 was not too old.

You think I am cutting hairs, don’t you? You think I am really trying read something in the Word of God that just isn’t there?  No, what I am saying is that some of these well used, well-oiled Hebrew words that we take so for granted need to have their English equivalents looked at again through the eyes of the masters and guardians of the Hebrew language, namely the Jewish sages and rabbis.

Rabbi Solomon Pappenheim (1750-1814) was an eminent philologist and linguist. Most people don’t even know what a philologist is.  This is someone who studies languages, its history and origins.  It is one who traces words to their very root.  They drill down to the very core of a word to find its heart and soul.  Rabbi Pappenheim found that the word bo (to come or bring) is related to the word navie (a prophet). According to this understanding Rabbi Pappenheim discovered that the word navie for prophet would then suggest that a prophet’s main ability is to bring spiritual power to wherever it is needed.

Thus Abraham was just not old and stricken with age, he was old, but his ability to bring spiritual power advanced as he aged. The older he got, the more powerful he became.  Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch who (1808-1888), another philologist and linguist picked up the work of Rabbi Samson and discovered that bo and navie were also related to the word byb.  This is an old Semitic word which means a hollow pipe or to be hollowed out like a pipe. By emptying oneself of his entire ego, he becomes a hollow pipe ready to be filled with the Divine Spirit (Holy Spirit).

Ezekiel, in Ezekiel 37, was commanded to prophesy three times to the dead bones.  Based upon this understanding of the word navie Ezekiel was not commanded by God to be a spokesman or to predict the future but to speak power into the dead bodies.  Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan brings this all together by concluding that in Ezekiel 37 all three cases of the command to prophesy navie and the appearance of the word bo (to go, to bring) in each verse is no coincidence but a deliberate play on words indicating that the prophet is one who brings spiritual forces to bear.

The ability to focus the Spiritual power of God is a task that requires great discipline and many years of intensive meditation on the Word of God and prayer. We have a curious form of navie in I Samuel 10:10 “And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him (Saul); and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them.” We have the word nave put into a Hithpael form making it reflexive.  It literally means that Saul was

prophesying himself.  Samuel actually had his band of prophets focus the Spiritual power of God on Saul where he began to prophesy to himself. We have a similar case with I Samuel 19 where King Saul sends his hit men out to kill David and we learn that Samuel’s own spiritual thugs, his school of prophets prophesied (nava) in a direct sense, they actually transmitted God’s Spiritual power on them and they began to prophesy themselves (mit-nave).  King Saul sent three groups of his goons out and all three ended up mit-nave prophesying themselves.  Finally King Saul went himself to finish the job and he ended up mit-nave prophesying himself.

So hey, I am not splitting hairs when I question this redundancy of Abraham getting old in Genesis 24:1, because there is more here than meets the eye. When you look deep into the Hebrew roots you see a world that you will never see from a quick surface reading.  In this case you learn that Abraham had prophetic gifts and as he aged these gifts only became stronger and more powerful. The older he got the more he became a byb, a hollow pipe, cleaned out of all his personal agendas, pride and self-desires to be  replaced with the powers of the Spirit of God such that he was able to bo, send out his nava, prophetic powers so that the Lord was able to bless him in all things.

Some of us are no longer in our youth and our society worships youth.  You reach a certain age and you are put out to pasture.  This was not so in Biblical times. The Elders were honored.  A man could not even sit on a counsel until he was at least thirty.  They recognized the relationship between bo and navie.  They recognized the truth of Genesis 24:1.  The older you get the more you are byb, hollowed out so that the Spirit of God can flow through you.  Oh yes, I almost forgot the word for prophet navie comes from the root word nava which means to flow or gush forth.  If you focus your life on God then the older you get the more you become a byb, hollow pipe the more the Spirit of God can nava, flow through you.

Do not fear the advance of old age, it will come to all of us, but they who have spent their lives seeking the face of God can truly experience their Golden Years. If you spend your youth concentrating as hard on your Spiritual life as you do on building your retirement. God has a special retirement for you, you will be like Abraham, you will be able to nava gush forth with the power of God and you will be blessed in all things.