WORD STUDY – STRICKEN IN AGE

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

I have always pondered over the strange wording of Genesis 24:1. Why the redundancy, is it not enough to say Abraham was old, why add stricken in age? Unless it is saying he was strickened with the general infirmities of age like disability, dementia, or just general poor health. I drive a bus for the elderly and I have elderly get on my bus who are old but not stricken with the infirmities of age, they have good health and are very active. Then I have those who are old but probably younger than the ones previously mentioned who are strickened with age and are barely able to climb on my bus without assistance. They are what I consider strickened with age.

So are we to assume that Abraham did not enjoy a quality of life in his senior years? If that were so then that last phrase, “The Lord blessed Abraham in all things” would be a contradiction. If he was blessed in all things would not good health be a part of that package?

Some translations simply say he was old and advanced in age. That sound very redundant to me, obviously if he was old he was advanced in age. Some modern translations, like the NIV, simply acknowledge the redundancy and leave that stricken in age or advanced in age out.

Wait a minute, if that is in the original manuscript I want it in my Bible, don’t go leaving something out simply because, in your opinion, it is redundant and not necessary to translate. I mean this is really important to me to understand because I am now getting old and advanced in age and I cannot help but think that there is something much deeper in this passage than to emphasize the fact that Abraham was old. So I say keep the redundancy so old farts like me can ponder some deep spiritual meaning out of it.

This morning I was reading a passage in the Zohar. Yeah, yeah, I know it is called a Jewish mystical book and I should stay away from it. However, someone gave me a copy in the original Aramaic and it is an excellent resource to practice my Aramaic on. I read it not for spiritual edification but simply as an exercise book to strengthen my Aramaic. However, I ran across a passage that, gasp! I found spiritually edifying.

In the Zohar I read this passage in Aramaic which was translated straight from the Hebrew. In the Hebrew this strickened with age is really ba’ bayomim. This literally means: coming in the days. That word ba’ means to come or to enter. But the Zohar takes you on a little journey in the many usages of ba’ within the Hebrew culture and shows that this word comes from the root word boa’ which like most words in the Hebrew carry the idea of a relationship. This word has a sense of intimacy thus Abraham did not just grow old but he was intimate with each day of his life. He had a relationship with each day of his life.

Why would God want to emphasize the idea that Abraham just did not grow old but that he was intimate with each day of his life? I think that is obvious. Abraham made sure that every day that God gave him in his life he accomplished something for the purpose of God.

Yesterday was a hot 94 degree day. It was miserable. I hate hot weather and get very annoyed when someone jumps on my bus in this hot, humid, muggy (I am being redundant) miserable day and say: “Ain’t it a beautiful day?” No, it is not beautiful. A beautiful day for me, especially as a writer, is a nice romantic fall day (which is what this is supposed to be at the end of September) with a little crispness in the air, nicely overcast, perhaps a little sprinkling of rain being just mildly windswept. A hot, muggy, humid day with a bright sun beating down on you taking you strength and breath away is not my idea of a beautiful day. I was miserable all day and keep saying to myself, “I want this day to end, I want this day to end.” Then I wake up this morning and once again I hit the button on my air conditioner and check my IPad for the weather report and find we are getting a carbon copy of yesterday, 94 degrees, hot, muggy, humid (redundancy for emphasis) miserable day and the day has not even begun and I am wanting it to end. Not only that it is Saturday. My only reprieve is to lock myself in my air condition apartment and tune in to Netflix, after my usual three to four hour study time.

Then, what verse do I turn to for my daily study but Genesis 24:1 reminding me that each day is a gift from God and I am not to waste it. I need to accomplish something for God even on a hot, miserable 94 degree, muggy day. Even in his senior years, Abraham still counted each day as an opportunity to serve the God he loved. To waste one precious day, a gift from God, vegetating on Netflix , at least for me, is not a proper use of this gift of God.

For I read Genesis 24:1 as: “Abraham was old, but each day God gave him was special and the Lord blessed Abraham in all things.” You want God to bless you in all things? Then consider each day to be a special gift from God to accomplish something for Him.

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