III.
Hokma Wisdom
A.
Torah
Law (Genesis – Deuteronomy)
B.
History
(Joshua - Esther)
C.
Writings.
Poetry (Job – Song of Songs) – Wisdom Literature.
D.
Prophets
1.
Reading:
Mitch Album. “Tuesdays with Mitch: Criticizing the old isn’t cute,
it’s an insulting and growing trend.” Mature Focus. October 2023, pp. 6,
11, 15.
But amassing followers is one thing.
Giving them substance s another. Jesus had many followers, too. He didn’t get
them by twerking.
The danger of a society that always wants
to look younger, act younger, talk younger and dance younger is that the wisdom
of the aged is dismissed as archaic, the creativity of the aged is dismissed as
uncool, and the contributions of the aged are ignored – or worse, resented.
In the “gerontocracy sucks” model, the old
should get out of the way. The young know better. This argument was probably
birthed when wisdom stopped being about human nature and started being about
iPhone apps.
Gerontocracy - society governed by old
people – has been the norm in Eastern cultures for centuries. The Chinese and
Japanese have long revered the aged. Meanwhile, on this continent, Native
Americans cherished their elders as sources of wisdom and decision making. The
idea of mocking them to their faces would have been unthinkable.
In the end this is about values. If we
cherished our elders not for the cookies they bake but for the perspective they
offer, we’d learn better. If we valued them not for the money they might leave
us down the road but for the advice they can give us today, we’d be smarter.
More importantly, if we revered the old
for what they’ve endured, the sacrifices they’ve made, and the years they’ve
spend contributing, we’d be less freaked out about aging ourselves.
Paul Simon, who is still releasing music
in his 80s, wrote a song once called “Old.” In it he wrote:
The human race has walked earth for 2.7
million,
And we estimate the universe at 13-14
billion,
When all these numbers tumble into your
imagination,
Consider that the Lord was there before creation,
God is old,
We’re not old,
God is old.
So, You want to
greet the Almighty as “get off my lawn guy”?
Good luck with that.
Scriptures: Prophets
a. Isaiah 11:1-9 (2)
b.
Isaiah
33:5,6 (6)
c. 
Jeremiah 9: 23,24 (23)
d.
Jeremiah
51:15-19 (15)
e. Ezekiel 28:11-18 (12, 18) – King
of Tyre, Satan…
f. Daniel 1:17-20 (17,20)