LIFE EXPECTANCY-THEN AND NOW.

 Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D

I (82) live at the Willows, a residential complex for older active adults, in Westborough, MA, outside of Boston. Most of the people here are in their mid-eighties and nineties. We have a few who are even 95+! And still active. So, I am among the younger ones! I was wondering who was considered “old” in ancient times? I did some research and this is what I found.

In the Hebrew Bible, we find three basic terms for an old person: zaken (from zakan, meaning “beard”), seva, and yashish (only in the Book of Job. Some scholars suggest that this term may have been a contraction of yesh shishim, namely “there is sixty”). We also have the Aramaic term kashish in many rabbinic texts. An old person is described in the Bible as someone who has reached “full of days,” or was “sated with days” or is “advanced in years.”

In the past, old age is often identified with wisdom, deserving respect: Says Job: “Wisdom is with the aged.” According to Prov. 16:31, “gray hair is a crown of glory.” Lev.19:32 urges people “to stand up before the gray head.” We are told that king Rehoboam “took counsel from the old men.” (I K 12:6).

I presume that, in ancient times, because of limited medical knowledge, life expectancy was much lower. In the Hebrew Bible, we need to discount the extravagant and mythical numbers attributed to some early heroes: There is no way  Methuselah actually lived 969 years (Gen. 5:27), or that Adam lived to be 930  (Gen.5:5) or that Seth made it to 912 years (Gen.5:8). I don’t even believe that Abraham lived 175 years (Gen.25:7) or that Moses died at the age of 120 (Deut. 31:2). These are all exaggerations. Ancient Egyptians considered 110 as the ideal age limit (ANET, p.414). In Judaism, it is 120 (Gen.6:3), like Moses.

We are dealing with more realistic numbers when we read in the Bible that Barzillai, the Gileadite, was considered “old” at the age of 80 (2 Sam. 19:34-36).   King David died at the age of 70, “in good old age” (be seva tovah) (2 Sam.5:4; I Chr. 29:28). King Jehoshaphat died at the age of 60 (I K 22: 41-42), King Hezekiah at 54 (2 k 18:2), King Jehoash at 47 (2 K 12: 1-2) and King Ahaz at 36 (2 K 16:1).

According to the Book of Psalms, the span of life for a human being is 70 years (90:10). The Book of Numbers tells us that Aaron, the priest, had to retire at the age of 50 because he was not fit for heavy work at the Temple (8:25). In the early rabbinic literature, in the Tractate Avot, we find a list for the human life span: At the age of 60, it says, one reaches the stage of ziknah (old age), and at the age of 70, one reaches the level of seva (old age) (5:25). According to the Talmud, “one who dies at the age of 70, has died as an old person” (MK 28:10).  So, pretty much, 70 marked the end for many people. Not so, today! Many people are now living much longer.

What was the average life span in biblical times? According to the Anchor Bible Dictionary, it was 44! (5:11). I checked online and learned that in modern times life expectancy in the USA is now about 77 ; and 72 in the world.

Medical advances have obviously extended the years we spend on this earth. The question is whether we are making the best of what is allotted to us? Shouldn’t we then give gratitude for the blessings that are ours at the present time?