Respect your elders, but…

I said, 'Age should speak, And multitude of years should teach wisdom.' But. .. Great men are not always wise, Nor do the aged always understand justice. – Job 32v7-9

We have yet to hear from Job’s friend Elihu. Though he was there all along Elihu had not spoken because he was a young men and he knew the importance of showing proper respect to his elders. ‘Respect your elders’ is not just a trite convenient saying for old people to use the keep young whippersnappers in line. It is a principle of scripture that runs throughout the word of God.

So far he had listened to the other friends accuse Job of sin and say that God was punishing him for it. He had listened to Job defend himself and tell every how righteous he was.

Finally he realised that he had to say something. He told the men that he had kept quiet because he was young. He is going to address the issue, but first I think we need to pay attention to what he said in the passage recorded above.

‘Age should teach wisdom,’ he said, ‘but great men are not always wise and aged men do not always understand justice.’

In other words, age is no guarantee of wisdom.

There are a couple of lessons here. First, those of us who are getting on in years need to realise that our age does not give us a free ride or an assurance that we are always right. Our years of experience are no replacement for the truths of God’s word.

For the younger there is also a lesson. Respect your elders. Be very careful of making accusations against them. But keep your Bible close to hand no matter who is speaking.