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Old
A fine description of the decrepitude of old age is contained in Ecc 12:5 sq., The ancient Hebrews, in obedience to a natural feeling, and because of their superior moral discipline, entertained the highest regard for the aged (Job 12:12; Job 15:10); and this sentiment still prevails throughout the East (Rosenmller, Morgenland, 2:208 sq.; Descript. de Egypte,. 18:174 sq.), as it did among all ancient nations (Homer, I. 23:788; Isocr. A rop. p. 354,355; Diog. Laert. 1:3, 2; 8:1, 19; Herod. 2:80; Juvenal, Sat. 13:54; Aul. Gell. 2:15; Strabo, 11:503; Justin, 3:3, 9; Doughteei Analect. 1:84; see C. Kretzschmar, De Senectute Priscis Ionorata [Dresd. 1784]), although in Europe, as the power of.education has increased, and the circumstances of life have become more complicated. the honor given to age has decreased. (But comp. Ebert, Ueberliefer, 2:1, p. 90 sq.) The young were accustomed to rise and give place modestly, whenever an old person approached (Lev 19:32; AElian, Anim. 6:61. Herod. ut sup.; comp. also Job 29:8; Otho, Lex. Rabbin. p. 686). Want of reverence for the aged was severely rebuked (Deu 28:50; Lam 5:12; Wis 2:10), and moralists often inculcated peculiar, obligations to the old (Pro 23:22; Sir 3:13; Sir 6:35; Sir 8:7; Sir 32:13). The Essenes were especially zealous in their regard for the old (Philo, Opp. 2:459, 633). The salutation father was frequently addressed to aged men among the Hebrews, as also among the Greeks and Romans (comp. Heindorf, On Horat. Sat. 2:1, 12); but it appears in the Bible rather as an expression of respect, or as applied to holy men (2Ki 6:21; 2Ki 13:14). From the earliest times the Hebrews chose their officers and judges from the old men of the nation. While yet in Egypt they had elders to represent the people (Exo 3:16; Exo 4:29; Exo 12:21; comp. Exo 17:5; Exo 18:12), and Moses himself appointed a college of seventy elders (Num 6:16; but comp. Exo 24:1; Exo 24:9) to aid him in ruling. From this time the Israelites always had elders, sometimes of the whole nation (Jos 7:6; Jos 23:2; 1Sa 4:3; 1Sa 8:4; 2Sa 3:17; 2Sa 5:3; 2Sa 17:4; 1Ki 8:1; 1Ki 8:3; Jer 19:1; Jer 29:1), sometimes of single tribes (Deu 31:28; 2Sa 19:11; 2Ch 34:29), who however were distinct from the princes and officers of tribes and provinces (Deu 29:10; Jdg 11:5), and sometimes only of cities (Deu 19:12; Deu 21:3; Deu 21:6; Deu 22:15; 1Sa 11:3; 1Sa 16:4; 1Ki 21:8; 1Ki 21:11; Ezr 10:14; 2Ma 14:37; comp. Jdg 8:14). In the ceremonial order of sacrifice, also, they were representatives of the people for certain purposes (Lev 4:15; Lev 9:1).
The elders of the city formed a council, with judicial and police authority (Deu 22:15 sq.; Deu 25:7 sq.; Rth 4:2 sq.; Jdt 10:7), which held its sessions at the gates (Job 29:7). Yet other judges .are sometimes mentioned (Ezr 10:14; comp. Susan. 5; and SEE JUDGE ). The elders of the people and of the tribes were the constitutional representatives of the people under the kings (1Ki 8:1; 1Ki 20:7; 2 Kings 28:1). They still retained their functions during the Captivity (Eze 14:1; Eze 20:7), and after the restoration to Palestine were the medium of communication between the people and their foreign rulers (Ezr 5:9; Ezr 6:7), and even until the time of the Maccabees were a tribunal of general resort in the internal affairs of the nation (Ezr 6:14; Ezr 10:8; 1Ma 12:6; 1Ma 12:35; 1Ma 13:36; 1Ma 14:9). It does not appear, however, that the elders were always in reality the oldest men; superior ability and personal influence were qualifications for this position, even apart from advanced age, so that gradually the word elder ( zaken) passed into a mere title, belonging of course to the office (comp. Philo, Opp. 1:393), just as the word in the Grecian states (as in Sparta, Wachsmuth, Hel. Alt. 1:463), senator in Rome, and elder in the Protestant churches (comp. Gesen. Thesaur. p. 427 sq.). In the New Testament the elders of the people (Mat 26:47; Luk 7:3; called the senate of the children of Israel [ ], Act 5:21) usually appear as composing, in connection with the high-priests and scribes. the Jewish Sanhedrim (Mat 26:3; Mat 26:47; Mat 27:1 sq.; Mar 14:43; Mar 15:1; Luk 22:66; Act 4:5; Act 5:21). SEE SANHEDRIM. After the model of the Jewish synagogue, at the head of which stood the elders, the apostles appointed elders also in the several churches (called the presbytery, 1Ti 4:14; see Act 11:30; Act 14:23; Act 15:2 sq.; Act 16:4). SEE AGE; SEE ELDERS; SEE PRESBYTERY.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Old
old. See AGE, OLD.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Old
archaios (G744) Old
palaios (G3820)
It would be a mistake to attempt to distinguish archaios and palaios on the basis of which term expresses the greatest antiquity, since sometimes this is expressed by one word and then the other. Archaios refers to that which was from the beginning. If we accept this as the first beginning of all, it must be older than a person or a thing that is merely palaioshaving existed a long time ago. But since there may be later beginnings, it is quite possible to view the palaios as older than the archaios. Donaldson wrote:
As the word archaeology is already appropriated to the discussion of those subjects of which the antiquity is only comparative, it would be consistent with the usual distinction between archaios and palaios to give the name of palaeology to those sciences which aim at reproducing an absolutely primeval state or condition.
I fail to trace such a strong or constant sense of a more primeval state or condition in the uses of palaios as Donaldson’s statement implies. Thus compare Thucydides, 2.15: “This has happened from the very ancient [archaiou] of time,” from the prehistoric time of Cecrops, with 1.18: “Sparta was well governed from very ancient [palaitatou] time,” from very early times but still within the historic period. Here the words are used in exactly the opposite sense.
It is not always possible to determine the difference between archaios and palaios. Often these words are used together as merely cumulative synonyms or with no greater antiquity predicated by one than by the other. Etymologically the words are often used indifferentlythat which was from the beginning is generally from a long time ago, and that which was from a long time ago often will be from the beginning. Thus the archaia phone (G5456) of one passage in Plato is exactly equivalent to the palaia phone of another. The archaioi theoi (G2316) of one passage in the Euthyphro are the palaia daimonia (G1140) of another. Hoi palaioi and hoi archaioi both refer to the ancients.There cannot be much difference between palaioi chronoi and archaiai hemerai.
But whenever the emphasis is on going back to a beginning (whatever that beginning may be), archaios is the preferred term. Thus archaia and prota (G4413) are used together in Isa 33:18. Satan is the “serpent of old” (Rev 12:9; Rev 20:2), since his malignant work against God reaches back to the earliest epoch in human history. The world before the flood (which was from the first) is ho archaios kosmos. Mnason was archaios mathetes (G3101; Act 21:16), “an old disciple,” not in the sense that English readers almost inevitably take the words”an aged disciple”but one who had been a disciple from the commencement of the faith, from the day of Pentecost or before it. Although he probably was advanced in years, this is not the emphasis here. The original founders of the Jewish commonwealth, who gave the law with authority, are hoi archaioi. Pistis (G4102) archaia is the faith that was from the beginning, “once delivered to the saints.” In a passage where both words occur, Plato traced the language’s finer distinctions in a way that determined the respective uses of these words. In a passage in Sophocles, Deianira speaks of the poisoned shirt, her gift from Nessus, in this way: “I had a gift, given long ago [palaion] by a monster of olden time [archaiou] hidden in an urn of bronze.”
Archaios often designates something that is both ancient and venerable, something that is honorable because of its antiquity, just as its opposite modern is always used disparagingly by Shakespeare. This is the point where the meaning of archaios and palaios diverge. These words do not share secondary meanings; each has its own proper domain. I noted that the honor of antiquity is sometimes expressed by archaios, though palaios also may have this meaning. But that which is ancient also is old-fashioned, ill-adapted to the present, part of a world that has passed away. Archaios often has this additional sense of old-world fashion and refers to something that not only is antique but that also is antiquated and out-of-date. This can be seen even more strongly in archaiotes, which only has this meaning.
Although the meaning of archaios moves in that direction, the meaning of palaios diverges in another. What has existed for a long time has been exposed to, and perhaps suffered from, the wrongs and injuries of time. Only palaios means old in the sense of more or less worn out. Thus we have “an old [palaion] garment” (Mat 9:16), “old [palaioi] wineskins” (Mat 9:17), “old [palaioi] wineskins torn and mended” (Jos 9:4), and “old [palaia] rags (Jer 38:11). Although hoi archaioi could never be used to refer to the old men of a living generation as compared with that generation’s young men, this is always the meaning of hoi palaioi. Thus we read of “young and old [palaios)” and of “aged and old [palaioi].” This is also true of words formed on palaios, as in Heb 8:13 : “Now what is becoming obsolete [palaioumenon] and growing old is ready to vanish away.” Plato used palaiotes (G3821) and saprotes (cf. G4550) together. Whenever palaios means that which is worn out or wearing out by age, it requires kainos (G2537) as its opposite. When it does not denote something that is worn out, there is nothing to prevent neos (G3501) from being used as its opposite. Kainos also may be contrasted with archaios.
Fuente: Synonyms of the New Testament
Old
“original, ancient” (from arche, “a beginning:” Eng., “archaic,” “archaeology,” etc.), is used (a) of persons belonging to a former age, “(to) them of old time,” Mat 5:21, Mat 5:33, RV; in some mss. Mat 5:27; the RV rendering is right; not ancient teachers are in view; what was said to them of old time was “to be both recognized in its significance and estimated in its temporary limitations, Christ intending His words to be regarded not as an abrogation, but a deepening and fulfilling” (Cremer); of prophets, Luk 9:8, Luk 9:19; (b) of time long gone by, Act 15:21; (c) of days gone by in a person’s experience, Act 15:7, “a good while ago,” lit., “from old (days),” i.e., from the first days onward in the sense of originality, not age; (d) of Mnason, “an early disciple,” Act 21:16, RV, not referring to age, but to his being one of the first who had accepted the Gospel from the beginning of its proclamation; (e) of things which are “old” in relation to the new, earlier things in contrast to things present, 2Co 5:17, i.e., of what characterized and conditioned the time previous to conversion in a believer’s experience, RV, “they are become new,” i.e., they have taken on a new complexion and are viewed in an entirely different way; (f) of the world (i.e., the inhabitants of the world) just previous to the Flood, 2Pe 2:5; (g) of the Devil, as “that old serpent,” Rev 12:9; Rev 20:2, “old,” not in age, but as characterized for a long period by the evils indicated.
Note: For the difference between this and No. 2, see below.
akin to C, No. 1 (Eng., “paleontology,” etc.), “of what is of long duration, old in years,” etc., a garment, wine (in contrast to neos; see NEW), Mat 9:16-17; Mar 2:21-22 (twice); Luk 5:36-37, Luk 5:39 (twice); of the treasures of Divine truth, Mat 13:52 (compared with kainos: see NEW); of what belongs to the past, e.g., the believer’s former self before his conversion, his “old man,” “old” because it has been superseded by that which is new, Rom 6:6; Eph 4:22 (in contrast to kainos); Col 3:9 (in contrast to neos); of the covenant in connection with the Law, 2Co 3:14; of leaven, metaphorical of moral evil, 1Co 5:7-8 (in contrast to neos); of that which was given long ago and remains in force, an “old” commandment, 1Jo 2:7 (twice), that which was familiar and well known in contrast to that which is fresh (kainos).
Note: Palaios denotes “old,” without the reference to beginning and origin contained in archaios” (Abbott-Smith), a distinction observed in the papyri (Moulton and Milligan). While sometimes any difference seems almost indistinguishable, yet “it is evident that wherever an emphasis is desired to be laid on the reaching back to a beginning, whatever that beginning may be, archaios will be preferred (e.g., of Satan, Rev 12:9; Rev 20:2, see No. 1). That which … is old in the sense of more or less worn out … is always palaios” (Trench).
“olde, elder,” is used in the plural, as a noun, in Act 2:17, “old men.” See ELDER.
denotes “an old man” (from the same root comes Eng., “gray”), Joh 3:4.
“an old man,” Luk 1:18, is translated “aged” in Tit 2:2; Phm 1:9 (for this, however, see the RV marg.). See AGED.
“old age,” occurs in Luk 1:36.
Note: Augustine (quoted by Trench, cvii, 2) speaks of the distinction observed among Greeks, that presbutes conveys the suggestion of gravity.
denotes “long ago, of old,” Heb 1:1, RV, “of old time” (AV, “in time past”); in Jud 1:4, “of old;” it is used as an adjective in 2Pe 1:9, “(his) old (sins),” lit., “his sins of old.” See WHILE.
“from of old, for a long time” (ek, “from,” and No. 1), occurs in 2Pe 2:3, RV, “from of old” (AV, “of a long time”); 2Pe 3:5. See LONG, B, Note (2).
Note: In 1Pe 3:5, AV, the particle pote, “once, formerly, ever, sometime,” is translated “in the old time” (RV, “aforetime”); in 2Pe 1:21, “in old time” (RV, “ever”), AV marg., “at any time.”
akin to A, No. 2, denotes, in the Active Voice, “to make or declare old,” Heb 8:13 (1st part); in the Passive Voice, “to become old,” of things worn out by time and use, Luk 12:33; Heb 1:11, “shall wax old,” lit., “shall be made old,” i.e., worn out; in Heb 8:13 (2nd part), RV, “is becoming old” (AV “decayeth”); here and in the 1st part of the verse, the verb may have the meaning “to abrogate;” for the next verb in the verse, see No. 2.
from geras, “old age” (akin to B, No. 1), “to grow old,” is translated “thou shalt be old,” in Joh 21:18; “waxeth aged,” Heb 8:13, RV (AV, “waxeth old”).
Notes: (1) In Joh 8:57, echo, “to have,” is used with “fifty years” as the object, signifying, “Thou art (not yet fifty years) old,” lit., “Thou hast not yet fifty years.” (2) In Mar 5:42, RV, the verb eimi, “to be,” with the phrase “of twelve years” is translated “was … old” (AV, “was of the age of”).