Retirement… It’s a biblical concept, but I wonder if we haven’t distorted it.
After the tribes of Hebrew people left Egypt, and while they were traveling thru to the land that God intended to give them, there was a portable structure called the Tabernacle that served as the place to meet with God.
When the people moved, the Tabernacle was disassembled and moved with them, the structure itself and all the furniture and furnishings that served various purposes in the worship conducted there.
When the people stopped again and made camp, the Tabernacle was reassembled and readied again for worship and meeting with God.
One of the tribes of people, the Levi people, were designated to take care of everything concerning God’s Tabernacle and were also to conduct the worship activities.
If you were a Levite man, at the age of 25 you began to train for your work as a priest. At 30, you began to serve. (“Count all the men from thirty to fifty years of age who come to serve in the work in the Tent of Meeting.” Numbers 4:3)
At the age of 50, you retired.
“The LORD said to Moses, "This applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five years old or more shall come to take part in the work at the Tent of Meeting, but at the age of fifty, they must retire from their regular service and work no longer. They may assist their brothers in performing their duties at the Tent of Meeting, but they themselves must not do the work….”(Numbers 8:23-26)
The difference in their retirement and what we think of as retirement if huge. The 50 year old Levite priest retired only from taking down the structure and from the physical parts of the worship rituals.
They didn’t ‘retire’ and go back to the tent and sit in the recliner.
Their retirement was becoming a supervisor instead of a laborer.
Their retirement relieved them early from physical stress on an aging body. It allowed the older men to advise and counsel the upcoming workforce by on-the-job mentoring.
Retirement in our culture sounds like a great thing.
But I really doubt anyone enjoys not being useful to some body, some way, some how.
Maybe so, maybe no…. don’t know if I’ll ever find out !!!
