The example of the eighty-year-old Barzillai gives us clues of how to have happy, fruitful golden years. The way he cared for King David when he fled from Jerusalem is a beautiful example of one approaching the time of departure from this world and yet faithfully attentive to the earthly cares of others. Those who know the Lord Jesus as Saviour can look for His imminent return to take all living believers home without dying, while facing the challenge of how to finish the race well, as our minds, bodies and souls wear out. “Indeed we who are in the tabernacle groan, being burdened; while yet we do not wish to be unclothed, but clothed, that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now he that has wrought us for this very thing is God, who also has given to us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, and know that while present in the body we are absent from the Lord, (for we walk by faith, not by sight); we are confident, I say, and pleased rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. Wherefore also we are zealous, whether present or absent, to be agreeable to Him” (2 Cor. 5:4-9 JND).
Kindness to David
Three special people brought provisions and showed kindness to David when he fled from Jerusalem at the uprising of Absalom (2 Sam. 17:27-29), but of the three only Barzillai is mentioned as following through with the care of David and his family until they were back over Jordan on their way to Jerusalem. “Barzillai was a very aged man, even fourscore years old: and he had provided the king of sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim; for he was a very great man” (2 Sam. 19:32). How touching to see him following through to the end, though he was a very aged man. Being old himself, he was well aware of how hard it was for David to be deprived of his daily needs, so he went all the way from Rogelim to the Jordan along with the king. In response to this kindness, David desired that Barzillai go on to Jerusalem to be with him and that he might feed him there. No doubt a kinship had formed between them during this time, but Barzillai realized he was too old to accept the offer.
David’s Kindness
How could Barzillai graciously decline David’s invitation to be with him? Barzillai proposes to send Chimham, who was likely his son; he would be sent to take his place as a servant to be with David. Along with this suggestion, Barzillai adds these words: “Do to him what shall seem good unto thee.” To this David responded by saying, “Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do to him that which shall seem good to thee.” They completely trusted each other, and in regards to doing good to one another, each regarded the other better than himself. It is a remarkable example of serving one another in love. In the course of this conversation David speaks last; his words were, “Whatsoever thou shalt require of me, that will I do for thee.” It seems to reflect the thought that in this life he would always be indebted to Barzillai. I would like to think that David’s Son, the Lord Jesus, will make it up and give Barzillai a place near Himself in the coming kingdom.
Three Handicaps of Old Age
Let us notice from their conversation the reasons Barzillai gives for his not being able to go with the king, for it shows how he handled the limitations he had due to his age. “Barzillai said unto the king, How long have I to live, that I should go up with the king unto Jerusalem? I am this day fourscore years old: and can I discern between good and evil? can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? can I hear anymore the voice of singing men and singing women? wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king?” (2 Sam. 19:34-35). Like the great woman of Shunem, he was content with the Lord’s provision and did not wish for better conditions from the king. Yes, “godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Tim. 6:6). One marvels at how solicitous he was to help the king’s household with provisions, while at the same time ready on his own part to leave those mercies behind. In saying, “How long have I to live,” he showed no craving to make his life last longer; he appeared ready to leave those things behind. He is much like Paul who knew much more of what the future life was like and who, when faced with the issue of staying or leaving, said, “If to live in flesh is my lot, this is for me worth the while: and what I shall choose I cannot tell. But I am pressed by both, having the desire for departure and being with Christ, for it is very much better, but remaining in the flesh is more necessary for your sakes; but if to live in flesh is my lot, this is for me worth the while: and what I shall choose I cannot tell. But I am pressed by both, having the desire for departure and being with Christ, for it is very much better, but remaining in the flesh is more necessary for your sakes” (Phil. 1:22-24 JND).
The Loss of Discernment
The reasons Barzillai gave for declining to go with David have to do with the limitations of his mind, body and soul. He said to David, “Can I discern between good and evil.” This has to do with the mind; he lacked good discernment. If he went with David, he would have to make new choices which would be difficult for him. Solomon wrote of this difficulty concerning old age in Ecclesiastes 12:5: “The grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home.” As we grow old, little things become a challenge, and it is difficult to discern what is good and what is not; as the mind fails, we become dependent on others. It would not be good for Barzillai to go with David.
As believers in the Lord Jesus, we too may be faced with declining mental alertness, but we have reason not to faint, for “though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:16-18).
Food for the Body
Barzillai continues with a second reason: “Can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink?” His body was no longer capable of appreciating good food and drink, and yet he had been so diligent in providing these things for David and his family in their need. His own incapacity to enjoy such things did not hinder him from providing the same for those who were able to enjoy it. An aged servant of the Lord wrote the following concerning service while waiting for the Lord to take him home:
“When we have settled we are going home, we have to wait here till He calls. He may keep us for service if He does not take us to rest. ... We are His, not our own, and it is a privilege to serve, if better to be gone. I find it a good thing to think of going, and feel my life depends on Him — not simply on age.”
Song for the Soul
The third inability Barzillai spoke of involved his soul — the enjoyment of singing. “Can I hear anymore the voice of singing men and singing women? wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king?” This likely refers not only to his inability to enjoy singing for the good of his own soul, but also to his diminished capacity to give expression to his joy in a suitable way before the king, for he added that he did not want to be a burden to his lord the king. What a heart-warming example of one sacrificing his soul for the good of his lord!
We see this same self-sacrificing attitude in Paul when he said, “Holding forth the word of life, so as to be a boast for me in Christ’s day, that I have not run in vain nor labored in vain. But if also I am poured out as a libation on the sacrifice and ministration of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice in common with you all. In like manner do ye also rejoice, and rejoice with me” (Phil. 2:16-18 JND). And farther down in the same book Paul reminds us of how we will receive new bodies, so that our minds and souls may enjoy life with Him in heaven. “We await the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, who shall transform our body of humiliation into conformity to His body of glory, according to the working of the power which He has even to subdue all things to Himself” (Phil. 3:20-21 JND).
The “Olden Years”
In the year 2012 we live close to the time when the Lord will gather His wheat harvest to heaven (Matt. 13:30). The fulfillment of His promise is near: “I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:3). The wheat harvest is different from that of the vine and figs, in that as wheat ripens, it turns golden in color and the plant dies. Fig trees and grape vines do not die when they bear fruit, and thus it will be in the time of millennial blessing on earth; men will live long while bearing fruit. God has chosen us for heavenly blessing, and as wheat dies when it bears fruit, so Christ the grain of wheat died, rose again and ascended into heaven, opening it up for us as our home. Let us look up, “for the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:16-17). The time of harvest is near; may there be much fruit for the Lord. “Thus shall the entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ be richly furnished unto you” (2 Peter 1:11 JND).
Barzillai faced the issues in his old age in the right way, so as to turn his “olden years” into “golden years.” Let us do the same (for we face similar experiences), that when the temporal things fail, we “may be received into the eternal tabernacles” (Luke 16:9 JND). “As [were] all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding” (1 Chron. 29:15). “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. ... So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” (Psa. 90:10,12).
D. C. Buchanan