Language Studies

Hebrew Thoughts

zâqên - זָקֵן (Strong's #2204)
To be old

The word זָקֵן zâqên (Strong's #2204, x27) may be a primitive root verb of itself, though some regard it as being a derivative of the noun זָקָן zâqân "bearded chin" (Strong's #2206), rather than vice-versa. In Arabic daqan means "chin" and duqûn "beard", as does the ancient Ugaritic d-q-n.

At its simplest this verb may just mean the stage of life that logically follows youth, or perhaps even puberty, the age at which one could grow a beard, as the Psalmist says, "I have been young, and now am old" (Psalm 37:25). A full beard, however, was often the mark of an older man, and several passages tie up the phrase "advanced in years" (in the Hebrew, literally "coming of days") or "full of days" with being זָקֵן zâqên: Genesis 24:1; Joshua 13:1; 1 Kings 1:1; 1 Chronicles 23:1. Indeed, the word for the elders of a community, not just an office but a position of respect accorded those with age and wisdom to their account, is the similarly spelled זָקֵן zâqên "elder" (Strong's #2205).

Six of the verb's 27 uses are to be found in Genesis of Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac. In the familiar passage (Genesis 18:12) concerning Sarah's laughing incredulity that she would bear a child and know עֶדְנָה ‘edhenâh "pleasure" (Strong's #5730) she described Abraham as זָקֵן zâqên "old", implying that he was "past it" and herself as בָּלָה bâlâh "worn out" (Strong's #1086). In the very next verse (Genesis 18:13) God reports this back to Abraham, dropping the reference to Sarah being "worn out", and just refers to her as the "aged one", since despite her at 90 being a decade younger than Abraham, she was past childbearing whereas Hollywood actors and aged Haitians have fathered children into their late 70s and beyond.

Whilst old age does not inherently imply frailty and reduced virility (hence the popularity of viagra), these are nonetheless associated with the elderly. It is not certain then that Sarah had in her mind's eye the image of a dried up old man that Job compares to an old tree stump using זָקֵן zâqên. Job 14:1-14 says of man that when he dies he dies, in this life at least, but that a tree grown old or even cut down may yet live at the first scent of water and bud forth again, "Though its root may age in the earth, And its stump may die in the dust, yet at the scent of water it will bud..." (Job 14:8-9).

Whatever Sarah's thoughts whilst she too was זָקֵן zâqên Proverbs reminds us that we should still respect her, "do not despise your mother when she is old" (23:22). Indeed, if she carried out the similar instruction in Proverbs 22:6 to "train up a child in the way he should go" then, properly taught, "when he is old he will not depart from it", and show her the care due.

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