Saturday, August 9, 2025

Does the Bible have anything to say about "Retirement"?

This is not going to be a deep-dive. Many of you can run circles around me in terms of Biblical knowledge. Please feel free to point out my errors.

The Bible is mostly silent on the concept of "Retirement"

The idea of hitting a certain birthday, moving to sugar-sand beaches, then playing endless rounds of golf, playing bridge, making quilts and drinking Brandy Old Fashioned and Mai Tais starting at 10:30am is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible.

Luke 

Luke 12:16-31 is a story of a man who anticipates a harvest that exceeds his ability to consume it all. He plans to tear down his small barns and build large barns to hold the huge harvest. His plan is to live the early Iron-Age equivalent of "retirement". Alas, he dies before his plans can come to fruition. 

Historically, this reading is often paired with Ecclesiastes Chapter One, "...vanity of vanities! All things are vanity! What profit have we from all the toil...One generation departs and another generation comes, but the world forever stays."

2 Thessalonians

For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. 

Psalms

Many of the Psalms were authored by David, presumably well after he slayed Goliath. Many of them are retrospective in nature. In Psalm 92 it is written;

"..Planted in the house of the LORDthey shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall bear fruit even in old agethey will stay fresh and greenTo proclaim: “The LORD is just;my rock, in whom there is no wrong.

My take on that is that we are expected, from a Biblical perspective, to be productive in our old age.

Timothy 

The books of Timothy were letters Paul wrote near the end of his life to his protégé, the very young Timothy.

From 1 Timothy, Chapter 5 "...anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." Notice that Paul does not write that this is the responsibility of the king, village or NGO. Of course this works both ways. Fathers are to provide for their young children and when those fathers are feeble and of weak-mind. Later those children are to care for their old and feeble parents.

Titus

Titus, a very short letter near the back of the Canon, has this to say about the role of senior citizens:

Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. 

Sirach

Sirach is part of the Catholic Canon but is relegated to the Apocrypha by Protestant traditions. That is, Sirach is considered Divinely inspired by the Catholics while most Protestants consider it interesting and worth reading but not Divinely inspired.

Chapter 3 is very focused on end-of-life of the family patriarch and matriarch.

Even if his mind fails, be considerate of him; do not revile him because you are in your prime. Kindness to a father will not be forgotten; it will serve as a sin offering—it will take lasting root. In time of trouble it will be recalled to your advantage, like warmth upon frost it will melt away your sins. Those who neglect their father are like blasphemers; those who provoke their mother are accursed by their Creator

That was then, this is now

Recent history

Consider "making hay" circa 1930-1980. An old-timer looked at the maturity of the grass and alfalfa and made a judgement about the next 4 day's weather. He cut the hay mid-day after the dew dried. Then he turned it over the next day so the shaded portion of the hay could dry. If necessary, he repeated the flipping over. Then he raked it into windrows. Perhaps on the third day he ran the baler to make small (40 pound) square bales that were scattered across the hayfield.

At that point the hay is very sensitive to damage from rain.

The exercise becomes an all-hands-on-deck evolution. Granny and Grandpa drive the two tractors. Teen-agers walk behind the tractor in the field and carry the bales to the slowly moving tractor. An adult stands on the wagon and stacks the bales so they don't fall (shooting for 115 bales per wagon, if I remember correctly).

Once full, the adult hops off and Granny drives the tractor+wagon to the barn where another crew unloads the wagon and a mature adults stacks the bales. 

Everybody had a role that was within their capabilities. Even Granny.

In "Union" shops, jobs were "bid on" based on seniority. Older employees with more seniority had jobs that were less physically demanding. That was another mechanism that helped align workers with jobs that were within their capability.

Current situation 

Two things happened that changed that. Automation eliminated many of the less physical jobs like turning a thermostat dial on a heat-treat oven or charging batteries for fork-trucks. Decades of Equal Employment Opportunity litigation resulted in jobs being re-designed to accommodate 5% women but then job-rotation was mandated so everybody got their share of the dirty-end-of-the-stick jobs.

Mandated benefits like health insurance increased the fixed-cost portion of full time employees. That resulted in many jobs being rescheduled as multiple part-time employees (which is senior friendly) but the full-time jobs became 50 hour-a-week jobs to amortize the fix-costs. Since many of the full-time jobs were knowledge based or supervision jobs, that impacted the older workers who wanted to taper their work lives down.

Still contributing

Many grandparents provide day-care to their grandchildren.

We provide rides and collect kids when they get sick at school or summer camp.

One woman I know drove neighbors to the airport and back. She also rented out "parking spots" on her property while snowbirds were migrating. 

We volunteer.

We provide training when asked. I am 99% sure that fellow bloggers like Old NFO, True Blue and Pawpaw are still teaching young people shooting skills while Mostly Cajun teaches electricians about Arc Flash and Lockout. Many older people are reading-buddies for students learning to read.

Some of us have an extra or less-used vehicle that we loan to others when their vehicle is in the shop. 

I dink around with property and increase its ability to produce food and forest products.

7 comments:

  1. Fairy tales and morality plays................

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    1. I will very cheerfully post your 400 word essay where you outline a more flexible, humane and rational model of what "retirement" should be like. Rational and humane from both the standpoints of society and the person "retiring".

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    2. Nice turn of phrase Joe.

      And I shall happily read Richie P's essay.

      The bible speaks much about the role of the extended family as well as respecting both the youth (fathers do not exasperate your children as well as caring for seniors as respect to them and to God who made you both.

      Loss of as Richie says Fairy Tales and Morality Plays IS why we are in such a moral free ME FIRST F you situation across America and the rest of the world.

      Thou shalt not commit murder is why so many wastes of skin are still stealing air from the rest of us.

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    3. Ritchie dismisses the excellent blueprint for life that the Bible lays out.

      It's okay if he doesn't believe in God.
      God believes in him.

      But dumping on a person who does believe and lives his life following those teachings is a dick move and he should be ashamed.

      Thanks for sharing your faith. Joe.

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    4. Shame assumes that the person has morals that require shame when they are wrong.

      Cannot be wrong is Everything is Relative, you know.

      That's why America's in the toilet. No Black Church Ladies keeping the Black Family together and so on.

      Visit almost any Blue City beyond the tourist section for details. Not recommended after dark.

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  2. ERJ, I think the expectation - as you so ably point out - to be productive. That can be in a variety of ways which change over time. Scripture acknowledges we age and lose physical abilities, but allows for different ways of contribution.

    The only thing I thing is Scripturally disallowed is a life solely dedicated to pleasure - but that is presented as always wrong, not just in "retirement".

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  3. "In "Union" shops, jobs were "bid on" based on seniority. Older employees with more seniority had jobs that were less physically demanding." IMHO, they pick jobs that pay the most. When I worked in the open hearth the folks who were running furnace were called 1st helpers. They received the highest pay rate as well as incentive based on production. Most were all old gray haired boney gentleman who never left that position till they keeled over. It was a cause of friction because there were only 27 of those positions in a membership of almost 7000. Many had worked 40+years.

    As for retirement, I would truly love to live a decadent life for at least a week. Sitting on a dock, fishing and reading a book would work. I have been voluntold for a number of projects as well as my unrequested second career as my wife's healthcare aid, PT tech, wound care and infectious disease nurse. So much for the Golden Years.

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