Ezra 3:12,13
“Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, because the people were shouting with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away.”
The different reactions are interesting. The older ones who rememberered the original temple wept, while the younger ones who were born in captivity rejoiced. Both were good responses. Solomon’s temple apparently was far more glorious than the present one.
The older one’s remembered being taken captive to Babylon. The reason for this was their sin and rebellion against God. All this is reason for weeping. All of their memories are important to share. This is the importance of listening to those who lived through those times. No doubt their being taken captive was frightening. Times like these prompt the response “Never Forget”.
In our present culture, most of the young don’t respect the elders. Quite the contrary, the see them as irrelevant and worse, the reason for past transgressions. Almost as if they celebrate their disrespect. These attitudes would cause them to repeat the past as they refuse to learn from it. They aren’t looking at the past accurately as they’ve been taught history from a biased perspective.
Our history is one of a judaeo/christian one. However, the bias of the past 50 years has been against it. They blame much of the ills of American history as being harmed by the christian influence.
What they don’t see is how christianity fueled the abolitionists. Our whole system of justice is based on the Ten Commandments. The ethic of hard work and the wealth generated comes from the diligence taught in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. The young don’t see this. They are blind to the wisdom of the aged.
Proverbs 29:20 says, “The glory of young men is their strength, and gray hair is the splendor of the old.” The gray hair represented wisdom. Many of today’s young don’t see that.
The young do bring much to the table. Their fluency with technology is amazing. The old have an aversion to technology.
Lord, thank You, for Your Word which gives us Your wisdom. Help us to learn from one another.