Ancient aging
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| Do you know what's wrong with this depiction of Avraham Avinu? |
If you pay attention to the ages of the people recounted in Bereishis, they started out living to ages approaching 1000 years, then went down to around half that and then got shorter. At what point do you think these people who lived for multiple centuries started to look old? According to the Midrash, they never did.
Bereshit Rabbah 65
אָמַר רַבִּי יְהוּדָה בַּר סִימוֹן אַבְרָהָם תָּבַע זִקְנָה, אָמַר לְפָנָיו רִבּוֹן הָעוֹלָמִים אָדָם וּבְנוֹ נִכְנָסִין לְמָקוֹם וְאֵין אָדָם יוֹדֵעַ לְמִי מְכַבֵּד, מִתּוֹךְ שֶׁאַתָּה מְעַטְּרוֹ בְּזִקְנָה אָדָם יוֹדֵעַ לְמִי מְכַבֵּד. אָמַר לוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא חַיֶּיךָ דָּבָר טוֹב תָּבַעְתָּ וּמִמְּךָ הוּא מַתְחִיל. מִתְּחִלַּת הַסֵּפֶר וְעַד כָּאן אֵין כְּתִיב זִקְנָה, וְכֵיוָן שֶׁעָמַד אַבְרָהָם נָתַן לוֹ זִקְנָה, (בראשית כד, א): וְאַבְרָהָם זָקֵן בָּא בַּיָּמִים.
Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon said: Abraham demanded aging. He said before Him: ‘Master of the universe, a man and his son enter a place, and no one knows which of them to honor. Because you adorn him with aging, a person knows whom to honor.’ The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘As you live, you have demanded a good thing, and it will begin with you.’ From the beginning of the book until that point, aging is not written. When Abraham stood, He granted him aging – “Abraham was old” (Genesis 24:1).
That means Avraham only asked for this after Yitzchak was born. Consequently, all the depictions of Avraham as an old man (to match how someone 75+ would look today) to illustrate Parshas Lech Lecha are off. He would only have shown such signs of age after he was 100, and more likely after he was 120 or more.
(One wonders if a woman would have asked for this given how many billions the "anti-aging" industry of cosmetics, dyes, and plastic surgery is worth.)
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