Sirach 25:5
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus3 If you gathered nothing in your youth, how can you find anything in your old age? 4 How attractive is sound judgment in the gray-haired, and for the aged to possess good counsel! 5 How attractive is wisdom in the aged, and understanding and counsel in the venerable! 6 Rich experience is the crown of the aged, and their boast is the fear of the Lord. 7 I can think of nine whom I would call blessed, and a tenth my tongue proclaims: a man who can rejoice in his children; a man who lives to see the downfall of his foes.
Wisdom of Solomon 4:8
6 For children born of unlawful unions are witnesses of evil against their parents when God examines them. 7 But the righteous, though they die early, will be at rest. 8 For old age is not honored for length of time, or measured by number of years; 9 but understanding is gray hair for anyone, and a blameless life is ripe old age. 10 There were some who pleased God and were loved by him, and while living among sinners were taken up.
Notes and References
"... The Wisdom of Solomon (1st century BCE) relativizes the relationship of wisdom and old age in view of the early death of the righteous one. The dignity and wisdom of old age can already be attributed to a wise and righteous man who dies young: “But the righteous, though they die early, will be at rest. For old age is not honored for length of time, or measured by number of years; but understanding is grey hair for anyone, and a blameless life is ripe old age” (Wisdom of Solomon 4:7–9). The reasons why the connection between advanced age and wisdom was relativized in late Old Testament literature are probably to be found in the mental and social changes in late postexilic times. The hope for an afterlife that emerged during this period shed new light on earthly life, and thus also on ageing and old age. In particular, the hope for eternal life and immortality significantly contributed to a re-evaluation of “old age” or the dignity of old age, as for example described in Wisdom 4. In addition, new challenges and questions arose from the encounter with Greek philosophy and education, to which particularly the younger generation turned. These new challenges of the Hellenistic era could no longer be mastered solely with the wisdom of the elderly. Certainly, this changed context also may have contributed to a critical questioning of the wisdom of the elderly and thus of their social status as well ..."
Neumann, Christian A. Old age Before Modernity: Case Studies and Methodological Perspectives, 500 BC-1700 AD (p. 177) Heidelberg University Publishing, 2023