איוב, פרק ל״ב, פסוק ז׳

It is a natural assumption that age and wisdom go hand in hand. When a young person stands before elders, the initial thought is that a longer life automatically equates to deeper understanding. The speaker explains his previous silence by sharing this exact belief. He assumed that wisdom is purely the product of life experience, sensory observation, and the slow accumulation of time. Just as time naturally teaches a child how to speak, he believed that an abundance of years brings about the kind of wisdom that comes from long periods of investigation and study [מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ].

There is a progression in how age is thought to build this understanding [מלבי״ם]. First, a person must live through many daily experiences simply to grasp life well enough to discuss matters of wisdom. Following that, an even greater amount of time is required to actually teach and clearly prove that wisdom to others. Because of this mindset, the speaker was afraid to open his mouth. He figured he had absolutely nothing new to offer men who were much older than him. He feared that if he tried to present his own insights to elders who already possessed established knowledge, he would only be met with contempt [מצודת דוד, מלבי״ם].

Ultimately, however, this basic assumption is proven wrong. True wisdom is not tied to a person's age or the number of years they have lived. Instead, its source is the divine soul within the individual. Because the soul comes directly from God, it is what truly gives a person the ability to think clearly, understand deeply, and acquire pure wisdom, completely independent of how much time has passed in their life [תקות אנוש].