Бамидбар 11:16 Каббала: Reshit Chokhmah

And one should attempt to honor the creatures, in order that he be honored by the creatures, as we learned (Avot 4:1), "Who is honored, etc." And the reward of one who honors the elderly is very great; and he fulfills a positive commandment in the Torah, as it is stated (Leviticus 19:32), "You shall rise before an elder." And one of the things that Rabbi Yehudah ben Batirah commanded his students was to be careful about an elder who forgot his learning from causes beyond his control, and not to treat him disparagingly. As the master said, "The tablets and the broken tablets are resting in the ark." (See Berakhot 8b; Sanhedrin 96a). And we have found that the Holy One, blessed be He, gives honor to the elderly, as we learn in the Sifri (Sifri on Numbers 11:16): "And the Lord said to Moshe, 'Gather seventy men for Me [from the elders of Israel]'": Not in [only] one or two places does the the Holy One, blessed be He, accord honor to the elders, but in every place that you find elders, the Holy One blessed be He, accords them honor, as it is stated (Exodus 3:16), "Go and assemble the elders of Israel, etc."; and it is written (Exodus 24:1), "And to Moshe He said, 'Ascend to the Lord, etc.'" Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai says, "Whence do you derive that the Holy One, blessed be He, will also accord them honor in the time to come? As it is stated (Isaiah 24:23), 'And the moon will be shamed and the sun abashed, etc. and He will accord honor toward His elders.' It does not say, 'towards His angels,' or 'towards His prophets'; but rather, 'towards His elders!' Now does it not follow a fortiori: If He who spoke and brought the world into being accorded honor to the elders, how much more so should creatures of flesh and blood accord honor to the elders!"