Gathered to His Kin

I am forgotten as a dead man, out of mind; I am like a broken vessel.  Psalm 31:12  NASB

Forgotten– The screenwriters of the movieTroy brilliantly captured the great Greek question mark of life.  In a conversation between Achilles and his mother, she describes Greek angst perfectly.  Listen:

What is the worst thing that can befall a man?  Careful!  Don’t be so quick to respond with the typical Western religious answer: he could go to Hell. In the ancient world of the Bible, the worst thing that can happen to anyone is to be forgotten—to never amount to anything so that your name is lost forever.  Look how much effort even God puts into rules about continuing the name of a person, even to the point of providing sperm donors.  Notice God’s reaction to Cain’s fratricide.  “The bloods of your brother cry out,” that is, all those who were supposed to be born from Abel and carry on his name have now been erased.  It’s genocide, not simply murder.  When David exclaims that he is like a man forgotten, he says a lot more than just someone disregarded.  As far as he is concerned, the dead offer no praise.  They are blotted out from the book, lost forever in the sands of time.

The Hebrew term is šākaḥ. TWOT notes that this verb is used thirty-three times in the psalms, often “it appears in the form of a lament, ‘How long will you forget me?’ (Ps 13:1, [H 2]); ‘Why have you forgotten me?’ (Ps 42:9, [H 10]); ‘Why do you hide your face and forget our affliction?’ (Ps 44:24, [H 25]); ‘Why do you forget us forever?’ (Lam 5:20).”^[1]  Hamilton goes on to write: “Forgetting is not simply a psychological act of having a thought pass from one’s consciousness, a temporary or permanent lapse of memory.”^[2]  In other words, when the verb is used of human beings, it is often tantamount to idolatry.  Now we can appreciate the seriousness of David’s jeremiad.  It’s not simply a Greek complaint that he will be put out of mind.  That does happen to men.  David is mortified that his name will vanish and, consequently, no one will know his faithfulness to YHVH.  The Greek worried about legacy in the human arena.  David worries about legacy in God’s creation.

Whose fault is that?  Whose fault is it that David’s name could disappear?  The implied answer might be uncomfortable. It’s God’s fault.  David readily admits that the consequences of his iniquities have resulted in bodily and psychological harm.  But he admits his guilt.  He doesn’t attempt excuses.  And since he has demonstrated repentance, why does he continue to feel like a dead man and be treated as one?  Why doesn’t God relieve these unjust conditions?  David is left, empty and broken.  Now where is God?

The rabbis have an unusual, and uncomfortable, answer:  “It was G-d’s desire to create a world of Divine silence, in which, through our efforts, we can uncover G-d’s concealed voice.”[3]  David’s work has begun.  So has ours.

Topical Index:  name, dead, forgotten, šākaḥ, Psalm 31:12

^[1]Hamilton, V. P. (1999). 2383 שָׁכַח. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(922). Chicago: Moody Press.

^[2]Ibid.

[3]Rabbi Yosef B. Friedman, Bound to Inspire, issue 509, “Hearing the Voice.”