You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; you have blotted out their name for ever and ever. – Psalm 9:5

Today's Scripture Reading (June 18, 2022): Psalms 9 & 10

I had a conversation with some friends recently when the conversation turned to the nation of Edom. And one of my friends responded that he had never heard of Edom. I smiled and replied, "there is a good reason for that. Edom doesn't exist anymore." Edom means "red," and it is used to describe a nation that mainly consisted of the descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob. As descendants of Esau, the people of Edom were Israel's cousins and a thorn in the flesh of the existence of Jacob's descendants.

Edom thrived between the 13^th and 8^th centuries B.C.E., after which it started to decline in importance in the Middle East. By sometime early in the 6^th century B.C.E, around the same time as Jerusalem's destruction and the defeat of the Kingdom of Judah, Edom was destroyed and dispersed among the nations. And Edom, as a nation, never returned to the world stage. As my friend reminded us, the country had been long forgotten.

Outside my office is a plaque with a list of twelve names on it. Each name represents someone from the community who has passed away over the past decade. Each person was important to someone, there were people who grieved their passing, and I believe that every name made a difference. And by placing their names on a wall, we get to make sure that their names are remembered for at least a little while longer.

There is no greater curse than to be forgotten, erased from the memory of those who live. As long as we remember those who have gone on before, they still live with us in our memories. We still get to celebrate their lives; we still get to recognize the difference that they made in our lives. And I think it is an important thing that we remember.

Being forgotten was the worst thing that David could imagine. And it is this curse that the Poet King invokes over his enemies. It is not just that they need to be rebuked and destroyed, but David wants them erased from history. His Psalm does not tell us the identity of the enemy that David wants to be erased from our memories, but Edom is one among many suspects. Edom would have been at the height of its importance during the age of David of Israel.

Maybe the irony of David's desire is that the Bible is one place where many nations who have left the world stage are still remembered and have even become the subjects of various biblical teachings. And many, like Edom, might have been completely forgotten by everyone except some archaeologists if the Bible didn't mention them, keeping them in our memories. But because the Bible mentions them, the memory of these nations continues, and these almost forgotten nations are sometimes even the subject of conversations between a group of friends.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Psalms 11 & 12