Since I was a child, I have heard the word legacy tossed about here and there. I have personally known people who have said they would like to leave a name for themselves when they pass away. Of course, I don’t recall ever challenging the idea, but it did and does make me question why? I have always wondered how they would even follow up on whether they are remembered or not. I suppose the only ones who could confirm this question are those who have already passed on.
This post is basically a meditation on this idea of leaving
a legacy. I will keep it brief and share a couple of scriptures with relevance
to perhaps make a case for the idea. The first verse is the following from Genesis
6:4, NRSVUE.
The Nephilim were on the earth
in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went in to the daughters
of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old,
warriors of renown.
My question here is who were these “heroes that were of
old” that existed before the flood of Noah? It seems we don't know their
names. Or perhaps we don't have the manuscript which contained their names. We
only know about Noah and his family from the same chapter. We don’t really have
a specific timeline in the scriptures that even tells us when the flood took
place. Perhaps it was ten thousand years ago, or twenty thousand years. We just
don’t know. We do not know the names of many people who have lived and died on our
planet who came before us.
Ecclesiastes in the Hebrew Bible Ketuvim (Writings) contain
a verse that relates to the subject in this post, which perhaps answer the
questions I have brought forth. Ecclesiastes 1:11, NRSVUE, reads as follows:
The people of long ago are not
remembered, nor will there be any remembrance of people yet to come by those
who come after them.
I don’t know if the foregoing verse answers any questions
you may have with relevance to leaving a legacy and making a name for oneself. The
verse, however, does answer my questions. Perhaps one can establish a huge
presence in the present moment in time, and for a while after one is gone, but eventually
there will be no lasting memory. Leaving a legacy? Good luck with that!
