What Does It Mean To "Remember"?

The word "remember" is important in the Old Testament - used 148 times. In the Hebrew language it implies a note of compassion. It is much more than a brain function  - more than remembering where my keys are. The Hebrew word translated "remember" in the Old Testament means:

• to express concern for
• to act with loving care for
• to remember with favor
• to think again
• to recall 
• to be careful not to forget

The word was often used in connection with God remembering His covenant promises. 

Remembering was not passive - unlike something simply "popping" into your head. When God remembered, He acted! His remembering was followed by an action to fulfill His covenant promises.

The first mention of the word "remember" is in Genesis 8:1  The "first mention" of a word in the Bible is significant in Bible study. It usually determines how that Hebrew word will be translated and what its meaning is throughout scripture. 

Genesis 8:1 "And God remembered Noah and every living thing and all the cattle that was with him in the ark, and God made a wind to pass over the earth and the waters asswaged."

It is almost comical to think of God suddenly remembering that Noah is floating around in the ark with all those animals.  Of course God had not actually forgotten Noah was there, but He uses the word "remember" to express the loving care and favor with which He acts to rescue Noah and family. 

Another illustration of the meaning of the word is in Genesis 30:22, "God remembered Rachel and opened her womb." Of course, God had not forgotten that Rachel was barren or that He had promised Abraham that through his seed the whole earth would be blessed. Of course, Jacob's wife must have a child in order for Abraham's line of descendants to continue. God had not forgotten. It had not slipped His mind, but here, He expresses the loving care with which He acts to fulfill His covenant with Abraham.

Again, in Exodus 2:24, after the Hebrew people had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years, they cried out to God and "God heard their groanings and remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."   

When God remembered, He acted! In the Old Testament, when the people remembered God, they worshipped Him. Remembering was a part of their worship. Remembering is not a passive activity.