Sunday, March 26, 2023

George M. Peacock on the meanings of "remember" and its application to D&C 117:12 and Oliver Granger

 George M. Peacock wrote the following about the term “remember” and its application to D&C 117:12:

 

“remember them no more”

 

The word remember with its various forms of tense and sense, appears in the scriptures well over five hundred times. The definition for the word remember is not the same each time it is used. Like so many words, remember has multiple definitions. It can mean to:

 

a) recall,

b) keep in remembrance,

c) mention,

d) make a memorial, or

e) record

 

. . .

 

A scriptural example of “mentioning” would be: “And again, I say unto you, I remember my servant Oliver Granger; behold, verily I say unto him that his name shall be had in sacred remembrance from generation to generation, forever and ever, saith the Lord” (D&C 117:12; emphasis added). (George M. Peacock, Unlocking the Idioms: An LDS Perspective on Understanding Scriptural Terms [Springville, Utah: CFI, 2009], 86, 87)

 

Webster’s 1828 dictionary’s entry for “Remember” helps supports this reading of the text:

 

REMEM'BERverb transitive [Low Latin rememoror; re and memoror. See Memory.]

1. To have in the mind an idea which had been in the mind before, and which recurs to the mind without effort.

We are said to remember any thing, when the idea of it arises in the mind with the consciousness that we have had this idea before.

2. When we use effort to recall an idea, we are said to recollect it. This distinction is not always observed. Hence remember is often used as synonymous with recollect, that is, to call to mind. We say, we cannot remember a fact, when we mean, we cannot recollect it.

Remember the days of old. Deuteronomy 32:7.

3. To bear or keep in mind; to attend to.

Remember what I warn thee; shun to taste.

4. To preserve the memory of; to preserve from being forgotten.

Let them have their wages duly paid, and something over to remember me.

5. To mention. [Not in use.]

6. To put in mind; to remind; as, to remember one of his duty. [Not in use.]

7. To think of and consider; to meditate. Psalms 63:6.

8. To bear in mind with esteem; or to reward. Ecclesiastes 9:15.

9. To bear in mind with praise or admiration; to celebrate. 1 Chronicles 16:12.

10. To bear in mind with favor, care, and regard for the safety or deliverance of any one. Psalms 74:2Genesis 8:1Genesis 19:29.

11. To bear in mind with intent to reward or punish.

John 10:1Jeremiah 31:20.

12. To bear in mind with confidence; to trust in. Psa 20.

13. To bear in mind with the purpose of assisting or relieving. Galatians 2:10.

14. To bear in mind with reverence; to obey.

Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth. Ecclesiastes 12:1.

15. To bear in mind with regard; to keep as sacred; to observe.

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Exodus 20:8.

To remember mercy, is to exercise it. Habakkuk 3:2.

 

Further Reading:


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