Therefore it shall be, when the
Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the
land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou
shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shall not
forget it. (Deut 25:19)
While reading Alter’s commentary on Deut 25:19, I came
across the following note that might shed some light on the promise in D&C 117:12 that Oliver
Granger’s name “shall be had in sacred remembrance from generation to
generation, forever and ever”:
you shall wipe out the remembrance
of Amalek. The noun zekher which is also used in the parallel verse
in Exodus 17:14, means “name” but derives from the root meaning “remembrance.” Etymologically,
a name is the remembrance a man leaves after him, and zekher, “remembrance,”
is strongly linked with zakhar, “male.” (Compare the necessity of male
offspring to prevent a name from being wiped out in the levirate marriage.) But
it is important to retain the idea of remembering in translation because the
writer is pointedly playing with “remembrance . . . do not forget.” (Robert
Alter, The Hebrew Bible, 3 vols. [New York: W. W. Norton & Company,
2019], 1:704, emphasis oin bold added)
Lexical Sources:
זֵכֶר:
זכר; Sec. ζεχρ; MHb., Arb. ḏikr;
Akk. zikru/siqru utterance, mention,
name, vow: cs. id.: זִכְרִי, זִכְרֶֽךָ: —1. mention (of a name): of Amalek Ex 17:14
Dt 25:19, Israel 32:26, the vine Hos 14:8 (text ?), affliction cj. Lam 3:19,
the dead ones Is 26:14 Qoh 9:5, overthrown cities Ps 9:7, the evildoers 34:17
109:15, the righteous 112:6, the pious Pr 10:7, the impious Jb 18:17, Purim Est
9:28, cj. לְזֵכֶר בָּהֶם Jr 17:2 (Diringer 204f); עָשָׂה זֵ׳ לְ׳
God causes (his wonderful works) to be remembered Ps 111:4; —2. the mention and
invocation of God in liturgies, Arb. ḏikr,
Ex 3:15 Is 26:8 Hos 12:6 Ps 6:6 (the dead do not know it) 30:5 and 97:12 (זֵ׳ קָדְשׁוֹ) 102:13 135:13 145:7 (rd. רָב־טוּבְךָ).
† (HALOT)
זֵ֫כֶר
I 23.10.8 n.m. remembrance—cstr.
זֵ֫כֶר; sf. זִכְרִי,
זִכְרְךָ (זִכְרֶֽךָ, Q זכרכה),
זִכְרָם, זִכְרָם—(act of) remembrance; memory (i.e. what is remembered about someone
or something), memorial, of
remembrance, etc. of Y. Ex 3:15 (‖ שֵׁם name) Is 26:8 (‖ שֵׁם) Ps 6:6; 30:5; 97:12; 102:13; 135:13 (‖ שֵׁם) 145:7; Ho 12:6; Ps 111:4 GnzPs 410 1QM 138;
11QPsa 222, of human beings Dt 32:26; Jr 17:2 (if em.;
see Prep.) Ho 14:8; Ps 109:15; Si 10:17; 4QJubdf 2122 (‖ שֵׁם) 4Q416 2.37, specif. of evil persons Ps 9:7; 34:17;
Jb 18:17 (+ שֵׁם) Si 47:23, specif. of good persons Ps
112:6; Pr 10:7 (+ שֵׁם) Si 44:9, 13(B) 46:11, specif. of Amalek
Ex 17:14; Dt 25:19; 4QpGena 1.42, Josiah Si 49:1, Moses
Si 45:1, Nehemiah Si 49:13, of the dead Is 26:14; Ec 9:5; Si 38:20, 23, of
death Si 41:1(M), of affliction Lm 3:19 (if em.; see Nom. Cl.), of days of
Purim Est 9:28. (The
Dictionary of Classical Hebrew,
ed. David J. A. Clines, 8 vols. [Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.
1996], 3:111)
V. zēkher, “Memory.” The noun zēkher,
“memory,” occurs 23 times in the OT. Here, too, theological usage predominates.
In a secular sense, Hos. 14:8(7) states that Israel will have a memory like the
wine of Lebanon, but this fame is God’s work. It is likewise God’s doing that
the “memory of the righteous” is a blessing (Prov. 10:7) and that the righteous
are promised “eternal memory” (Ps. 112:6). Est. 9:28 decrees that the days of
Purim be kept in everlasting memory, referring at least to a religious
observance.
More frequently, something is
being said about blotting out a memory. God cuts off the remembrance of
evildoers (Ps. 34:17[16]) and enemies (Ps. 9:7[6]) from the earth. He could
even blot out the memory of his own people, were it not for fear of the scorn
of his enemies (Dt. 32:26). According to Ex. 17:14, the remembrance of Amalek
is to be blotted out by Israel (likewise Dt. 25:19). In Ps. 109:15, the
psalmist prays in his curse that God may make the memory of the wicked be cut
off from the earth. In Job 18:17, too, the memory of the wicked perishes from
the earth. It is clear that these passages refer to death and annihilation,
just as Eccl. 9:5 says that the memory of the dead is forgotten among men. In
Job 18:17 and Prov. 10:7, we read not only that the memory of the wicked is
blotted out, but that they will no longer have a name (→ שׁם shēm). Denial
of remembrance after physical death likewise denies the wicked any posthumous
fame. His perishing as though he had never been is ascribed to God. It can be
inferred conversely that remembrance means more than being recalled by name and
acknowledged: it is seen as being somehow identical with existence before and
through God. (H. Eising, “זָכַר,” in TDOT 4:76)