Note on Deuteronomy 25:19 Concerning "Remembrance" and "Name"

  

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; 11QPs^a 22₂, of human beings Dt 32:26; Jr 17:2 (if em.; see Prep.) Ho 14:8; Ps 109:15; Si 10:17; 4QJub^df 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; 4QpGen^a 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)