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I've read this phrase before in Genesis 8:1 NKJV where it says:

8 Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.

Also in Genesis 19:29 NKJV:

29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt.

I just read it again in Exodus 2:24 NKJV:

24 So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

I don't suppose God just "forgot". So, since that's not the case how should this be interpreted? A few more questions I have might include: What is God remembering and why does he need remembering?

Jason_
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    Here's an older question related to remember: https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/27597/some-trust-in-chariots-in-psalm-208/93261#93261 I just posted an answer, but I haven't noticed any activity from Susan for some time now. She has a pretty good understanding of Hebrew, as you can also see from her question. – Perry Webb Mar 23 '24 at 23:42

2 Answers2

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The Cambridge commentary correctly observes this about Gen 8:1 -

"God remembered" The same expression occurs in Genesis 19:29, Genesis 30:22. It is a form of anthropomorphism which is not infrequent in the O.T. and which is in continual use in the language of devotion.

The Pulpit commentary is similar:

Remembered. From a root signifying to prick, pierce, or print, e.g., upon the memory; hence to remember. "Not that there is oblivion or forgetfulness with God, but then God is said to remember when he showeth by the effects that he hath taken care of man" (Willet). He remembers man's sins when he punishes them (Psalm 25:7; cf. 1 Kings 17:20), and his people's needs when he supplies them (cf. Nehemiah 5:19). The expression is an anthropopathism designed to indicate the Divine compassion as well as grace.

That is, God communicates with mankind in a language with which we are familiar. [We could not understand any other way!!]

Dottard
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  • +1. Thank you, I really appreciate your answer. I especially like, "God is said to remember when he showeth by the effects that he hath taken care of man." The Pulpit commentary seems like a great commentary! – Jason_ Jan 20 '24 at 10:17
  • +1 I see the terminology more in terms a human striving to express what God did, even if the narrator is Moses, rather than God telling us what He did - but either way the rest of the answer is right. Some translators say "God did not forget Noah." – Dan Fefferman Jan 20 '24 at 15:38
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The Hebrew work translated remember (זָכָר) doesn't have exactly the same meaning as the English word remember. For example:

Remember [זָכֹ֛ור֩] the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8–11, ESV)

The commandment doesn't mean to not mentally forget the Sabbath, but to keep it holy by not working on the Sabbath. Thus, God remembering Noah doesn't mean he had forgotten about Noah, but that God's appointed time had come for him to act on Noah's behalf.

זָכַר (b. h.; ch. דְּכַר) [to mark,] to remember, mention; to celebrate (by a ceremony &c.) ... -- Jastrow, M. (1903). In A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature and II (Vol. 1, p. 399). Luzac & Co.; G. P. Putnam’s Sons.

Perry Webb
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