Hebrew Highlights 151 – You Who
Remind
ISA 62:6-7, “On your walls, O
Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen; All day and all
night they will never keep silent. You who remind the
Lord, take no rest for yourselves; and give Him no rest until He establishes And makes
The phrase, “You who remind the Lord”,
is in Hebrew, haMazkirim et Adonai”. It is translated accurately in the NASB,
which I usually use for study, but is unfortunately watered down in some other
versions.
When people first hear this verse, it
sounds a little strange, and indeed may seem like we have to have a lot of
chutzpah to think we frail humans need to actually “remind” the Lord of
anything. What? Is God forgetful?
The root word behind remind in Hebrew
is “zecher”, which shows up in remember, remembrance, and memory.
As I have often said in my short
studies, the best way to understand an idea, is to
look at other places where it is used.
EXO
Again, it seems like that the people
of
Next we have a command in NUM 10:9,
which says, "And when you go to war in your land against the adversary who
attacks you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, that you may be
remembered before the Lord your God, and be saved from your enemies.”
Another well known verse is PSA 25:6, “Remember,
O Lord, Thy compassion and Thy lovingkindnesses, For
they have been from of old.” In a way,
we are pleading for mercy from God in this verse, and saying, “Please don’t
forget me!”
The people of
There are many other verses where we
see the writers “reminding” God about one thing or another.
Still though, it is hard to shake that
feeling that we are being very presumptuous to think we can talk to God in this
way.
Perhaps it is because many of our
authority figures today have set themselves up as supreme beings, and are
unapproachable. Our Heavenly Father, on the other hand, is
compassionate, and completely accessible to the whims and babblings of His
children.
Those of us who are blessed to be
earthly fathers are used to our kids reminding us about things. If we are patient, we can stand a number of
prompts before getting upset.
After all, many times the kids are
looking out for our mutual good. “Dad,
don’t forget your seatbelt!” “Mom,
remember to give me lunch money in the morning.” “Pastor, did you write down our counseling
session on Tuesday?”
In modern
Hebrew, the noun form of our original word “mazkirim” from Isaiah 62, is
“secretaries”.
Maybe this picture will make the idea
of “reminding the Lord” more palatable.
After all, one of the main jobs of a secretary is to remind the
boss. “Don’t forget that meeting this
afternoon after lunch.” “Remember your
wife’s birthday is tomorrow. Do you want
me to pick up a present?” “I’ve put that
number in your cell phone so it will be handy when you need it.”
The secretary does not say these
things in spite or disrespect. And most
secretaries do not think their boss is negligent. But they realize that He is important, and
has a lot on His mind.
The secretary’s pointing out important
upcoming events helps their employer focus ahead of time.
This is not impudence. It is what they get paid for.
If we look at the Body of Messiah as a
big corporation, we all have a part in its proper running. Each of us has a small sphere of influence
and responsibility. Each of us faces
certain events, which in our particular realm, are on top of the priority list.
It is perfectly proper for us to send
a memo to the boss, and make sure He notices the petitions important to our
department.
Therefore, it is particularly
important for those of us in the “Lovers of Israel” section, to notice that
verse in ISA 62:6-7, which Isaiah has pinned on the company bulletin
board. “Secretaries, take no rest for yourselves; and give the Boss of Bosses no rest until He establishes And makes
We are not being cheeky. We are just doing our job.
Shalom,
Shalom from