Conditional Remembering

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; Psalm 103:2 NASB

Forget none – David repeats the opening (and unusual) rhetorical phrase. We have explored its importance. Now David adds an additional, explanatory thought. Ve’al-tishkehi kol-gemoolav. When we explore this addition, we must remember that Hebrew poetry rhymes ideas, not phonemes. This suggests that blessing YHVH with all within me is the same as not forgetting any of His benefits. Praise is the flip side of remembering.

What do you remember? The most important memories we have are the memories of YHVH’s interaction with those who came before us. These memories constitute our shared history with Israel. We remember who we are in Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. These men are not characters of a tribe from some distant, disconnected past. This is not history. This is ancestry. We belong and therefore, we remember.

Alter translates this phrase, “not forget all His generous acts.” The word is gemul. Its root is gamal, meaning “to deal, to recompense, to ripen.” As a noun, the word covers a wide range of activities, i.e., giving what is due, acting justly, accounting for deeds of both God and men, providing benefits. Notice what this implies. Recompense is a reciprocal relation. It is the reward or punishment that results from another’s actions. This is not the same as gift. A gift does not presuppose merit. But recompense does. Wages are earned, not gifted. Of course, the system of recompense works in both directions, for good reward or evil punishment. Thus, the wages of sin is death. Death is the recompense for sin. What David asks of himself (and therefore of the reader) is to remember the God pays back. God rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked. Life involves compensation. Grace might be a gift, but life isn’t. Life assumes and requires justice and justice means recompense.

Does David mean that we are not to forget only the good things God does? I don’t think so. I think David is looking at the man in the mirror and telling himself not to forget recompense—the good rewards and the bad punishments. David does not serve a Santa Claus God. He serves a God who delights in rewarding the children who obey and who corrects the children who disobey (so that they too can experience His delight). David is a man who knew intimately both sides of this coin. This makes his exhortation to bless YHVH for all His gemul even more powerful. David does not forget any of the recompense. He does not forget the accusation, “You are that man!” He does not forget, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” He does not forget, “When you hear the sound of the ram’s horn, say, ‘Absalom has become king in Hebron.” We have a tendency to push those kinds of experiences out of view. We forget the “benefits” of correction. As a result, we are likely to repeat the same mistakes. Because David exhorts himself to remember every recompense, he protects himself from further decline. We need this lesson.

Topical Index: gemul, recompense, Psalm 103:2