To Believe
And they remembered that God was their rock, and the Most High God their Redeemer. But they flattered Him with their mouth and lied to Him with their tongue. For their heart was not steadfast toward Him, nor were they faithful with His covenant. Psalm 78:35-37 NASB
Remembered – “To believe is to remember,” wrote Abraham Heschel. Asaph might not agree. After all, it looks as if Asaph says that Israel remembered and still didn’t follow God. But maybe Heschel and Asaph really are saying that same thing. Maybe “remembered” needs to be understood in its full Hebraic sense. Here are all the ways that the word is translated:
(zākar) think (about), meditate (upon), pay attention (to); remember, recollect; mention, declare, recite, proclaim, invoke, commemorate, accuse, confess.[1]
You’ll notice that zākar can mean both “think about” and “declare.” You need to know that the verb Asaph uses is a vav-consecutive + imperfect. That means they were “remembering” as an unfinished act in the past with future implications. They should have fulfilled the intentions of remembering who God is and what He had done by continuing in His ways. But they didn’t. When Heschel writes, “To believe is to remember,” he means that the past “remembering” really does find its intended fulfillment in future behavior. The only real difference between Asaph and Heschel is the tiny conjunctive, “but.” Both authors recognize that the purpose of remembering is to cause transformation and obedience. “Believing” in Hebrew thought is precisely this: doing what God desires. The problem is the וָ just before the verb pātâ (flattered), that single consonant meaning “but.” As a result of that little consonant, they were not steadfast (kûn – established, fixed, firm, ready) nor faithful (ʾĕmûnâ – with fidelity, reliable, certain). Everything fell apart because of this tiny letter.
Maybe that’s the lesson here. They were afflicted. That caused them to seek God. They remembered what He had done and who He was. They sought Him. But old habits, old thinking, old ways of dealing with life’s messes, crept back in. They remembered—and forgot. They forgot that God wants new ways, that old patterns only produce old results, the same results that pushed them into the affliction in the first place. They went around the circle, back to beginning, following the very ancient idea that all of life is just one more repetition without real meaning, without real direction. To believe is not to move. It is to move purposefully. Just going isn’t going anywhere.
Maybe that’s why these words are so frightening. We make a lot of movement. We go here. We go there. Around and around, over and over. Remembering—forgetting. Changing nothing. The wilderness is a place for straightening our direction.
Topical Index: zākar, remember, believe, direction, Psalm 78:37-38
[1] Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., Jr., & Waltke, B. K. (Eds.). (1999). Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 241). Chicago: Moody Press.
