Wallflower Witnessing
I will come with the mighty deeds of the Lord God; I will make mention of Your righteousness, Yours alone. Psalm 71:16 NASB
Make mention – What do you think about the choice “make mention” for the verb zākar? Does it capture the feeling of this verse? Not for me! “I will come with the mighty deeds” sounds like a shout of power. “God is GREAT! Pay attention! No one and nothing can stand in His way!” That’s the feeling I have when I read the first part of this verse. Then, suddenly, I run into “I will make mention.” Make mention? What? In English, that verb means to refer to something briefly, to politely acknowledge, to make a casual reference. Almost the opposite of the initial claim. The poetry starts with a bang and ends with a whimper.
Is that what zākar means? Wallflower witnessing?
There are three groups of meanings: 1) for completely inward mental acts such as “remembering” or “paying attention to,” 2) for such inward mental acts accompanied by appropriate external acts, and 3) for forms of audible speaking with such meanings as “recite” or “invoke.” Cognate evidence indicates that the third group of meanings is closest to the verb’s root meaning. This range of meanings shows the same blending or overlapping between mental states and external acts seen also in other Hebrew terms (e.g. Hebrew šāmaʿ “to hear”).[1]
zākar has action overlaps. It’s not just contemplating, remembering, or meditating. It’s that plus acting. Contemplate, then stand up and do something about it. Remember, then celebrate a feast, pour some wine, dance, sing. Meditate, then throw up your hands in prayer, sacrifice a lamb, do a kind deed. Hebrew spirituality is not cognitive. It’s thinking in action! We call that life!
Contemplate all you want. Think about things. Ruminate. Meditate. Investigate. That’s what we do here. But if it doesn’t translate into action, then it’s no different than the Greco-Roman worldview we’re trying to change. You have a choice. You can follow the processes of the Christian Church and syncretize its pagan epistemology into your belief system, or you can step outside that paradigm and begin with being in the world rather than observing the world. If the God of creation can involve Himself in the history of humanity, if He is really the God Who acts, then can we really follow Him if our faith is a mental construct securely insulated from the broken world? No, of course not! There are no wallflower witnesses in service of the King. When the poet writes ‘azkir’, he isn’t retreating to the drawing room or the library. He’s holding up the scroll and saying, “Look here! Look what God has done! Wow! Amazing! Let’s party!”
Topical Index: ‘azkir’, zākar, remember, meditate, action, Psalm 71:16
[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.
