Remember What the Lord thy God Did

In a recent podcast, Dr. Camey Andersen highlighted the fact that in the book of Deuteronomy, the word remember is frequently used. “This book is about remembrance. This Hebrew word is zakar, which it appears more than 160 times in the Old Testament and the most in Deuteronomy. That's remember. Our first example is, of course, the Savior himself. When He was on the earth, what did He quote? Deuteronomy.” The word remember appears 14 times in the book in the King James version, and one of the most common injunctions is to remember what happened in Egypt. For example, Moses said, “Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt” (7:18). They were to remember how the Lord delivered them from Pharaoh and how they had been slaves there: “And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day” (15:15). The Passover was to help them remember this: “Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life” (16:3). Moses said again, “And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes” (16:12). In a later chapter he similarly said, “But thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I command thee to do this thing….  And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing” (24:18, 22). The Lord, and Moses, urged the people not to forget their bondage in Egypt and their miraculous deliverance from the Egyptians.

            The first verse in Deuteronomy that uses the word remember is this one: “For example, Moses said, “And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day” (5:15). Similar to the other passages above, the Lord encouraged them to remember what had happened in Egypt and He had delivered them. What struck me from this passage was the “therefore” at the end which suggests that we should keep the sabbath day holy in order to remember the Lord. One of the great purposes of the Sabbath is to help us remember Him. We certainly do this as we go to sacrament meeting and partake of the sacrament with the promise to always remember Him. We of course will have fallen short of that ideal during the week, but the sacrament is a time for us to commit again to remember the Lord. It is interesting that of the ten commandments, only one includes the word remember: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8). Here the Lord wanted them to remember the day, but we do that in order to remember Him. It is sometimes challenging in our home to know what activities to do on the sabbath day, especially with children of various ages who have not caught the vision of the purpose of this day. This verse from Deuteronomy gives us perhaps some ideas: we should do things that help us remember the Lord and what He has done for our families. That could mean watching old family videos or reading journals from the past or looking at our ancestors on Family Search. It might mean telling stories or finding ways to express gratitude and remember the ways the Lord has blessed us that week. The words of Moses invite us to do things to remember the Lord and His goodness for us and our families on the sabbath day.