Genesis 8

¹ But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. ² The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, ³ and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had abated, ⁴ and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. ⁵ And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. ⁶ At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made⁷ and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. ⁸ Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. ⁹ But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. ¹⁰ He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. ¹¹ And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth.¹² Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore. ¹³ In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. ¹⁴ In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. ¹⁵ Then God said to Noah, ¹⁶ “Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁷ Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” ¹⁸ So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. ¹⁹ Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark. ²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 

I want to propose that one of the most important words in all of scripture is found in Genesis 8. In many ways it is one of those summarizing words that captures numerous fundamental themes of the Bible and that touches on various crucially important aspects of divine truth. The word in Hebrew is זָכַר. Transliterated, it is zakar. We find it in the first phrase of our text: “But God remembered Noah…” Zakarmeans “remember.”

“How,” you might ask, “could such a very ordinary word be so fundamental and important as you claim?” To get at the answer to this question we need to understand two very important things about zakar:

1. It is an action word and not merely a mental word.
2. It is a covenant word having to do with covenant faithfulness.

Understanding these two aspects of zakar can help us see that we are not talking about remembrance in terms of “calling something to mind.” Rather, we are talking about God’s faithful remembrance of His covenant promises leading Him to save His people. From the human perspective we are talking about humanity’s faithful remembrance of God’s salvation of us leading us to worship. In other words:

God remembers and therefore saves.

Man remembers and therefore worships.

In these two movements of zakar—God’s downward remembrance of salvation and mankind’s upward remembrance of worship—we see the whole of life! This is why the concept of zakar is so very important. This plays out beautifully in Genesis 8.

God remembers and therefore saves.

Divine remembrance always leads to one of two actions: salvation or judgment. For God’s people, God’s remembrance leads to His deliverance. For the wicked, it leads to God judging them. We see both in the flood: judgment upon the wicked and salvation for His people. Genesis 8 speaks specifically of God remembering toward salvation.

¹ But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. ² The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, ³ and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had abated, ⁴ and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. ⁵ And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. ⁶ At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made⁷ and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. ⁸ Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. ⁹ But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. ¹⁰ He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. ¹¹ And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth.¹² Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore. ¹³ In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. ¹⁴ In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. ¹⁵ Then God said to Noah, ¹⁶ “Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁷ Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”

It is an amazing account of deliverance, and one that likely suffers a bit from our overfamiliarity, if, that is, you have been raised in church. Noah and his family alone survive the flood. Genesis 8 tells the amazing story of their deliverance through the flood and then of the flood’s diminishment. Finally, it tells of their long-looked-for exit from the ark itself. Notice that all of this is framed within the context of divine zakar, of God’s remembrance. Again, notice how Genesis 8:1 reveals God’s remembrance as leading to action and covenant faithfulness:

¹ But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.

Kent Hughes writes that “God’s remembering is more than a recollection because when God remembers, he acts.” He then quotes Brevard Childs as saying, “God’s remembering always implies his movement toward the object…The essence of God’s remembering lies in his acting toward someone because of a previous commitment.”[1]That is beautiful: God’s remembrance “implies his movement toward the object” of His remembrance. That is so very true! God moves toward Noah, saving him and his family out of the judgement He sent upon the earth.

There is something else here. Victor Hamilton has made the interesting observation that our passage

does not say that God remembered Noah’s righteousness and obedience. Had it gone that way, then 8:1 would have scored the point that Noah was spared principally because of his character, a character that merited deliverance. Nor does the text state that God recalled his earlier words to Noah about a forthcoming covenant (6:18). That would reduce the activity of God to simply a psychological flashback. By trimming the description of the divine remembrance as much as possible, the point is made that when all appears helpless God intervenes to prevent tragedy. For God to remember someone means that God extends mercy to someone by saving that person from death (8:1; 19:29) or from barrenness (30:22).[2]

This is so very important. God’s saving movement toward Noah and his family is all of grace and dependent upon the strength of His own initiated covenant. Yes, Noah was faithful, but, in the end, only God can save and God alone does save! He saves because He seesNoah and remembers Noah! The ark is the result of divine zakar!

It is interesting to note that zakar, remembrance, is all throughout scripture. Let us consider some representative examples so that we might have a wholistic biblical picture.

God Remembers

Let us first observe two more examples of God’s remembrance. In Exodus 6 we see zakarspoken of in direct connection to the covenant.

⁵ Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.

We see the same in Jeremiah 31, a passage filled with paternal affection and care.

²⁰ Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, declares the Lord.

Throughout scripture, God remembers!

God Remembers the Sins of the Wicked

As we have said, God remembers His people to salvation, but He remembers the wicked to judgment. Consider Hosea 7:

² But they do not consider that I remember all their evil. Now their deeds surround them; they are before my face.

God remembers the “all” the evil deeds of the wicked. Likewise, in Revelation 18, we read this of Babylon:

⁴ Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; ⁵ for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.”

Yes, God does indeed see and know and remember the sins of those who have not turned to Him in repentance and faith.

God Does Not Remember the Sins of His People

Amazingly, however, God does notremember the sins of His forgiven people! The Lord says in Isaiah 43:

²⁵“I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”

In Jeremiah 31, the Lord speaks of His not remembering the sins of His people in connection with His forgiveness:

^34e For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

In other words, He does not remember (zakar)His people’s sins because He has forgiven them!

People Cry Out for God to Remember

That earlier people understood this concept better than we do is evident in examples of human beings calling out to God for remembrance. Thus, in Jeremiah 14, we read:

²¹ Do not spurn us, for your name’s sake; do not dishonor your glorious throne; remember and do not break your covenant with us.

Perhaps more well-known is the cry for remembrance offered by the penitent thief in Luke 23:

⁴² And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” ⁴³ And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

This calling out to God for remembrance makes perfect sense once the concept is grasped, no? For if our salvation hinges upon God’s covenant-faithful-and-loving-zakar, should we not call out for Him to remember? To cry out “Remember me, oh God!” is to cry out, “Move toward me in love and save me, oh God!”

Here, then, is the downward movement of zakar: God reaches down in zakar and saves His people!

Noah remembers and therefore worships.

What, then, of the upward movement of zakar? If God remembers in covenant faithfulness, should we not remember as well? In fact we should! Noah and his family certainly remembered. This is made clear in Noah’s actions immediately upon exiting the ark.

¹⁸ So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. ¹⁹ Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark. ²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

Hamilton asks, “How now shall Noah orient himself to dry ground? After all, he has been floating on water for three hundred and sixty-five days. The first thing Noah does is to engage in worship…This is the first reference in the Bible to an altar.”[3] How amazing! Noah builds an altar! Noah offers sacrifice! Noah worships! God’s zakarleads to salvation and our zakaris to lead to worship! Why? Because how can we notbe moved to worship when we remember how faithful and gracious God has been to save us?! How can we notbuild an altar of praise?!

Westermann writes that “spontaneous celebration, the result of salvation experienced, is just as much a part of the necessary life of worship as the permanent, regularly organized service.” To which R. Kent Hughes added, “Noah sacrificed ‘some of all’ the clean animals, evidencing his overflowing gratefulness toward the Lord.”[4]Nobody had to tell Noah to worship! Noah knew what God had just brought him and his family through!

Yes, there is an upward movement of zakarthat we offer to God. That is called “worship.” I would propose that this sense of awe and remembrance of the goodness and sovereignty and awesomeness of God can only move us to worship as we should. Ken Mathews observes that “[t]he expression ‘remembered’ (zakar) does not mean ‘calling to mind’ here; it is covenant language, designating covenant fidelity…Israel’s God had remembered Noah, and by this Israel too was incited to remember the Lord of Sinai.”[5]

We too should be “incited to remember the Lord of Sinai.” Indeed, much more so, because we have now seen Jesus, the Lord of the cross and the empty tomb! How can we not zakar? How can we not remember? And, remembering, how can we not worship! Writing to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, Paul says:

⁸ Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel

We see, now, do we not, that Paul is not calling upon Timothy to stop and bring Jesus to mind. No, Paul is calling upon Timothy to zakar, to remember unto action, to remember unto worship and obedience! And now we are equipped to make sense of the most famous call for zakar in the New Testament, in all of scripture. It is found in Luke 22:

¹⁹And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Ah! “Do this in remembrance of me!” “Church, zakar!Remember Me!” Jesus is saying. It is as if He is saying, “I went to the cross because I remembered! Will you not carry your cross now because you remember? Do youremember Me?”

Church may zakarbe written on our hearts and our lives! May our minds and hearts zakar, but so too may our hands and feet and tongues and eyes and all that we are!

Zakar, church! Remember! For you have been remembered by our great God!

 

[1]R. Kent Hughes, Genesis. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2004), p.142.

[2]Victor Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1-17. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Gen. Eds., R.K. Harrison and Robert L. Hubbard (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1990), p.299.

[3]Ibid., 307.

[4]R. Kent Hughes, p.392.

[5]Kenneth A. Mathews, Genesis 1:11-26. The New American Commentary. Old Testament, vol. 1A (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, Publishers, 1996), p.382-383.