What is more precious than our memories: the remembrance of a shared experience with a special friend, a parent’s words of advice, a new insight from an admired teacher, a personal discovery about life? Most people can vividly recall many happy experiences such as their first date or camping trip, and they can still feel pain from a time they were caught and upbraided by their parents for a forbidden act. Our memories help us to relive events and feelings from our past that have helped to shape us into what and who we are today.

Memory, in fact, is far more than just the ability to recall past events. It is the special capacity that God has given to people to make the past present for application to all that it touches, to make it "eternal" within our lives. How often do we make a decision based upon our memory of an experience which molded our thoughts and which still lives with us today?

Memory as a Spiritual Filter

The value of memory for understanding and interpreting the past is as important on the corporate or societal level as it is to the individual. For the Children of Israel, the forty-year sojourn in the desert wilderness was a difficult and demanding experience at the time it was happening, but the memory of that event has had even more profound importance in shaping their understanding and worship of God through the rest of history. It was only in retrospect that Moses could teach the Israelites the meaning of their experience. "Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way into the desert these forty years, to humble you and to rest you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands" (Deuteronomy 8:2).

leadership during this time. "I brought you up out of Egypt, and I led you forty years in the desert to give you the land of the Amorites" (Amos 2:10). Jeremiah used the memory of the desert to remind them of their calling to faithfulness to God. "I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert, through a land not sown" (Jeremiah 2:2).

Through the passage of time, the telling and retelling of the story of the desert wandering became part of the fabric of the lives of the Children of Israel, and its memory became a key part of the corporate memory which shaped their understanding of God. Each time the story was remembered and retold, the experience gained a new richness and depth, and it allowed understandings of the truth of the event to emerge which were only possible through the vitality of memory.

The desert wandering was just one of the hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of stories which were preserved first by oral tradition and later in writing to teach lessons for living and worship, to maintain continuity of life and faith, and to remind the Children of Isreal of their special covenant relationship with God. To know God was not to name him–indeed, they refrained from even pronouncing the name of God–it was to recall the stories of His actions and His mighty works in their lives. For example:

"Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation by testings, by miraculous signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?" (Deuteronomy 4:33-34).

"Sing to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles and the judgments he pronounced" (Psalm 105:2, 5).

In a real sense, the Bible is a record of the collective memories of the Children of Israel as they have experienced God. Many of the stories were written down hundreds of years after the events took place when they had been distilled to the true essence of their spiritual meaning. The details of many of the stories are sparse, but the essence of their meanings and their application to the lives of the Hebrew people was clear and strong.

In the New Testament, the Gospel of John was written several decades after the other Gospels and it has quite a different perspective from Matthew, Mark and Luke on the events of the life of Jesus. Because of its differences, some readers have questioned its historical accuracy. In fact, the account of John may provide the truest history of the four Gospel writers because the true spiritual significance of Jesus’ ministry had emerged with greater clarity with the passage of time than was obvious when the first three Gospels were written. It was important for John to record the events again from a sacred perspective to bring out and preserve their extraordinary spiritual meaning which had only become evident through the filters of time and memory.

Memory as a Guide to Holiness

Throughout the Old Testament writings, the ability to remember and learn from the past is equated with obedience and holiness, as in the following passages:

"Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. That is why command I you to do this" (Deuteronomy 24:18).

"From everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him . . . with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts" (Psalm 103:17-18).

On the other hand, the lack of memory is equated with sin and disobedience, as in the following:

"They set up Baal-Berith as their god and did not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their enemies" (Judges 8:33-34).

"They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery" (Nehemiah 9:16-17).

Memory of the Elders

From the time of Moses onward for many generations, groups of elders were appointed to advise and assist in the leadership of their clans, tribes and communities. The elders (from the Hebrew word zaqen which is from a root which means "beard" or "chin") were the senior members of their clans. They were those who had the longest memories and most profound perspectives on life from which to draw counsel and provide wisdom to younger generations. The elders played an important role in the life of Israel. Seventy of the elders participated with Moses at the covenant meal at Sinai (Exodus 24:9-11). As the task of governing Israel grew in complexity, part of the burden was transferred to a council of seventy elders (Numbers 11:16-17). The elders played a crucial role in David’s getting and retaining the throne (II Samuel 3:17). In the legal codes of Deuteronomy, the elders were responsible for administering justice, sitting as judges at the city gate (Deuteronomy 22:15), deciding cases affecting family life (Deuteronomy 21:18-21; 22:13-21), and executing decisions (Deuteronomy 19:11-13; 21:1-9). Clearly, the Hebrew pattern of life valued the elders as dispensers of wisdom and judgment based on their longer lives and subsequently greater knowledge and insights regarding the nation’s history and relationship with God.

Making the Past Present through Memory

Rather than simply serving to recall past events, our memory has a larger function of feeding the present and enhancing our daily experiences which a richness of understanding that enables us to make good decisions and to live wisely. Our memory acts as a powerful filter that colors and adds meaning and depth to all of our perceptions. Through its interaction with our daily experience, our memory keeps the past alive and present to continue shaping our decisions for the future.

The Hebrew elders served a vital role in preserving the past and interpreting the present through their longer perspective on life. To younger generations, they were a living history and a link to the generations who had gone before. Because of their greater number of years, the elders had more opportunities to grow spiritually and consequently more insights into the significance of events which occurred in their lives. Most importantly, the elders could help interpret how the events fit into God’s purpose for his people and his creation. The memory of the elders was truly a resource of wisdom and guidance for younger people in the application of lessons from the past to the needs of the present (see Deuteronomy 32:7, at the beginning of this article.)

Memory as the Root of Wisdom

Without memory, there is no wisdom. Insights and judgment cannot be formed in a vacuum but only through thoughtful pondering and reflection on the issues through the filters of memory. Our individual and collective memories shape our current reality and give us the capacity for growing in wisdom, as did the Hebrew elders. The key ingredient needed to distill wisdom from memory is a sacred perspective which recognizes God’s hand and seeks His purpose in all of life’s events.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding" (Proverbs 9:10).