StrongerBible

azkarah

אַזְכָּרָה

HebrewH0234“memorial portion, memorial, ...”

Appears 7 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Lev 2:2Lev 2:9Lev 2:16Lev 5:12Lev 6:15(8)Lev 24:7Num 5:26
Root family
Word studyaz-kah-RAHnoun

What azkarah means

the burned share: the small part of a grain offering that the priest burned on the altar for God, standing for the whole gift while the rest went to the priests

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

Grain offerings in Leviticus were divided rather than burned whole. The priest took out a handful of the flour, together with all of the frankincense on it, and burned that handful on the altar; the far larger remainder became food for the priests. This word names the burned handful, and it never appears outside these altar rituals.

The name is built on the verb "to remember" (זָכַר), and older readings took the smoke as carrying the worshiper's name up to God so that God would call the person to mind. Scholars are divided about that. Others argue the burned share is not a prompt to God's memory but a token: the handful stands in for the whole offering, all of which already belongs to God in the first place. Both readings describe the same act at the altar and differ over what the act says.

The word covers three settings in the ritual laws:

  • the handful burned from an ordinary grain offering of flour and oil
  • the frankincense burned beside the twelve loaves kept in the holy place
  • the handful burned from the grain offering brought when a husband accused his wife

A broader word for a memorial (זִכָּרוֹן) can name almost any reminder: a rainbow, engraved stones, a festival, a written record. This word is narrower in every direction. It is a technical term of the sanctuary, always a portion of food, always burned, and always the part that God receives.

Nuances

1athe handful burned on the altar from a grain offering, given to God while the rest of the offering fed the priests
Lev 2:2Lev 2:9Lev 2:16Lev 5:12Lev 6:15(8)
1bthe frankincense burned for the twelve loaves that were set out before God each week
Lev 24:7
1cthe handful burned from the grain offering brought when a husband accused his wife, laying the charge before God for a verdict
Num 5:26

Disputed

Whether the azkarah is a reminder set before God or a representative token of the whole offering.

  • contestedA representative token: the burned handful stands for the entire offering, which belongs to God, and is not a device to prod the divine memory.; Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 1-16, Anchor Bible 3 (New York: Doubleday, 1991), 181-82
  • contestedA memorial in the older sense: the burning causes the worshiper to be mentioned or brought to mind before God, in line with the causative uses of the root.; H. Eising, "זָכַר zākhar," TDOT 4 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), 64-82; Leslie C. Allen, "זכר zkr," NIDOTTE 1 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997), 1100-1106; BDB, s.v. אַזְכָּרָה

What scholars say about azkarah

אַזְכָּרָה is a Priestly technical term, formed on the causative stem of זכר, denoting the token of a cereal offering consumed on the altar (Lev 2:2, 9, 16; 5:12; 6:15 [MT 6:8]; 24:7; Num 5:26). BDB and HALOT gloss it as "memorial offering, token portion," and both connect the formation to the causative sense "cause to be mentioned/remembered." Eising (TDOT 4:64-82) and Allen (NIDOTTE 1:1100-1106) treat the noun as one of the clearest survivals of the verbal-cultic dimension of the root, alongside the liturgical Hiphil הזכיר and the office of the מזכיר; on this reading the burning of the handful effects the mention of the offerer before YHWH. Milgrom (Leviticus 1-16, AB 3, 181-82) rejects the reminder model and argues for a representative token: the portion is a synecdoche for the whole minḥah, which is in principle God's. Milgrom nevertheless concedes the forensic מזכרת עון of the sotah ordeal (Num 5:15), where the accompanying offering does bring iniquity to remembrance before YHWH, and this is the context of the azkarah in Num 5:26. Lev 24:7 is the anomalous instance: the לבנה placed with the שתים עשרה חלות is itself designated the azkarah, i.e. the burned surrogate for bread that is not burned, which most commentators take as an extension of the same token logic.

Sources

  • BDB, s.v. אַזְכָּרָהlexicon
  • HALOT, s.v. אַזְכָּרָהlexicon
  • H. Eising, "זָכַר zākhar," in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), 64-82theological-dictionary
  • Leslie C. Allen, "זכר zkr," in New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997), 1100-1106theological-dictionary
  • Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 1-16, Anchor Bible 3 (New York: Doubleday, 1991), 181-82commentary

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of אַזְכָּרָה

f s construct

אַזְכָּרָתָהּ

Lev 2:2, Lev 2:9, Lev 2:16, Lev 6:15, Num 5:26

f s absolute

אַזְכָּרָה

Lev 24:7

f s absolute

אַזְכָּרָתָה

Lev 5:12