The Psalmist, also, uses this word over and over again, as for example

in Psalm 119: 'I have hoped in Thy Word' (Psa. 119:74).

In Job 14 this 'waiting with hope' is associated with resurrection:

'If a man die, shall he live again?  All the days of my appointed time

will I wait, till my change come' (Job 14:14).

In certain constructions of the verb, yachal means 'to tarry', but even

then the thought of hope is still persistent.

In Genesis 8:12 we read:

'And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which

returned not again unto him any more'.

In verse 10 of the same chapter we read:

'And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove

out of the ark'.

What a great deal is missed by not reading the original.  The same word

'stayed' comes in the Authorized Version of both verses, and yet there is all

the difference in the world between the tormenting anxiety of one verse and

the confident hope of the other.  In Genesis 8:10 the word means 'to twist,

to turn, as in a whirlwind, or to writhe as in pain, to tremble, probably

from the leaping and palpitation of the heart', whereas in 8:12 the word

means 'to wait in hope'.

Coming back to Job again, we find the same confidence begotten of hope

in chapter 13: 'Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him' (Job 13:15).  And

in Psalm 33 we read:

'Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear Him, upon them that

hope in His mercy; to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them

alive in famine.  Our soul waiteth for the Lord: He is our help and our

shield.  For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in

His holy name.  Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope

in Thee' (Psa. 33:18 -22).

While the conception of waiting implies quietness, silence and a cessation

for the time being of great activity, waiting can and does enter into the

meaning of active service as the following passages will show, quite apart

from the poet's observation,

'They also serve who only stand and wait'.

'They waited on their office according to their order' (1 Chron. 6:32).

'The priests waited on their offices' (2 Chron. 7:6).

'Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites that waited' (Neh.

In the Hebrew this word 'wait' is amad, 'to stand', and, followed by

different prepositions, it is used of service rendered to a king.

'And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of

Egypt' (Gen. 41:46).