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#5.
The waiting upon God that waits in hope.
p. 204
We turn now to a word which means not only "to wait", but "to wait with hope"
(Hebrew yachal).
Job's use of this word in Job 29: is particularly illuminating:
"Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel. After my words they spake not
again; and my speech dropped upon them. And they waited for me as for the rain" (Job 29: 21-23).
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 present.
In Gen. 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 A.V. 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 Gen. 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 (`to wait confidently', as in #4 (page 184) of this series): 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"
(Psalm 33: 18-22).