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OT
Got interested in doing a word study of “Wait” partly
because of a sermon and partly because of my current circumstance; I’m
“waiting” to find a job right now, and the sermon was (partly) about waiting
for God to answer.
A point that I found interesting in the sermon was that a
conversation (properly) is bi-directional: it requires at least two people
listening to each other and replying to each other. If you talk but don’t expect or wait for a
reply then you are not really having a conversation. A farmer plants his seeds, cultivates the
field, and then must wait for the crop so he can harvest it.
When I think of waiting the first thing that comes to mind
is just standing around, waiting for something to happen. But, after a moments reflection on my two
examples above, someone must initiate the conversation before they can wait for
a reply; the farmer must plant the seeds before he can wait for a crop.
Probably because it is a song, one of the first scriptures
that comes to my mind is Isaiah 40:31 – They that wait upon the Lord shall
renew their strength. The mental
picture I have of this verse is that of a person who has been walking down the
road, is exhausted, and so is now sitting and resting by the side of the road
watching the world go by (I have no idea where the picture comes from). Or, Psalms 25:5 – Lead me in your truth, and
teach me: for you are the God of my salvation; on you do I wait all the
day. Again, I have the mental image of
someone sitting in a chair; just sitting.
I dug up a copy of Strong’s and discovered that in both of
these examples the word translated wait is H6960, or qavah. This is only one of several Hebrew words that
are translated as wait in my Bible.
However, what I find interesting is that (as is often true) this word is
also translated as gathered in Genesis 1:9 – Let the waters under the heaven be
gathered together unto one place.
Looking again at Strong’s and at Brown-Driver-Briggs it appears to me
(scholars, please correct me if I am wrong!!) that the basic meaning of the
word is “to gather, bind, or twist together” and that “to wait” is a secondary
meaning. This word is also translated as
“to look”, “to hope”, “to expect”. I
don’t know how or where these secondary meanings come out of the primary
meaning; perhaps someone will enlighten me?
Some of the other words translated as wait are arab “to lurk
or lie in ambush” (hmm, more food for thought?), chiyl “to writhe in pain (as
in childbirth)”, shamar “to hedge about or guard”, dumiyah “silent”, yachal “to
hope for”, sabar “to scrutinize”, chakah “to adhere to”, eth “near”, para “to
expose”, shur “to survey or observe”, oreb “ambush” dumam “silent”, chalah to
make sick”, tsadah “to hunt”, tsediyah “lie in wait”, amad “to stand behind”,
hayah “to exist”, yad “an open hand”, sharath “to attend as a menial or
worshipper”, tsaphah to lean forward, ereb “den”, chuwl “to twist”, damam “to
be silent as one astonished”.
Here is an interesting verse that, with the Hebrew words,
begins to paint an interesting picture in my mind:
Isaiah 8:17 – And I will wait (chakah) upon the LORD, that
hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look (qavah) for him.
Now, rather than sitting in a chair waiting, I begin to get
a picture of “sticking together” with someone, maybe the idea of a younger
sibling “tagging along” with an older sibling?
In any case, the more I look at waiting the less it looks like a passive
occupation and the more it appears to be an active one. We “wait on the Lord” by going with Him, by
joining with Him. And with that, my
mental picture of Isaiah 40:31 changes.
Now I’m thinking of joining with God, of partaking in His enormous,
limitless, strength that that not only allows but encourages me to soar up with
the eagles.
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NT
In the New Testament waiting seems to be a bit
different. As in the OT there are many
Greek words translated as wait. The root
of the main words is dechomai “to accept, receive, take, to embrace”. As I understand the dictionary, it is a
passive verb, as compared to the aggressive lambano “to seize or take with
force”. A word that Paul uses over and
over in his letters is apekdechomai.
This is a complicated word, and I do not understand the construction of
the word very well, but it is composed of the prefix ap “depart, flee,
separate” ek “away from” dechomai “to embrace”.
According to Thayer it means “patiently waiting for”; Strong’s says
“expect fully”.
Rom 8:25 But if we
hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait (apekdechomai) for it.
Prosdechomai is used in Luke 12:36 where Christ says “And ye
yourselves like unto men that wait (prosdechomai) for their lord, when he will
return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto
him immediately.” The prefix pros is
supposed to denote “in front of, before, superior”. Prosdechomai is used in Mark 15:43 to
describe how Joseph of Arimathaea waited for the Kingdom of God and in Luke
2:25 to describe Simeon who was waiting for the Consolation of Israel.
John 5:3 -- In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk,
of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. Here we find the word ekdechomai which Thayer
says is “to accept”.
Acts 1:4 -- And, being assembled together with them,
commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the
promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. Here Christ is quoted using the word perimeno
which means “to stay in a given place”.
1 Thessalonians 1:10 -- And to wait for his Son from heaven,
whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to
come. Here Paul departs from his usual
and uses anemeno “to continue to stay in a given place”.
I have a great need to understand the meaning of
apekdechomai since it is what Paul uses most of the time when he speaks of
“waiting for the hope of righteousness”, waiting for the coming of Christ”,
“waiting for redemption”, “waiting for the revealing of the Sons of God”. NOW I wish I had paid attention when I took
New Testament Greek back in Bible College 30 years ago.
And the sermon that started this? It was based on Luke 5:1-11. The word wait does not occur in this passage,
but the speaker read into the passage the implication that by waiting on Christ
the fishermen were enabled to catch the fish that they couldn’t catch on their
own. And for all I know he may be right,
but I’m pleased that I received the impetus to make this study from his sermon.
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