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times; this word and
are descriptive of blessing in Gen. 39:6: “Now Joseph was
handsome in form [
] and appearance [
]” (
NASB
).
"
refers more to
external “appearance” (Gen. 2:9), and the word can also connote “sight” as in a range of
vision (Lev. 13:3) and “sight” in the sense of a supernatural “sight” or manifestation
(Exod. 3:3).
TO SEEK
A. Verbs.
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(
, 1245), “to seek, search, consult.” This verb occurs only in Ugaritic,
Phoenician, and Hebrew (both biblical and post-biblical). It appears in the Bible about
220 times and in all periods.
Basically
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means “to seek” to find something that is lost or missing, or, at
least, whose location is unknown. In Gen. 37:15 a man asks Joseph: “What seekest
thou?” A special nuance of this sense is “to seek out of a group; to choose, select”
something or someone yet undesignated, as in 1 Sam. 13:14: “… The Lord hath sought
him a man after his own heart.…” To seek one’s face is “to seek” to come before him, or
to have a favorable audience with him; all the world “was seeking” the presence of
Solomon (1 Kings 10:24). In a similar sense one may “seek” God’s face by standing
before Him in the temple praying (2 Sam. 21:1).
The sense “seek to secure” emphasizes the pursuit of a wish or the accomplishing of a
plan. Moses asked the Levites who rebelled against the unique position of Aaron and his
sons: “… Seek ye the priesthood also?” (Num. 16:10). This usage may have an emotional
coloring, such as, “to aim at, devote oneself to, and be concerned about.” So God asks the
sons of men (mankind): “… How long will ye turn my glory into shame? How long will
ye love vanity, and seek after [sin]?” (Ps. 4:2). Cultically one may “seek” to secure God’s
favor or help: “And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord …” (2
Chron. 20:4). In such usages the intellectual element usually is in the background; there is
no seeking after information. An exception to this is Judg. 6:29: “And when they inquired
[
D
and asked [
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], they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing.”
Infrequently this verb is used of seeking information from God (Exod. 33:7). In a similar
sense one may “seek” God’s face (2 Sam. 21:1). Here
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is clearly used of searching
for information (a cognitive pursuit). Also, compare the pursuit of wisdom (Prov. 2:4).
This sense of “seeking to secure” may also be used of seeking one’s life (
).
God told Moses to “go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life”
(Exod. 4:19).
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may be used with this same nuance but without
—so
Pharaoh “sought to slay Moses” (Exod. 2:15). Only twice is this nuance applied to
seeking to procure one’s good as in Ps. 122:9: “Because of the house of the Lord our God
I will seek thy good” (usually
is used of seeking one’s good).
About 20 times
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means to hold someone responsible for something because
the speaker has a (real or supposed) legal right to it. In Gen. 31:39 (the first biblical
occurrence of the verb) Jacob points out to Laban that regarding animals lost to wild
beasts, “of my hand didst thou require it.”