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Only infrequently is
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used of seeking out a place, or as a verb of movement
toward a place. So Joseph “sought [a place] to weep; and he entered into his chamber,
and wept there” (Gen. 43:30).
Theologically, this verb can be used not only “to seek” a location before the Lord (to
stand before Him in the temple and seek to secure His blessing), but it may also be used
of a state of mind: “But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find
him, if thou seek him [
] with all thy heart and with all thy soul” (Deut. 4:29). In
instances such as this where the verb is used in synonymous parallelism with
, the
two verbs have the same meaning.
(
(
, 1875), “to seek, inquire, consult, ask, require, frequent.” This word is
a common Semitic word, being found in Ugaritic and Syriac as well as in Hebrew in its
various periods. It is commonly used in modern Hebrew in its verbal form for “to
interpret, expound” and then in its derived noun forms for “sermon, preacher.” Occurring
more than 160 times in the Old Testament,
is first used in Gen. 9:5: “And surely
your blood of your lives will I require.…” It often has the idea of avenging an offense
against God or the shedding of blood (see Ezek. 33:6).
One of the most frequent uses of this word is in the expression “to inquire of God,”
which sometimes indicates a private seeking of God in prayer for direction (Gen. 25:22),
and often it refers to the contacting of a prophet who would be the instrument of God’s
revelation (1 Sam. 9:9; 1 Kings 22:8). At other times this expression is found in
connection with the use of the Urim and Thummim by the high priest as he sought to
discover the will of God by the throwing of these sacred stones (Num. 27:21). Just what
was involved is not clear, but it may be presumed that only yes-or-no questions could be
answered by the manner in which these stones fell. Pagan people and sometimes even
apostate Israelites “inquired of” heathen gods. Thus, Ahaziah instructed messengers:
“Go, inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease” (2
Kings 1:2). In gross violation of the Mosaic law (Deut. 18:10- 11), Saul went to the witch
of Endor “to inquire of” her, which in this instance meant that she was to call up the spirit
of the dead prophet Samuel (1 Sam. 28:3ff.). Saul went to the witch of Endor as a last
resort, saying, “Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and
%$
of her” (1 Sam. 28:7,
RSV
).
This word is often used to describe the “seeking of” the Lord in the sense of entering
into covenantal relationship with Him. The prophets often used
as they called on
the people to make an about-face in living and instead “seek ye the Lord while he may be
found …” (Isa. 55:6).
B. Noun.
"
can mean “study; commentary; story.” This noun occurs a few times in late
biblical Hebrew (2 Chron. 13:22); it is commonly used in post-biblical Judaism to refer to
the various traditional commentaries by the Jewish sages. One occurrence of the word is
in 2 Chron. 24:27: “Now concerning his sons, and the greatness of the burdens laid upon
him … they are written in the story [commentary] of the Book of the Kings.”
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