We are still in chapter 48 of Genesis with our word for today used 5 times in our chapter. הִנֵּה behold, see, lo, if. It is used 1,061 times in the Old Testament. Our word is a demonstrative particle which means it is used for pointing out persons, things, and places, as well as actions. In other words, used to draw attention to something or someone. A good example of this word is when God gets Moses attention. Exodus 3:1-4 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and וְהִנֵּ֤ה behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, הִנֵּֽנִי “Here I am.”
When Jacob was running away from Esau who wanted to kill him our word is used in his dream to point out significant things to encourage him. Genesis 28:12-15 And he dreamed, and וְהִנֵּ֤ה behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And וְהִנֵּה֙ behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And וְהִנֵּ֨ה behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. וְהִנֵּ֨ה Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
Today in our chapter we see Jacob using our word to focus on the best relationship of all. Genesis 48:21 Then Israel said to Joseph, הִנֵּ֥ה “Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your fathers. This is amazing. The most important gift we can leave our loved ones is giving them the confidence in God. Jacob is encouraging Joseph’s relationship with God not just with these words he draws attention to with our word behold. But also living a life of trust in God. When our loved ones know where we are going after death to be with God it encourages them to continue to live and serve God with the end goal of being together again. David also understood this when his child died that he would one day go to be where the child was now with God. 2 Samuel 12:22-23 He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.” I’ll close with Jesus words that not only challenge us with our purpose but also encourage us because God will be with us. Matthew 28:19-20 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
