We are still in chapter 45 of Genesis with our word for today. חָיָה be alive, stay alive, live, revive, recover, return to life, flourish. It is used 282 times in the Old Testament. We see it used in the sense of becoming healed or recovering. Joshua 5:8 And after the whole nation had been circumcised, they remained where they were in camp until they were חֲיוֹתָֽם healed. 2 Samuel 12:22 He answered, “While the child was still חַ֔י alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child וְחַ֥י live.’ 2 Kings 8:8-10 he said to Hazael, “Take a gift with you and go to meet the man of God. Consult the Lord through him; ask him, ‘Will I הַאֶחְיֶ֖ה recover from this illness?’” Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him as a gift forty camel-loads of all the finest wares of Damascus. He went in and stood before him, and said, “Your son Ben-Hadad king of Aram has sent me to ask, ‘Will I הַאֶחְיֶ֖ה recover from this illness?’” Elisha answered, “Go and say to him, ‘You will certainly תִחְיֶ֑ה recover.’
This is the sense of how our word is used today in our chapter. Even though Jacob was not physically sick his grief was intense that it was like a sickness in how it affected his life. Remember where Jacob was before he heard the news his son was still alive. Genesis 37:34-35 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave.” So his father wept for him. Genesis 42:36, 38 Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me!...But Jacob said, “My son will not go down there with you; his brother is dead and he is the only one left. If harm comes to him on the journey you are taking, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in sorrow.” Genesis 43:14 And may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved. So this is where Jacob was at and yesterday we saw that his heart became numb when he first heard the news that his son Joseph was alive. It just couldn’t be true after all of these years and he probably didn’t want to relive the pain of his lose over Joseph. But once he had time for all of the evidence from his sons to realize it was true his heart went from being numb to his spirit becoming our word for today. Genesis 45:27-28 But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob וַתְּחִ֕י revived. And Israel said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.” What a great contrast from intensely bitter grief to having his spirit revived. This is our God who heals our hearts and revives our spirits. I’ll close with this encouraging prayer for God to revive his people again which is based on God’s promise to give his people his peace. Psalm 85:4, 6-8 Restore us again, God our Savior, and put away your displeasure toward us…Will you not תְּחַיֵּ֑נוּ revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your unfailing love, Lord, and grant us your salvation. I will listen to what God the Lord says; he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants— but let them not turn to folly.
