Hebrew Word Study – And You Shall Call –  ‘Uqera’them  וקרתם  Vav Qop Resh Taw Mem

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Jeremiah 29:12: “Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.”

The prophet is conveying God’s word to Israel who are in captivity. He reminds them that He has plans for them, plans that do not mean harm but prosperity, to bring to them a future and hope. This will come when they call upon the Lord. The words “And you will call…” is uqera’them in Hebrew.  It is in a perfect form but carries a Vav consecutive to convert it to an imperfect form which can only be expressed in English as a future tense, but it is conveying much more than that. It is conveying a tenderness, longing, and passion for this calling.  

The other day my study partner and I were driving home from some shopping. We had her little Havanese dog named Moxie with us.  The two are inseparable.  So much so that when we stopped at the Dollar Store I stayed in the car with Moxie as she ran into the store for a couple of items. The moment she handed Moxie to me to hold him while she ran into the store, the little guy knew what would happen. His beloved companion was going to leave him and he did not like it all. When she opened the car door the little Mox fought in an almost panic, wiggling, kicking, and trying to break loose from my grip. Then when she walked into the Dollar Store, Moxie became like a little statue with his little dark eyes focused on the entrance door to the Dollar Store.  He did not move but remained focused on that door, waiting for my study partner to return. Every so often he would give a little whimper, but he still did not divert his attention from that door.  You could almost feel the longing, the tenderness, and the hope in those little eyes.  If dogs could cry, I am sure I would have seen tears in those puppy eyes.  

I could not help but think this is how God feels as he waits for us to call upon Him.  Like little Moxie, God does not know time.  God lives outside of time, so He lives in infinity which means He can focus His entire attention on each of us individually. It is almost as if you live in a separate universe, totally removed from everyone else, that little universe is made up of just God and you.  He is a personal God.  Sort of like Moxie’s universe is made up of just my study partner and him.  When they were separated Moxie did not just settle in my lap and take a nap, he was alert and focused on one thing, the return of his beloved companion. 

God is patient, focused on you, and waiting for you to call upon Him. He is waiting for you to “go.”  This is a literary device known as an ellipsis. An ellipsis is an omission from speech or writing of a word or words that are superfluous or able to be understood.  In English, it is indicated by a series of three dots (…).  The tenderness that is conveyed in the Hebrew makes the missing words superfluous. Surely, if you sense the longing in that word you will understand that this “you shall go…” is a reference to going in His way or His direction, toward Him. 

The word for way or path in Hebrew is derek.  It almost sounds like our English word direction. God is not only longing for us to call upon Him but to move in the path or direction that will lead right to him, into His longing arms. 

When my study partner returned from her shopping in the Dollar Store he jumped out of my lap and headed in her direction and right into her arms, covering her with wet, sloppy kisses. He acted like she was away for months or years. 

Then when we call upon God, move in His direction or toward Him we will pray.  The word for pray in this verse in Hebrew is hithepalaltem from the root word palal. The word palal is your word for prayer but has the idea of bringing together, attaching to something.  As I indicated in another study, it is a word used for the notch in a tent peg.  A tent peg connects the tent to the ground, but it needs that notch in the peg to make sure the tent material stays attached to the peg and therefore the ground.   When we call upon God, and move toward Him we then become attached to him or palal.  The second letter, Taw, in the word hithepalaltem puts this verb into a Hithpael form which makes it reflexive.  Hence this would be rendered as causing yourself to be attached to God.  When you call upon God, and move toward him you will cause yourself to become attached to Him.

My study partner did not pick up Moxie when she came to the car, she not even reach for him, he just jumped upon her causing her to catch him and hold him.  You see God is anxiously waiting for us to call upon Him. When we do and move toward Him, jump into His arms He cannot help but hold us for that is what he longs to do and it is just that much sweeter for Him if we are the ones jumping into His arms, just as it is sweeter for my study partner to hold her Moxie when he jumps into her arms. 

At that point when we jump into the arms of God and He holds us, we have His full attention as we always have only this time, He has our full attention, and when that happens when we both have His each other’s full attention he “harkens” unto us.  The word harken is shama’ which is listening, hearing, and responding. When Moxie jumped into my study partner’s arms she could not help but respond and listen to his heart cry which was to be close to her.  Just as God cannot resist our heart cry to be close to Him when we cry unto him and move toward him and then attach ourselves to Him. 

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