Have you ever read or heard a teaching that stayed with you for years? One that has stuck around in my head was part of a message I heard from the rabbi in the Messianic group I met with for several years. He spoke on the Hebrew word hinneh, which is sometimes translated “Here I am!” I think of that every time I read this phrase in the Bible, and since it’s held such interest for me for so long I wanted to revisit the topic.
The word hinneh and the root word hen are both “An interjection demanding attention,” such as “look!” “behold!” or “see!” The root hen is used about 100 times, and hinneh “occurs over a thousand times” in scripture (Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament [TWOT], entry 510). Hinneh “emphasizes the immediacy, the here-and-now-ness, of the situation” and is often “used to point out people” (TWOT, entry 510a). In scripture, it is often used to “introduce a fact upon which a following statement or command is based,” such as “Behold, I am going to proclaim liberty” (Jer. 34:17).
Answering God
Like many Hebrew words, hinneh includes multiple nuances of meaning. In general, though, we can say that this word calls attention to something important and focuses on here-and-now immediacy. With that in mind, there are several times that God calls to a person and they answer by saying, hinneh. Here’s one:
After these things, God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”
He said, “Here I am.”
He said, “Now take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go into the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of.” …
Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to kill his son.
Yahweh’s angel called to him out of the sky, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”
He said, “Here I am.”
He said, “Don’t lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
Genesis 22:1-2, 10-12, WEB
Abraham was responsive. When God called to him, he immediately answered hinneh: see me here, now, ready to do what you say. This is the same reaction that Moses had at the burning bush (Ex. 3:3-5). This is what the little boy Samuel said when God called him (1 Sam. 3:1-10). It’s how Isaiah responded when God said, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” (Is. 6:8, WEB). Hinneh is the sort of responsive readiness we should have when God makes Himself and His desires known to us.
When God Says Hen
There are also some verses where God uses the root word hen to call attention to what He is doing or say, “Here I am!” Two are found in passages from Isaiah that Paul references in Romans 10. Romans is a book where Paul spend a lot of time talking about how God relates to Jewish and Gentile believers. In this chapter, he said that he desired salvation for his fellow Israelites and lamented that “they did not submit to God’s righteousness” (Rom. 10:4, NET). He quoted extensively from the Old Testament in this section, showing that belief in the Lord Jesus is necessary for salvation and in order to believe, people have to hear the good news.
How are they to call on one they have not believed in? And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of? And how are they to hear without someone preaching to them? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How timely is the arrival of those who proclaim the good news.” …
But I ask, have they not heard? Yes, they have … But again I ask, didn’t Israel understand? First Moses says, “I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; with a senseless nation I will provoke you to anger.” And Isaiah is even bold enough to say, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I became well known to those who did not ask for me.”
Romans 10:14-15, 18-20 NET (bold italics mark quotations from Isa 52:7/Nah 1:15, Deut 32:21, and Isa 65:1)
One of the reasons that God opened up salvation to non-Israelite nations was to provoke the Israelite people to jealousy that would inspire them to finally turn back to following Him faithfully. Let’s look at the context for two of the places in Isaiah that Paul quotes in this passage, where God says, “Here I am!” and uses the exclamation hen.
And now, what do we have here?” says the Lord.
Isaiah 52:5-7, NET
“Indeed my people have been carried away for nothing,
those who rule over them taunt,” says the Lord,
“and my name is constantly slandered all day long.
For this reason my people will know my name;
for this reason they will know at that time that I am the one who says,
‘Here I am.’”
How delightful it is to see approaching over the mountains
the feet of a messenger who announces peace,
a messenger who brings good news, who announces deliverance,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
“I made myself available to those who did not ask for me;
Isaiah 65:1-2, NET
I appeared to those who did not look for me.
I said, ‘Here I am! Here I am!’
to a nation that did not invoke my name.
I spread out my hands all day long
to my rebellious people,
who lived in a way that is morally unacceptable,
and who did what they desired.
God will not be mocked or slandered, either by those who claim to be His people or by His declared enemies. He acts powerfully for the sake of His name and reputation, and for the people who are called by His name. He shows up, saying, “Here I am!” to bring deliverance and salvation and to beg people to come into a life-giving relationship with Him.
Crying Out To God
God can always hear when people cry out to Him. There are some things, though, that scripture indicates will make Him stop listening. Sin separates us from God so that He will not hear us (Is. 59:1-2). We can take steps to fix that, though, by repenting of our sins, asking God’s forgiveness, and changing our actions.
Then your light will shine like the sunrise;
Isaiah 58:8-10, NET
your restoration will quickly arrive;
your godly behavior will go before you,
and the Lord’s splendor will be your rear guard.
Then you will call out, and the Lord will respond;
you will cry out, and he will reply, ‘Here I am.’
You must remove the burdensome yoke from among you
and stop pointing fingers and speaking sinfully.
You must actively help the hungry
and feed the oppressed.
Then your light will dispel the darkness,
and your darkness will be transformed into noonday.
When we have a right relationship with God, He will respond, “Here I am!” when we call out for Him just like we will say, “Here I am!” when He calls for us. I had never noticed this aspect of hinneh before; I’d always just thought of it as how we can respond to God. Seeing these scriptures where He says, “Here I am!” underscores how important it is to Him that the relationship between Him and His people goes both ways. He wants us to respond to Him when He speaks, to see Him when He acts, and to benefit from His immediate presence in our lives.
Featured image by Temi Coker from Lightstock
Song Recommendation: “Here Am I” by MercyMe
Like An Anchor 