Then I heard the voice of Adonai saying: “Whom should I send, and who will go for Us?” So I said, “Hineni. Send me.” [Isaiah 6:8 (TLV)]
In Sharon Garlough Brown’s novel, Two Steps Forward, a character choses to pray the Hebrew word hineni during Advent. When another character calls it a beautiful but “costly” prayer, I grew curious about this word. Hineni is composed of two little words, hineh and ani. By itself, hineh is usually translated as “behold” but, when combined with ani (meaning “I”), it usually is translated as “Here I am,” “I’m here,” or “Yes.” However, like shalom, the Hebrew hineni loses the depth of its meaning in translation.
Poh is the Hebrew word used to simply affirm one’s physical presence. We’d respond “Poh,” if the teacher were calling roll or someone asked where we were. Although it’s translated the same as poh, hineni goes beyond a casual “Here I am” or “Yes.” More than a statement of one’s presence, hineni is a declaration of readiness and intent. An offer of total availability, it is blindly agreeing to whatever is asked before the request is made. Like the answer of a servant to his master, hineni is saying (and meaning), “Your wish is my command!” It is emphatic, unquestioning, and unequivocal. Like signing on the dotted line without seeing the contract, hineni can be a costly prayer!
We first find this word in Genesis 22:1. When Abraham responded to God’s call with “Hineni,” he was told to sacrifice Isaac. Without questioning the command, the man took his son to Mt. Moriah, bound him, and laid him on the altar. His knife was at the boy’s throat when an angel of the Lord called to him. Not knowing what more might be asked of him, Abraham again fully committed himself to the Lord’s will with “Hineni.”
Answering hineni often means a change of circumstances with major consequences. Jacob answered “Hineni” twice—when the angel called out and told him to leave Paddan-Aram for Canaan and again when God called and told him to leave Canaan for Egypt. When God called to Moses from a burning bush, the old man answered, “Hineni!” As a result, the eighty-year-old man ended up with a forty-year commitment while leading Jacob’s descendants back to the Promised Land! When God asked Isaiah who He should send as His messenger, the man immediately signaled his availability with “Hineni.” Rather than being coerced into service, these men willingly answered yes without knowing the ask!
Do we have courage enough to pray a word of total surrender like hineni? When God speaks, do we give the humble steadfast response of a servant to master? Do we respond with the trusting faith of a child to his loving father? Do we unequivocally say “I am ready, willing, and able”? When God calls, it takes faith and courage to answer “Hineni!“ How will you answer?
When God calls, He does not do so by way of universal imperatives. Instead, He whispers our name – and the greatest reply, the reply of Abraham, is simply hineni: “Here I am,” ready to heed Your call, to mend a fragment of Your all-too-broken world. [Rabbi Jonathan Sacks]
Devotions of the Heart 