The term halak is likewise one of the words which denote movements
performed by living beings, as in “And Jacob went (halak) on his way”
(Gen. xxxii. 1), and in many other instances. The verb “to go” was next
employed in describing movements of objects less solid than the bodies
of living beings, comp. “And the waters were going on (halok)
decreasing” (Gen. viii. 5); “And the fire went along (va-tihalak) upon
the ground” (Exod. ix. 23). Then it was employed to express the
spreading and manifestation of something incorporeal, comp. “The voice
thereof shall go like a serpent” (Jer. xlvi. 22); again, “The voice of
the Lord God walking in the garden” (Gen. iii. 8). It is “the voice”
that is qualified by “walking.”
Whenever the word “to go” is used in reference to God, it must be taken
in this figurative sense, i.e., it applies to incorporeal things, and
signifies either the manifestation of something incorporeal, or the
withdrawal of the Divine protection, an act corresponding in lifeless
beings to the removal of a thing, in living beings to the departure of
a living being, “walking.” The withdrawal of God’s protection is called
in the Bible “the hiding of God’s countenance,” as in Deuteronomy xxxi.
18, “As for me, I will hide my countenance.” On the same ground it has
been designated “going away,” or moving away from a thing, comp. “I
will depart and return to my place” (Hos. v. 15). But in the passage,
“And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he went” (Num.
xii. 9), the two meanings of the verb are combined, viz., the
withdrawal of the Divine protection, expressed by “and he went,” and
the revelation, manifestation, and appearance of something namely, of
the anger which went forth and reached them, in consequence of which
Miriam became “leprous, white as snow.” The expression “to walk” was
further applied to conduct, which concerns only the inner life, and
which requires no bodily motion, as in the following passages, “And
thou shalt walk in his ways” (Deut. xxviii. 9); “Ye shall walk after
the Lord your God” (Deut. xiii. 5); “Come ye, and let us walk in the
light of the Lord.” (Isa. ii. 5).