“will come to seek Yahweh.” The Old Testament foretold that the Messiah would be a blessing both to the Jews and to the Gentiles, the “nations.” The first prophecy of the Messiah is the one God made to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:15, and that was thousands of years before the Jews existed. About 2,000 years after that first prophecy of the Messiah, God promised Abraham that all the people of the earth, not just the Jews, would be blessed through him (Gen. 12:3). Then God repeated that promise to Isaac (Gen. 26:4); and to Jacob (Gen. 28:14). Besides those promises, the Old Testament had a number of verses that spoke of Gentiles being included in the Messianic Kingdom, which meant they were granted everlasting life (Ps. 102:15; Isa. 2:2-4; 19:23-25; 42:6; 49:6; 51:4-5; 56:3-7; 60:3; 66:18-21; Ezek. 39:21, 27; Mic. 4:2; Hag. 2:7; Zech. 8:22).

“entreat the favor of Yahweh.” The Hebrew is an idiom: “to pacify the face of Yahweh,” from a verb which means to soften by caressing: thus, “to soften the face of Yahweh by caressing it; although no one would actually think that Yahweh would want His face caressed. The full impact of the idiom cannot be caught in one English phrase. It means to ask for the blessing and favor of Yahweh (cp. NLT), as well as to pacify or appease Yahweh (indicating that He may have been upset at one’s past actions, and needed to be pacified while seeking His favor).