Today we are looking at the first of our thirty Hebrew words and it is a very important word - emunah the word which is used for belief or faith . Here is Lois Tverberg's definition
(emunah - H0359) Faith, to us, is confined to our minds, but the biblical word encompasses faithfulness, persistence, and steadfastness, which are the natural outcomes of true faith. When Moses held up his hands all day long until the Israelites won a battle, his hands had emunah in the sense of remaining steady (Exodus 17:12)
[From Lois Tverberg: Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus : Appendix B]
It should not come as a surprise to us that faith is more than an emotional response or even an intellectual exercise. In previous Dayshare blogs we looked at the letter from James the apostle where James made it clear that faith should always be accompanied by deeds.
[22] But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. [23] For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. [24] For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. [25] But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. [James 1:22-25 ESV]
The most powerful illustration of the idea behind this word is to look at how the word is used in the story of Moses in Exodus 17:12. We are taking our cue from Lois Tverberg in focusing on this verse as a starter for our understanding of this word even though the King James Version only translates emunah as steady on this one occasion. I think it will be useful to quote the whole passage describing the incident in question. The passage describes the defeat of Israel's enemy , the Amalekites
Israel Defeats Amalek
[8] Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. [9] So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” [10] So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. [11] Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. [12] But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. [13] And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. [Exodus 17:8-13 ESV]
It says that 'his hands were steady [emunah] until the going down of the sun.' There is a battle going on and it is a spiritual battle. The Israelites are fighting an enemy called the Amalekites. Moses is not actually fighting but he has a vital part to play in this battle. He is on the top of the hill and he is holding up his hands towards heaven - a symbol for prayer. And there is a curious connection between Moses posture and the success of Israel against their enemy. As long as Moses is able to hold his hands in an upward position, the battle goes well for Israel. But, of course, this is defying gravity. It is unnatural to keep your hands above your head and they keep sagging. Moses needs help and there are two men who support his raised hands: his brother Aaron is on one side and a man named Hur is on the other.
This is a beautiful picture of faith or faithfulness. It is about keeping going and not giving up when the temptation is to throw in the towel. It implies going against our natural inclinations. It is interesting that this story illustrates that other people have a role to play in keeping our hands steady or in maintaining our faith. That is the point of church fellowship - we need each other or our hands will become heavy and fall in weakness.
This is one usage of the Hebrew word 'emunah.' It is often translated as 'faithfulness' 1 Samuel 26:23
1 Samuel 26:23
[23] The LORD rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness [emunah], for the LORD gave you into my hand today, and I would not put out my hand against the LORD’s anointed. [1 Samuel 26:23]
[1 Samuel 26:23 ESV]
It can also be translated as truthfulness. Jeremiah 5:1
Jeremiah 5:1
Jerusalem Refused to Repent
[1] Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
look and take note!
Search her squares to see
if you can find a man,
one who does justice
and seeks truth [emunah],
that I may pardon her.
It might seem surprising that the quality of truth or truthfulness is associated with faith. In evangelical circles where there is an emphasis on salvation by faith, there has been the tendency to make an assumption that a profession of faith is all that is required for salvation. An examination of this word would suggest that this faith needs to be genuine - it cannot be a lie. We cannot hide behind a sham profession of faith and live a life that is not commensurate with this faith. Again, this chimes well with James' Epistle. A genuine believer in Jesus Christ should not be living a lie. Sadly, I have known of people who have turned their back on the Saviour and have lived their whole life in denial of their faith but they are relying on this profession made 50 or 60 or 70 years earlier. In Revelation 14, there is a description of those who are part of the 144,000 which I believe is a symbol of the people of God.
It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb, [5] and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless. [Revelation 14:4 - 5 ESV]
Here there are defining characteristics of a Christian- a follower of the Lamb. They have been redeemed. They are loyal to the Lamb - this would be similar to the idea of faithfulness. They are marked by sincerity or truthfulness - in their mouth no lie was found. They are blameless - that does not mean sinless. It does mean that they are marked by honesty and truthfulness as distinct from false swearing and deceit.
Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD,
but those who act faithfully [emunah] are his delight. [Proverbs 12:22 ESV]
The King James Version translates the word emunah as truthfully in this verse.
The word emunah has also an association with something which is 'established,' 'lasting,' 'continuing' or 'certain.'
All these, who were chosen as gatekeepers at the thresholds, were 212. They were enrolled by genealogies in their villages. David and Samuel the seer established them in their office of trust [emunah]. [I Chronicles 9:22 ESV]
If you want to explore this further, here is the extract from the Ultimate Bible Suite which I use on Kindle.
We are looking at the word 'emunah' which is numbered H0530 in Strong's Dictionary. This is useful for those of us who are not familiar with the Hebrew alphabet. It helps us to locate this word consistently. You will notice that below the heading with the number is tells us that there are 49 occurrences of this word in the KJ V - the King James Version. This concordance and dictionary is based on the King James Version to which many people refer to as the Authorised Version. It now tells us all the different ways this word is translated in the KJV. The most popular translation is faithfulness - 18 references to where this word is translated faithfulness. The next most popular translation is truth - 13 times and so on. This might help you to follow up the study of this word. You can also look at other translations to compare. This could take longer than completing a large jigsaw but it is a way of going deeper into the meaning of God's word.
I am also providing an extract from Strong's Dictionary of the Bible which includes the word in the original Hebrew.
The abbreviation TWOT refers to Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament by Gleason L, Archer Jr and 2 other authors. I have never used this reference book to date.
I hope this blog might encourage someone to explore the meaning of these Hebrew words to help us to gain a better understanding of the Word of God.
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