Exodus 34:6, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, overflowing with loyal love and faithfulness, this last characteristic of God is the Hebrew word “emet” which can be translated as “faithfulness” or even “truth,” it’s related to another word “amen” which is an untranslated Hebrew expression meaning “that’s truth.” Emet can mean truth and it can refer to correct ideas or concepts. This is because emet has to do with stability and reliability. Exodus 17:12, when Moses holds up his hands for hours to defeat Israel’s enemies, the Amalekites, his friends put a rock under him and supported his hands, so that his hands will remain emet or steady. When emet is used of people, it describes reliable and stable character or trustworthiness. Exodus 18:21, when Moses appoints leaders in Israel, they’re to be people of emet, people who are trustworthy, who won’t take bribes or distort justice. To say that God is full of emet, doesn’t just mean that God tells the truth or stands for truth, it means that God is faithful and trustworthy. This is why Moses calls God a rock, saying that he’s faithful, just and upright, he’s saying that he can trust God to be consistent to his character.
The Hebrew word for “trust,” is actually the verb form of the word “emet,” it’s “he’emin.” It can be translated as “to believe” or “to have faith,” but most basically it means “to consider someone trustworthy” or “to trust.” The first person we meet in the Bible who considers God to be trustworthy is Abraham. God makes a promise that Abraham and his wife Sarah will have a huge family and that through them all nations will experience God’s blessing, but Abraham and Sarah are really old and they’ve never been able to have any children. Genesis 15:6, in the face of these challenges, Abraham he’emins God, he considers God trustworthy to open a way forward. God does show emet to Abraham and Sarah, in just four generations their descendants form a whole nation called Israel and God invites Israel into a trusting and faithful relationship. Exodus 14:31, when God leads them out of slavery in Egypt, Israel he’emins in God, they trust and rely on him. But when they come to the land God promised to Abraham and they find out it’s filled with giant cities protected by giants, their trust in God’s emet fails.
Eventually we meet an Israelite who does trust God in the face of giants, it’s David. He yells at the giant, you come with a sword and a spear, but I come with the name of the God of Israel. David consistently relies on God, 1 Kings 3:6, David walked in emet before God. David considers God to be faithful and responds with faithfulness. 2 Samuel 7:16, this is why God promises to raise up a faithful descendant of David, whose Kingdom will endure forever or have emet. This faithful King will become the source of trust and stability for others forever. But when the kingdom later collapses, the Israelites find themselves without a home and without a king and they cry out, oh God, where is your loyal love, that you swore to David in your emet? They’re accusing God of abandoning his promises to Abraham and to David.
Is God trustworthy, is he faithful after all? The first line of the New Testament is an answer to that question, this is the lineage of Jesus the King, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Through Jesus, God fulfills his promises, Romans 15:8-9, Paul says, Jesus came on behalf of God’s faithfulness, he is the faithful Kind whose Kingdom will endure forever and invites all nations to trust God. Now, trusting anyone is risky, it’s hard to know if anyone is really full of emet, but the biblical story portrays a God who’s been faithful all along and whose promises were fulfilled in the story of Jesus. As we look out at the obstacles facing us and our world, we are invited to take that same risk and join Abraham, David, and the people of God in trusting that God is overflowing with faithfulness.
The Hebrew word for “trust,” is actually the verb form of the word “emet,” it’s “he’emin.” It can be translated as “to believe” or “to have faith,” but most basically it means “to consider someone trustworthy” or “to trust.” The first person we meet in the Bible who considers God to be trustworthy is Abraham. God makes a promise that Abraham and his wife Sarah will have a huge family and that through them all nations will experience God’s blessing, but Abraham and Sarah are really old and they’ve never been able to have any children. Genesis 15:6, in the face of these challenges, Abraham he’emins God, he considers God trustworthy to open a way forward. God does show emet to Abraham and Sarah, in just four generations their descendants form a whole nation called Israel and God invites Israel into a trusting and faithful relationship. Exodus 14:31, when God leads them out of slavery in Egypt, Israel he’emins in God, they trust and rely on him. But when they come to the land God promised to Abraham and they find out it’s filled with giant cities protected by giants, their trust in God’s emet fails.
Eventually we meet an Israelite who does trust God in the face of giants, it’s David. He yells at the giant, you come with a sword and a spear, but I come with the name of the God of Israel. David consistently relies on God, 1 Kings 3:6, David walked in emet before God. David considers God to be faithful and responds with faithfulness. 2 Samuel 7:16, this is why God promises to raise up a faithful descendant of David, whose Kingdom will endure forever or have emet. This faithful King will become the source of trust and stability for others forever. But when the kingdom later collapses, the Israelites find themselves without a home and without a king and they cry out, oh God, where is your loyal love, that you swore to David in your emet? They’re accusing God of abandoning his promises to Abraham and to David.
Is God trustworthy, is he faithful after all? The first line of the New Testament is an answer to that question, this is the lineage of Jesus the King, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Through Jesus, God fulfills his promises, Romans 15:8-9, Paul says, Jesus came on behalf of God’s faithfulness, he is the faithful Kind whose Kingdom will endure forever and invites all nations to trust God. Now, trusting anyone is risky, it’s hard to know if anyone is really full of emet, but the biblical story portrays a God who’s been faithful all along and whose promises were fulfilled in the story of Jesus. As we look out at the obstacles facing us and our world, we are invited to take that same risk and join Abraham, David, and the people of God in trusting that God is overflowing with faithfulness.