HEBREW WORD STUDY – FAITHFULNESS 

Proverbs 27:6: “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of the enemy.”

I have been obsessing over understanding the heart of God so much, I am beginning to wonder if maybe I am just missing the obvious.   With life’s many difficulties and pitfalls, I find myself stressing out, and at times going into one of those  “O Lord, O Lord” routines.  Yet, did not Paul say that without faith, it is impossible to please God? (Hebrews 11:6).  

Today is Christmas and my thoughts went to an 87-year-old passenger I had on my disability bus this week who lives alone. Due to Covid her family who lives out of town is unable to visit and her only companion is her pet dog Sparkles.  She lives in a house where she keeps her electric heat on in only a couple of rooms to save on expenses as she lives on a fixed income. She told me that she had to put her beloved Sparkles to sleep last week and then she cracked a tooth and then told me how she was going to have a turkey dinner for Christmas, from Swanson’s frozen foods, you know the one you purchase from the Dollar Store.

This morning is Christmas morning and I found it was one of the coldest days of this winter. My electric heat could not keep up with the cold so I had to supplement it with a space heater.  And then I thought of my passenger. I wondered what kind of Christmas she was having without Sparkles, with a cracked tooth and likely struggling to keep her home heated properly knowing she could hardly afford to pay for the extra heat.  I mean you barely come up for breath when you have shoved down again with another one of life’s many crises. One crisis you can handle, maybe two but when they come one right after the other you either begin to curse God or you grab tighter to Him. My elderly friend told me her tale of woes only to share how God’s grace is sufficient.  Yeah, I am going to tell the governor of our state what he can do with his stay at home mandate and drop by her place with a little gift after I finish this study. I am giving her an autographed copy of one of my books (that sounds awfully patronizing doesn’t it). Talk of patronizing, I have to admit I am dropping off my little gift just to visit someone I know who is bringing pleasure to God’s heart this Christmas.

As I pondered all of this I ran across Proverbs 27:6 where I found one of the words really stand out aman or faithfulness. King Solomon said: “Faithful (aman) are the wounds of a friend.”  Commentators will tell us that what this proverb is saying is that the honest truth from a friend, things like, “take a bath,” or “you have bad breath” can be very wounding, but are helpful and they are a lot better than an enemy telling you that you smell like a rose just to please you as you go into a job interview stinking to high heaven. 

However, as my friend was relating all her difficulties I heard her say not only that His grace is sufficient but that “Jesus is still my hope and trust.” In the midst of these troubles, she is remaining aman or faithful to God.  She is using this time as an opportunity to bring joy to the heart of God by being faithful or aman even in trying times. 

You see faithful is the word aman which has the idea of supporting, true, staying, and faithful.  To be faithful to God means that we are staying with Him no matter what. We are not fair-weather friends.  God can deliver us from the fiery furnace, but if He doesn’t, let it be known that we will still be faithful to Him.  Such devotion cannot help but bring pleasure to God.

Yet, note that this verse tells us something about faithfulness.  Faithful are the wounds of a friend.  The word wounds is pase which is the same word used for a eunuch.  A eunuch is one who voluntarily goes under the knife to show his faithfulness to his master.  The Hebrew word rendered as friend is an odd word to use for friend.  It is the word ahav which is the word for love.  The word aman is a Niphal participle and would be rendered as faithful is the loving one.  To get the effect of the Niphal you could read this as the loving one who allows himself/herself to be injured.  Let’s face it, we do not voluntarily enter a period of trouble unless it is to help someone we love.  A mother would voluntarily take on the sickness of her child if it would cure her child’s illness.  In battle, soldiers have voluntarily laid down their lives for the sake of their friends, their family, or loved ones.  I think this verse is making a subtle reference to something even deeper.

Jesus came to earth to be wounded and to die. He did this voluntarily for our sake.  I think this verse in Proverbs is revealing something about Jesus’s death on the cross that we do not really consider. There are many reasons why Jesus had to suffer and die on the cross, but one reason I never considered until I looked at this verse in Proverbs was that He wanted to show the aman or faithfulness of His love. 

So, as I consider my Savior this Christmas I wonder what gift we can bring to Him. Perhaps one like my elderly friend, faithfulness in whatever state God has us in. Time Magazine called 2020 one of the worst years in American History. I doubt that be likely it was pretty bad for many people.  Suppose we end this year just singing, dancing, and praising the Lord letting Him know we still love Him even if things get really bad.  The best Christmas gift we can give Him is our faithfulness in times of trouble. 

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