The definition of ‘faith’ depends on whom you ask – a western Christian, a modern Jew, an ancient Israelite, even an English-speaker in contrast to the speaker of another language.
In modern English, ‘faith’ is defined as: ‘A strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof’ (Oxford English Dictionary). This mostly comes from the Christian understanding of what faith is – belief. This in turn stems from Paul’s teaching on salvation through faith, rather than through prayer and works.
The biblical meaning of ‘faith’
In Modern Hebrew, they use the word emunah to correspond to the modern English word ‘faith’. However, the biblical definition of emunah is this: ‘Complete and absolute trust in God, which a person displays through their faithfulness and loyalty to God and God’s ways.’ This is therefore what Talmidaism understands as emunah. When translating from biblical Hebrew into English, emunah is normally translated as either ‘trust’ or ‘faithfulness’, depending on context.
Here’s a couple of biblical examples:
In Gen 15:1-6, in a vision, God promises Avraham a great reward. Avraham is dejected, and asks what reward can God possibly give him, since he is likely to end his days childless. God then promises him that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the heavens, and Avraham trusts completely in that promise (Christian bibles often translate Gen 15:6 as, ‘and he believed in the Lord’, but the Hebrew says, ‘and he trusted in YHVH’ or, ‘and he placed his trust in YHVH’. ‘Trust’ is a better rendering, since Avraham already believes in YHVH).
Later, in the story of ‘The Binding of Isaac’ (Gen 22:1-19), Abraham’s emunah (trust) is put to the test (Gen 22:1). Abraham has been told that he will have descendants too numerous to count, and that those descendants will be reckoned through Isaac. In this particular episode, Avraham is asked by God to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice. What many people don’t see in this instruction is God’s sub-text: ‘Do you trust Me when I tell you that your innumerable descendants will be reckoned through Isaac?’ Avraham obviously passed this test of his emunah in God – his trust in God’s earlier promises. He trusted that God would provide an animal to sacrifice to God, and most of all, that Isaac would emerge from this episode alive.
Trust in YHVH
As a result of the modern understanding of what faith is, as opposed to what the biblical understanding of what faith is, Modern Hebrew has had to come up with an entirely separate word for ‘trust’ – bitachon (which also means ‘confidence’, or ‘assurance’). However, in biblical Hebrew, ‘faith’ and ‘trust’ were the same thing.
The effects of trust in God are best described by the Prophet Isaiah: ‘But they who wait for YHVH shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.’ (Isa 40:31). Trust in YHVH strengthens the soul, and enables God’s children to endure.
Joshua 1:9 says, “Have I not enjoined you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid, and do not be dismayed, for YHVH your God is with you wherever you go.” Our trust in God diminishes our fear. Perhaps the greatest witness to this effect is in Ps 23: “Even though I might walk in a valley of deepest darkness, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” And my favourite verse in this regard is Ps 46:10 – “Be still and know that I am God.”
Furthermore, Ps 9:10 says, “Those who know Your reputation put their trust in You, for You, O YHVH, will not abandon those who seek You.”
What YHVH promises, YHVH fulfils. You can trust in YHVH, because YHVH will never lie to you, or betray you, or misjudge you, or deal cruelly with you, or ask you to do unreasonable or bad things. YHVH will never ask you to believe in false superstitions, or invent an irrational theology for you to twist and bend your soul around, in order to justify or accept your religion.
YHVH is a just and a fair King, whose teachings are wise and easy to understand; YHVH deals with God’s children in righteousness and mercy. As God said through the Prophet Jeremiah, “For I am ever mindful of the plans I have for you,” declares YHVH, “plans for your welfare and not for your misfortune, in order to give you a hopeful future.” (Jer 29:11)
YHVH will never ask you to break your mind in order to defend God. You don’t need to be a mental gymnast to find ways around your religion’s strange beliefs in order to justify God, and you don’t need to blur out your religion’s uncomfortable dogma in order to trust in God. Once you truly know who and what YHVH is, trust in YHVH is not difficult or unreasonable.
The modern meaning of ‘faith’
What modern English-speakers call ‘faith’ is something different. I won’t examine its meaning of ‘a system of religious belief’, inasmuch as it pertains to a particular religion – I must admit, in my normal everyday speech, this is the meaning I myself most often use (eg ‘the Jewish faith’ or ‘the Christian faith’). Instead, I’m going to look at the meaning of, ‘A strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof’.
I remember seeing a TV programme once – I think it was about the history of the Bible. An evangelical fundamentalist was interviewed, and he said, “If the Bible were to say that two plus two equals five, I would be obliged to believe it.” However, here’s what the Bible actually says on the concept: “The fool believes every word, but a wise person will reason every step of the way” (Prov 14:15).
There is a huge difference between reasoned faith, and blind faith. Faith blindly believed is no faith at all, because it is relying only on what others say, without first of all reasoning, ‘Is this from God, or from human beings?’
When Avraham was promised great reward from God, Avraham did not feel that it was a forbidden or an unreasonable thing to question God: “O my Sovereign YHVH, what reward can You possibly give me, since I am going {to my grave} childless…You have not given me any offspring.” (Gen 15:2-3).
If you are applying the English meaning of faith, then for a Talmidi, faith should never be blind, unquestioning faith. God gave us the faculty of reason and discernment. A Talmidi should never be afraid to question something that seems unfair, unjust or cruel – even if human beings claim it is from God. A Talmidi is encouraged to learn to know YHVH; and so armed with the knowledge of what the character and nature of YHVH is, a Talmidi learns to discern whether something is from a loving, compassionate and merciful YHVH, or from flawed human beings, who produce unjust laws from their self-interested and imperfect hearts.
Faith with reason
Rabbinic teachers will often quote the example of Ex 24:7 to prove that the Jewish faith is about doing God’s Will without question, and without asking for a reason or an explanation why. In that verse, after hearing the laws of the Covenant, the Israelites said, “We will do and we will obey” – which is the biblical Hebrew way of saying, “we will obediently do”. In two earlier verses, both of them after Mosheh has recounted to the people the pronouncements of YHVH, the Israelites respond, “All the words which YHVH has spoken we will do!” (Ex 19:8, and 24:3).
These episodes are gleefully quoted to prove that the ancient Israelites accepted God’s commandments without question, and without hesitation. There is unfortunately an agenda behind this claim – that any mitzvot given by the rabbis in the Oral Law are also to be followed without question.
The Israelite religion is not the unquestioning acceptance of religious rules; the Book of Proverbs is a masterclass in how to use wisdom and discernment in the pursuit of one’s life. When you look at what the Israelites at Horeb had experienced up until that point, you realise that by that time, the Israelites no longer had any reason to question what was given to them. They had witnessed the immense and earth-shaking power of God; and they had witnessed the dangerous consequences of coming too close to the Glory of God. So they deputised Mosheh with the task of bringing God’s words back to them. Their acceptance of God’s laws without question, by that point in time, was justified; their experience of YHVH by that point had not given them any reason to doubt God any longer.
For a Talmidi, 3,500 years later, who has not personally witnessed these things, it is not an unreasonable thing to question why, and to reason through the principles of the Israelite religion – the Way of YHVH. Blind faith is irrational, but reasoned faith does not try to escape from the demands of reason.
Prov 17:24 says, ‘A discerning person looks to Wisdom, but the eyes of a fool look to the ends of the earth.’ In other words, a person who is able to think rationally and with reason, needs only look to the principles of Wisdom to discern what lies behind the requirements of God’s ethics; but a foolish person – someone who does not use their God-given faculty of reason – ends up searching aimlessly for understanding, and never finds it.
By the 1st century CE, under the influence of Greek, faith came to mean ‘believing in something’. James said, ‘Faith without works is dead’.
Faith that is reasoned can be lived out in the real world. If you know why you are doing something – what the purpose behind something is – then you have a solid foundation upon which you can then live your faith; because faith is not simply believed, but lived out in one’s daily life. Prov 3:6 says, ‘In all your ways acknowledge God, and God will make straight your paths.’ Let everything you do be a testament to YHVH.
Summary
The biblical meaning of faith is, ‘Complete and absolute trust in God, which a person displays through their faithfulness and loyalty to God and God’s ways.’ To the ancient Israelite, trust and faith were the same thing. This trust in YHVH enables the Follower to go forward in the world, sure of their ways. We can trust in YHVH, because YHVH will never be unjust or unfair. Trust in YHVH will calm our fears and strengthen us to endure.
A Talmidi should never accept things on blind faith; a Talmidi should never be afraid to question either God or human beings. A Talmidi needs to learn to reason through their faith, be discerning, and understand the ‘why’ behind what we do. If you know why you do things, then your faith is like a tower built with its foundations deep in a rock, but if you have only blind faith – being ignorant of why you are being asked to do things – then your faith is like a house built in sand.