A Firm Foundation

Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; Deuteronomy 7:9 (KJV)

Words mean something.  What we read and write are not just random marks on a page but those markings carry the intent of the heart.  In reading and studying the Word of God I use many different versions of the Bible.  No Jesus didn’t read the King James Version and Paul didn’t write in the King’s English.  Translating the ancient manuscripts from Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic is an arduous task undertaken by men and women of much greater understanding than me.  Needless to say people spend their entire life studying these ancient languages and attempting to give us the best translation and understanding of what the authors were trying to say.  With that in mind I would like to examine the same verse today in two different translations of the Bible. 

The passage I would like to examine is found in Proverbs 16:6.  Originally written in Hebrew, translated to Latin then to English we find what appears to be two very different verses in the King James and  New International Version.
By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.  Proverbs 16:6 (KJV)

Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the LORD a man avoids evil.  Proverbs 16:6 (NIV)

Mercy becomes love and truth becomes faithfulness!  How did that happen?  Let’s leave the scholars to their linguistic arguments and just contemplate these words in our hearts.
I have heard mercy defined as unmerited favor, grace that isn’t deserved.  Your Strong’s concordance tells you that the Hebrew word was “hesed” and the top three translations of the word are mercy, kindness, and loving kindness.  It is God’s great love that moves Him to have mercy upon us.  It was God’s love that led Jesus to the cross where mercy was poured out upon the lost.  Mercy and love both speak of the same attribute of God’s heart. One is the root and the other the fruit.
That one was easy.  Now let’s look at faithfulness and truth. The Hebrew word used here is “emet” and turning to our Strongs for help we find something that can only be described as amazing.  This word is derived from one that means stable or stability.  In one place it is used to denote a wall which firmly holds a nail in place and another to describe a house with a firm foundation.  Treasure hunting can be tedious and requires sifting through lots of extraneous material to find the pearl of great price.  Here we have found a great treasure. 
Truth and faithfulness are the foundation of our salvation.  We are held in the hands of a loving God that has shown great mercy, underserved favor to each of us.  He will never leave us and we have no fear of being forsaken.  His faithfulness is grounded in His Truth.  In this world of relativism where absolute truth is ridiculed it is hard to grasp the concept of undeniable, unchangeable Truth.  But there are absolutes.  White is still white not eggshell or any other blend.  Pure is still pure, holy still holy and God is still God.  He never changes.  His love is established in Truth.  This is the essence of His faithfulness. 
Oh what joy to know that our sins have been washed away!  Not because of something that has a short life span but because of God’s great, unchanging love.  Our iniquity has been purged; our sin atoned for by the blood of the Lamb.  We have a sure and a firm foundation that cannot be shaken and we cry out, “O Lord, Great is thy faithfulness!”  He is truly “el hanne eman” The Faithful God.