Isaiah 7:9b If you will not believe, surely you will not be established.
This passage in Isaiah contains a poetic play on words which is lost to any reader but one who understands Hebrew. A word for word translation runs something like this: “If not you will believe (lo ta-aminoo), surely not you will be established (lo te-amenoo).” The three letter Hebrew root – “aleph”- “mem”- “nun”, is the same in both words, and the Holy Spirit through the prophet Isaiah is clearly playing on this root to emphasize His point. The same root letters are also used in the spelling for the familiar word “Amen” which literally means “truthfully”.
A study of the root of the Hebrew word for “Amen” reveals numerous related meanings: “le-heet-amen”, “to practice or exercise” and “le-ha-amin”, “to believe”. And finally, the same root is found in the Hebrew word for “faith”, “emunah”. Simply through the inter-relationships of these similarly rooted words, it’s not hard to see that real faith is intimately connected to real practice or exercise. James put it simply, “Faith without works is dead”. True faith is an active faith, practicing faith, faith that is exercised– and finally, faith that is truthful.
This passage speaks of being established. How are you established in your walk? By practicing and exercising your faith truthfully…simple as that. Can you say “Amen” to that?
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The Hebrew language contains numerous words that have the same root yet vast differences in meaning. On deeper examination however, these words can be related in illuminating ways. For example, the three Hebrew letters --"Lamed", "Chet", and "Mem"-- which spell, "lechem", or "bread" in English, are also the root letters for "fight" (lehilachem) and "war" (milchama). For centuries Rabbis have discussed and debated the connection between these three words.
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