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FABLE

fa'-b'-l (muthos):

(1) Primitive man conceives of the objects around him as possessing his own characteristics. Consequently in his stories, beasts, trees, rocks, etc., think, talk and act exactly as if they were human beings. Of course, but little advance in knowledge was needed to put an end to this mode of thought, but the form of story-telling developed by it persisted and is found in the folk-tales of all nations. More particularly, the archaic form of story was used for the purpose of moral instruction, and when so used is termed the fable. Modern definitions distinguish it from the parable (a) by its use of characters of lower intelligence than man (although reasoning and speaking like men), and (b) by its lesson for this life only. But, while these distinctions serve some practical purpose in distinguishing (say) the fables of Aesop from the parables of Christ, they are of little value to the student of folk-lore. For fable, parable, allegory, etc., are all evolutions from a common stock, and they tend to blend with each other.

See ALLEGORY ;PARABLE .

(2) The Semitic mind is peculiarly prone to allegorical expression, and a modern Arabian storyteller will invent a fable or a parable as readily as he will talk. And we may be entirely certain that the very scanty appearance of fables in the Old Testament is due only to the character of its material and not at all to an absence of fables from the mouths of the Jews of old. Only two examples have reached us. In Jdg 9:7 through 15 Jotham mocks the choice of AbimeItch as king with the fable of the trees that could find no tree that would accept the trouble of the kingship except the worthless bramble. And in 2 Ki 14:9 Jehoash ridicules the pretensions of Amaziah with the story of the thistle that wished to make a royal alliance with the cedar. Yet that the distinction between fable and allegory, etc., is artificial is seen in Isa 5:1,2, where the vineyard is assumed to possess a deliberate will to be perverse.

(3) In the New Testament, "fable" is found in 1 Tim 1:4; 4:7; 2 Tim 4:4; Tit 1:14; 2 Pet 1:16, as the translation of muthos ("myth"). The sense here differs entirely from that discussed above, and "fable" means a (religious) story that has no connection with reality--contrasted with the knowledge of an eyewitness in 2 Pet 1:16. The exact nature of these "fables" is of course something out of our knowledge, but the mention in connection with them of "endless genealogies" in 1 Tim 1:4 points with high probability to some form of Gnostic speculation that interposed a chain of eons between God and the world. In some of the Gnostic systems that we know, these chains are described with a prolixity so interminable (the Pistis Sophia is the best example) as to justify well the phrase "old wives' fables" in 1 Tim 4:7. But that these passages have Gnostic reference need not tell against the Pauline authorship of the Pastorals, as a fairly well developed "Gnosticism" is recognizable in a passage as early as Col 2, and as the description of the fables as Jewish in Tit 1:14 (compare 3:9) is against 2nd-century references. But for details the commentaries on the Pastoral Epistles must be consulted. It is worth noting that in 2 Tim 4:4 the adoption of these fables is said to be the result of dabbling in the dubious. This manner of losing one's hold on reality is, unfortunately, something not confined to the apostolic age.

Burton Scott Easton


FACE

fas: In Hebrew the translation of three expressions: (1) panim (2) `ayin, literally, "eye" and (3) 'aph, literally, "nose," "nostril," already noted under the word COUNTENANCE, which see. The first and second of these words are used synonymously, even in metaphorical expressions, as, e.g. in the phrase "the face of the earth," where panim is used (Dt 6:15 et passim) and `ayin (Nu 22:5 et passim). The third expression preserves more clearly its original meaning. It is generally used in the phrases "to bow one's self to the earth," "to fall on one's face," where the nose actually touched the ground. Often "my face," "thy face" is mere oriental circumlocution for the personal pronoun "I," "me," "thou," "thee." "In thy face" means "in thy presence;" and is often so translated. A very large number of idiomatic Hebrew expressions have been introduced into our language through the medium of the Bible translation. We notice the most important of these phrases.

"To seek the face" is to seek an audience with a prince or with God, to seek favor (Ps 24:6; 27:8 bis; 105:4; Prov 7:15; Hos 5:15; compare Prov 29:26, where the Revised Version (British and American) translates "Many seek the ruler's favor," literally, many seek the face (Hebrew pene) of a ruler).

If God "hides his face" He withdraws His presence, His favor (Dt 32:20; Job 34:29; Ps 13:1; 30:7; 143:7; Isa 54:8; Jer 33:5; Ezek 39:23,14; Mic 3:4). Such withdrawal of the presence of God is to be understood as a consequence of man's personal disobedience, not as a wrathful denial of God's favor (Isa 59:2). God is asked to "hide his face," i.e. to disregard or overlook (Ps 51:9; compare 10:11). This is also the idea of the prayer: "Cast me not away from thy presence" (literally, "face," Ps 51:11), and of the promise: "The upright shall dwell in thy presence" (literally, "face," Ps 140:13). If used of men, "to hide the face" expresses humility and reverence before an exalted presence (Ex 3:6; Isa 6:2); similarly Elijah "wrapped his face in his mantle" when God passed by (1 Ki 19:13). The "covering of the face" is a sign of mourning (2 Sam 19:4 = Ezek 12:6,12); a "face covered with fatness" is synonymous with prosperity and arrogance (Job 15:27); to have one's face covered by another person is a sign of hopeless doom, as if one were already dead. This was done to Human, when judgment had been pronounced over him (Est 7:8).

"To turn away one's face" is a sign of insulting indifference or contempt (2 Ch 29:6; Ezek 14:6; Sirach 4:4; compare Jer 2:27; 18:17; 32:33); on the part of God an averted face is synonymous with rejection (Ps 13:1; 27:9; 88:14).

"To harden the face" means to harden one's self against any sort of appeal (Prov 21:29; Isa 50:7; Jer 5:3; compare Ezek 3:9).

See also SPIT .

In this connection we also mention the phrase "to respect persons," literally, to "recognize the face" (Lev 19:15, or, slightly different in expression, Dt 1:17; 16:19; Prov 24; 23; 28:21), in the sense of unjustly favoring a person, or requiting him with undue evil. Compare also the Hebrew hadhar (Ex 23:3 the King James Version), "to countenance" (see under the word).

The "showbread" meant literally, "bread of the face," "of the presence," Hebrew lechem panim; Greek artoi enopioi, artoi tes protheseos.

H. L. E. Luering


FACT

Lit. "a deed." The word occurs only in the heading of the chapter, 2 Ki 10 the King James Version, "Jehu excuseth the fact by the prophecy of Elijah," and in 2 Macc 4:36, with reference to the murder of Onias, "certain of the Greeks that abhorred the fact (the deed) also" (summisoponerounton, literally, "hating wickedness together with (others)," the Revised Version (British and American) "the Greeks also joining with them in hatred of the wickedness."


FADE

fad (nabhel; maraino): "To fade" is in the Old Testament the translation of nabhel, "to droop or wither," figuratively, "to fade," or "pass way" (Ps 18:45; Isa 1:30; 24:4; 28:1,4; 40:7,8); once it is the translation of balal "to well up," "to overflow"; perhaps from nabhal (Isa 64:6, "We all do fade as a leaf"); in the New Testament of maraino, "to come to wither or to fade away" (Jas 1:11, "So also shall the rich man fade away in his ways," the Revised Version (British and American) "in his goings"); compare The Wisdom of Solomon 28, "Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds, before they be withered" (maraino); amardntinos (amaranth), "unfading," occurs in 1 Pet 5:4, "the crown of glory that fadeth not away," and amarantos (1 Pet 1:4), "an inheritance .... that fadeth not away"; compare The Wisdom of Solomon 6:12, "Wisdom is glorious (the Revised Version (British and American) "radiant"), and fadeth not away."

For "fade" (Ezek 47:12), the Revised Version (British and American) has "wither"; for "fall" "falleth" "falling" (Isa 34:4), "fade," "fadeth," "fading.

W. L. Walker


FAIL

fal (kalah, karath; ekleipo): "Fail" is both intransitive, "to fall short," "be wanting," and trans, "to be wanting to."

Of the many words translated "fail" in the Old Testament, kalah is the most frequent, meaning "to be consumed," "ended" (Job 11:20; 17:5; Ps 69:3; 71:9, etc.; Prov 22:8; Isa 15:6, etc.; Jer 14:6; Lam 2:11; 3:22; 4:17); it is the translation of karath, "to be cut off" (2 Sam 3:29, of failure in succession; so 1 Ki 2:4, etc.); `adhar, "to marshal," "to be missed" or "lacking" (Isa 34:16 the King James Version; Isa 40:26 the King James Version; Isa 59:15 the King James Version; Zeph 3:5); of raphah, "to become faint" or "to make feeble" (Dt 31:6,8; "I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee," Josh 1:5; 1 Ch 28:20); of '-abhadh, "to perish," "be lost" (Ps 142:4, "Refuge hath failed me"; Ezek 12:22, "Every vision faileth"). Many other Hebrew words are translated "fail," "faileth," for the most part in single instances.

In the New Testament, ekleipo, "to leave out" or "off," is thrice rendered "fail" (Lk 16:9 "when it shall fail"; 22:32, "that thy faith fail not"; Heb 1:12, "Thy years shall not fail"); ekpipto, "to fall off or away" (1 Cor 13:8, "Charity (the Revised Version (British and American) "love") never faileth"); katargeo, "to make useless" (1 Cor 13:8 the King James Version, "Whether prophecies, they shall fail"); hustereo, "to be behind," "to lack" (Heb 12:15 the King James Version); apopsucho, "to swoon away," "failing" (Lk 21:26 the King James Version).

The Revised Version (British and American) has "fail," in a new translation of Jer 18:14, for "fall" (Lam 1:14, margin "stumble"); "his hand fail" for "fallen in decay" (Lev 25:35); "I will in no wise fail thee" for "I will never leave thee" (Heb 13:5; compare Dt 31:6; Josh 1:5); "failed to enter" for "entered not" (Heb 4:6); "faileth" (American Standard Revised Version) for "ceaseth" (Ps 49:8), the English Revised Version "must be let alone for ever"; "failing" for "was darkened" (Lk 23:45); for "fail" (Ezr 4:22), "be slack," "be missing" (Isa 34:16); "falleth short of" (Heb 12:15, maqrgin, "falleth bacf from"); for "failed," "was all spent" (Gen 47:15); "wholly" (Josh 3:16); "fail (in looking)" (Lam 4:17); for "faileth," "is lacking" (Isa 40:26; 59:15); for "men's hearts failing them" (Lk 21:26), "men fainting," margin "expiring."

W. L. Walker


FAIN

fan (advb.): Occurs twice in English Versions of the Bible, in the sense of "gladly": (1) in Job 27:22 as the rendering of barach, "to flee with haste" (from anything), "He would fain flee out of his hand," literally, as in in of the King James Version, "in fleeing he would flee"; (2) in Lk 15:16, as the translation of epithumeo, "to fix the mind or desire on," "He would fain have filled his belly with the husks which the swine did eat." the Revised Version (British and American) adds two instances: (1) Lk 13:31, "Herod would fain kill thee"; (2) Acts 26:28, "Thou wouldest fain make me a Christian.

See ALMOST .


FAINT

fant (`ayeph, `uph, ya`aph, `alaph, aTaph, dawway, yaghea`, macac, rakhakh, paghar, kahah; ekluo, ekkakeo, kamno): The Hebrew vocabulary for the depressing physical conditions and mental emotions which are rendered in the King James Version by the English words "faint," "fainthess," and other compounds of that stem, is, as will be seen above, wide and varied in derivation. The 11 Hebrew and 3 Greek words and their derivatives are used in 62 passages in the King James Version to express these conditions.

`Ayeph is used to express the exhaustion from fatigue and hunger in the case of Esau (Gen 25:29,30). This and its variants come from a root which primarily means "to cover or conceal," therefore "to be dark or obscure," and so, figuratively, "to be faint or depressed." Israel's helpless state when harassed by Amalek (Dt 25:18) and the plight of Gideon's weary force when they sought in vain for help at Succoth (Jdg 8:4) are described by the same word. Isaiah also uses it to picture the disappointed and unsatisfied appetite of the thirsty man awakening from his dream of refreshment (Isa 29:8). In 2 Sam 16:14, `ayephim is probably a proper name of a place (Revised Version, margin).

`Uph in 1 Sam 14:28-31 describes the exhaustion of Saul's host in pursuit of the Philistines after the battle of Michmash. The same word expresses the failure of David's strength when in conflict with the same foes, which led to his imminent peril and to the consequent refusal of the commander of his army to allow him to take part personally in the combat (2 Sam 21:15).

Ya`-aph is used by Ziba when he brought refreshments to David's men on the flight from Absalom (2 Sam 16:2); see also its use in Isa 40:28. Cognate verbal forms occur in Isa 40:30,31; Jer 2:24; 51:58,64; Hab 2:13, as also in Jdg 8:15, meaning in all cases the faintness or exhaustion of fatigue or weariness.

`Alpah expresses the faintness from thirst in Am 8:13, or from the heat of the sun (Jon 4:8), and figuratively, the despondency which was the result of the captivity (Isa 51:20). Ezekiel uses it allegorically

as describing the withering of the trees for grief at the death of the Assyrian kings (Ezek 31:15).

`ATaph is the weariness of the wanderers in the desert (Ps 107:5), the faintness from hunger (Lam 2:19), or the despondency of Jonah dispelled by his remembrance of God's mercies (Jon 2:7).

Dawway, from a root which signifies the sickness produced by exhaustion from loss of blood, is used in Isa 1:5 for the faintness of heart, the result of remorse for sin, and in Jer 8:18 for the prophet's sorrow for the sins of Israel. A cognate form expresses his sorrow on account of the judgments of God which were incurred as punishments for the national backsliding (Lam 1:13,12; 5:17).

Macac, literally, "dissolving or melting," is applied to the contagious fear which the example of a cowardly soldier produces among his comrades (Dt 20:8, the Revised Version (British and American) "melt"). In the remarkable passage in Isa 10:18, in which God pronounces the doom of Assyria when his purposes of chastisement on Israel have been fulfilled, the collapse of Assyria is said to be "as when a standard-bearer fainteth." For this the Revised Version, margin substitutes "as when a sick man pineth away," which is probably the correct rendering. The word macac may mean either a sick man, or else something glittering and seen from afar, such as a standard, but the former sense is more intelligible and suggestive in the context. The rarely used verbal form cognate to macac is used on account of its assonance.

Yaghea` (yagha`), which is usually translated "grieved" or "tormented" or "fatigued," is rendered as "fainted" in Jer 45:3. This passage, "I fainted in my sighing" the King James Version, is in Hebrew the same as that which reads, "I am weary with my groaning" in Ps 6:6, and is similarly rendered in the Revised Version (British and American).

Rakhakh, like macac, primarily signifies "to melt" or "to become soft," and is used in prophetic exhortations in which the people are encouraged not to be panic-stricken in the presence of enemies (Dt 20:3, and also Jer 51:46; Isa 7:4). Another related word, morekh, in the sense of despair and utter loss of courage, is used in expressing the consequences of God's wrath against Israel (Lev 26:36). In its literal sense it signifies "blandness," as of the words of a hypocritical enemy (Ps 55:21).

Paghar is the prostration of utter fatigue whereby one is unable to raise himself or to proceed on a journey, as were some of David's little band (1 Sam 30:10-21). A cognate word describes the prostration of amazement and incredulity with which Jacob heard of Joseph's condition in Egypt (Gen 45:26).

Kahah, the pining of earnest, longing desire, is translated "fainteth" in Ps 84:2; 119:81; elsewhere it is rendered by words expressing wasting or languishing. The panic in Canaan due to famine is expressed (Gen 47:13) by the word lahah, which implies a state of frenzy.

The only records of actual fainting are (1) Daniel, in Dan 8:27, where the word used is the Niphal of the verb hayah, literally, "became," meaning that he became weak; (2) swooning is mentioned in Additions to Esther 15:7-15.

In the New Testament "faint" is used in the sense of physical exhaustion (Mt 9:36 the King James Version; Mt 15:32; Mk 8:3), where it is part of the verb ekluo, "to relax." Otherwise it is used figuratively of discouragement of spirit. The same verb is used in Gal 6:9; Heb 12:3,5; but in Lk 18:1; 2 Cor 4:1-16; Eph 3:13 it is part of the verb ekkakeo (according to some authorities egkakeo, pronounced enkakeo, meaning "to be faint-hearted" or "to be culpably negligent"). In Rev 2:3 it is kopiao, literally, "to be tired."

Alexander Macalister


FAIR

far: The word translated in the King James Version from 9 Hebrew and 4 Greek expressions has nowhere in the Bible the modern sense of "blond," "fair-skinned." The translation of Isa 54:11, "fair colors," refers to the cosmetic use of pukh, stibium, antimony powder, with which black margins were painted around the eyelids, so as to make the eyes appear large and dark. The stones of rebuilt Jerusalem, beautifully laid in their black mortar, are compared with such eyes. We can distinguish the following varieties of meaning: (1) Beautiful, attractive, Tobh, yaphah, yapheh; Aramaic shappir; Septuagint kalos; in the New Testament asteios. This latter word is in both places where it is found used of Moses (Acts 7:20; Heb 11:23, the Revised Version (British and American) "goodly"), and means literally, town bred (as opposed to boorish), polite, polished in manners, urbane, then nice, pretty. (2) Pure, free of defilement, the Revised Version (British and American) "clean," Tahor (Zec 3:5). (3) "Fair speech," plausible, persuasive (leqah, Prov 7:21; eulalos, Sirach 6:5; compare eulogia, Rom 16:18). (4) Making a fine display (euprosopein, Gal 6:12, "to make a fair show"). (5) Good (of weather) (zahabh, "golden," "clear," Job 37:2,2, the Revised Version (British and American) "golden splendor"); eudia (Mt 16:2).

H. L. E. Luering


FAIR HAVENS

far ha'-v'-nz (Kaloi Limenes): A roadstead on the South coast of Crete, about 5 miles East of Cape Matala, the most southerly point of the island. The harbor is formed by a bay, open to the East, and sheltered on the Southwest by two small islands. Here Paul waited for a considerable time (Acts 27:9); but while it afforded good anchorage and a shelter from North and Northwest winds, "the haven was not commodious to winter in" (Acts 27:8,12).

See CRETE .


FAIRS

farz: Found only 5 times in the King James Version (Ezek 27:12,14,16,19,27), apparently incorrect translation of `izzabhon, according to modern Hebraists (though Gesenius gives "fair" as one of its meanings). The Septuagint translates the Hebrew of the above five passages by two different words, agora, "market-place" (Ezek 27:12,14,16,19), and misthos, "hire," "pay" (Ezek 27:27,33). The King James Version follows the Wyclif version in Ezek 27:12 and the Geneva version throughout, although it properly translates "wares" in 27:33. the Revised Version (British and American) gives "wares" (which see) throughout.


FAITH

fath:

1. Etymology

2. Meaning: a Divergency

3. Faith in the Sense of Creed

4. A Leading Passage Explained

5. Remarks

6. Conclusion

In the Old Testament (the King James Version) the word occurs only twice: Dt 32:20 ('emun); Hab 2:4 ('emunah). In the latter the Revised Version (British and American) places in the margin the alternative rendering, "faithfulness." In the New Testament it is of very frequent occurrence, always representing pistis, with one exception in the King James Version (not the Revised Version (British and American)), Heb 10:23, where it represents elpis, "hope."

1. Etymology:

The history of the English word is rather interesting than important; use and contexts, alike for it and its Hebrew and Greek parallels, are the surest guides to meaning. But we may note that it occurs in the form "feyth," in Havelok the Dane (13th century); that it is akin to fides and this again to the Sanskrit root bhidh, "to unite," "to bind." It is worth while to recall this primeval suggestion of the spiritual work of faith, as that which, on man's side, unites him to God for salvation.

2. Meaning: a Divergency:

Studying the word "faith" in the light of use and contexts, we find a bifurcation of significance in the Bible. We may distinguish the two senses as the passive and the active; on the one side, "fidelity," "trustworthiness"; and "faith," "trust," on the other. In Gal 5:22, e.g. context makes it clear that "fidelity" is in view, as a quality congruous with the associated graces. (the Revised Version (British and American) accordingly renders pistis there by "faithfulness.") Again, Rom 3:3 the King James Version, "the faith of God," by the nature of the case, means His fidelity to promise. But in the overwhelming majority of cases, "faith," as rendering pistis, means "reliance," "trust." To illustrate would be to quote many scores of passages. It may be enough here to call attention to the recorded use of the word by our Lord. Of about twenty passages in the Gospels where pistis occurs as coming from His lips, only one (Mt 23:23) presents it in the apparent sense of "fidelity." All the others conspicuously demand the sense of "reliance," "trust." The same is true of the apostolic writings. In them, with rarest exceptions, the words "reliance," "trust," precisely fit the context as alternatives to "faith."

3. Faith in the Sense of Creed:

Another line of meaning is traceable in a very few passages, where pistis, "faith," appears in the sense of "creed," the truth, or body of truth, which is trusted, or which justifies trust. The most important of such places is the paragraph Jas 2:14-26, where an apparent contradiction to some great Pauline dicta perplexes many readers. The riddle is solved by observing that the writer uses "faith" in the sense of creed, orthodox "belief." This is clear from Jas 2:19, where the "faith." in question is illustrated: "Thou believest that God is one." This is the credal confession of the orthodox Jew (the shema`; see Dt 6:4), taken as a passport to salvation. Briefly, James presses the futility of creed without life, Paul the necessity of reliance in order to receive "life and peace."

4. A Leading Passage Explained:

It is important to notice that Heb 11:1 is no exception to the rule that "faith" normally means "reliance," "trust." There "Faith is the substance (or possibly, in the light of recent inquiries into the type of Greek used by New Testament writers, "the guaranty") of things hoped for, the evidence (or "convincing proof") of things not seen." This is sometimes interpreted as if faith, in the writer's view, were, so to speak, a faculty of second sight, a mysterious intuition into the spiritual world. But the chapter amply shows that the faith illustrated, e.g. by Abraham, Moses, Rahab, was simply reliance upon a God known to be trustworthy. Such reliance enabled the believer to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen. In short, the phrase here, "faith is the evidence," etc., is parallel in form to our familiar saying, "Knowledge is power."

5. Remarks:

A few detached remarks may be added: (a) The history of the use of the Greek pistis is instructive. In the Septuagint it normally, if not always, bears the "passive" sense "fidelity," "good faith," while in classical Greek it not rarely bears the active sense, "trust." In the koine, the type of Greek universally common at the Christian era, it seems to have adopted the active meaning as the ruling one only just in time, so to speak, to provide it for the utterance of Him whose supreme message was "reliance," and who passed that message on to His apostles. Through their lips and pens "faith," in that sense, became the supreme watchword of Christianity.

See JUSTIFICATION ;UNION WITH CHRIST .

6. Conclusion:

In conclusion, without trespassing on the ground of other articles, we call the reader's attention, for his Scriptural studies, to the central place of faith in Christianity, and its significance. As being, in its true idea, a reliance as simple as possible upon the word, power, love, of Another, it is precisely that which, on man's side, adjusts him to the living and merciful presence and action of a trusted God. In its nature, not by any mere arbitrary arrangement, it is his one possible receptive attitude, that in which he brings nothing, so that he may receive all. Thus "faith" is our side of union with Christ. And thus it is our means of possessing all His benefits, pardon, justification, purification, life, peace, glory.

As a comment on our exposition of the ruling meaning of "faith" in Scripture, we may note that this precisely corresponds to its meaning in common life, where, for once that the word means anything else, it means "reliance" a hundred times. Such correspondence between religious terms (in Scripture) and the meaning of the same words in common life, will be found to be invariable.

Handley Dunelm


FAITHFUL SAYINGS

sa'-inz (pistos ho logos): "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation" (the King James Version). These words form a striking formula which is found--with slight variations--only in the Pastoral Epistles, in 1 Tim 1:15; 3:1; 4:9; 2 Tim 2:11; Tit 3:8. A similar expression occurs in Rev (21:5 and 22:6 the King James Version), "These sayings are faithful and true."

The Five "Sayings."

Paul's faithful sayings are thus five in number, and "were no doubt rehearsed constantly in the assemblies, till they became well-known watchwords in the various churches scattered over the Mediterranean-washed provinces of the Roman empire" (Ellicott, New Testament Commentary on 1 Tim 1:15).

1. The First "Saying":

The first of the faithful sayings speaks of the pre-existence of Christ, of His coming into the world, and the purpose why He came is distinctly stated--to save the lost, irrespective of race or nationality, sinners who, apart from Christ, are without God and without hope.

2. The Second "Saying":

The second of the faithful sayings refers to the work of being a minister of the gospel, a work then so full of danger and always full of difficulty. The office in question is honorable and Christlike, and, in those early days, it meant stern and ceaseless work, grave and constant danger. This faithful saying would act as a call to young men to offer themselves for the work of proclaiming the gospel to the world, and of witnessing for Christ.

3. The Third "Saying":

The third saying is that godliness has an influence that is world-wide; it consists, not merely in holiness and in that fellowship and communion with God which is the very life of the soul; it is also an active force which springs from "the love of Christ constraining us," and manifests itself in love toward all our fellow-men, for they are God's creatures. Godliness transfigures every rank and condition of life. It has the promise of the life that now is: to those who seek the kingdom of God first, all other things will be added. And it has the promise of the life that is to come, the rich prospect of eternal blessedness with Christ. Compare with this saying the remarkable words in Tit 1:2, "in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before times eternal." Godliness gives all gladness here, and future glory too. This is a faithful saying.

4. The Fourth "Saying":

The fourth of the faithful sayings speaks of the Christian believer's union with Christ, and of the blessedness of that union. The Christian is "dead with Christ," he "suffers with Christ." But the union with Christ is eternal, "We shall also live with him; .... we shall also reign with him" in life that is fadeless, endless and full of glory. Surely then, no one will draw back, for "if we deny him," "if we believe not," "he also will deny us," for "he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself."

5. The Fifth "Saying":

The fifth and last of the faithful sayings speaks of our former unconverted state, "for we also once were foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures. But .... the kindness and love of God .... toward man appeared, not by works which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved us." Blessedness is now the Christian's lot, and this is the result not of our works: we owe it all to the tender love of God, to His Divine pity, to His redeeming grace. Yes, this is a faithful saying.

John Rutherfurd


FAITHFUL; FAITHFULNESS

fath'-fool, fath'-fool-nes:

1. Faithfulness of God in the Old Testament

2. Faithfulness of God in the New Testament

LITERATURE

Faithfulness is a quality or attribute applied in the Scripture to both God and man. This article is limited to the consideration of the Scripture teaching concerning the meaning of faithfulness in its application to God.

Faithfulness is one of the characteristics of God's ethical nature. It denotes the firmness or constancy of God in His relations with men, especially with His people. It is, accordingly, one aspect of God's truth and of His unchangeableness. God is true not only because He is really God in contrast to all that is not God, and because He realizes the idea of Godhead, but also because He is constant or faithful in keeping His promises, and therefore is worthy of trust (see TRUTH ). God, likewise, is unchangeable in His ethical nature. This unchangeableness the Scripture often connects with God's goodness and mercy, and also with His constancy in reference to His covenant promises, and this is what the Old Testament means by the Faithfulness of God (see UNCHANGEABLENESS ).

1. Faithfulfulness of God in the Old Testament:

In the Old Testament this attribute is ascribed to God in passages where the Hebrew words denoting faithfulness do not occur. It is implied in the covenant name Yahweh as unfolded in Ex 3:13-15, which not only expresses God's self-existence and unchangeableness, but, as the context indicates, puts God's immutability in special relation to His gracious promises, thus denoting God's unchangeable faithfulness which is emphasized in the Old Testament to awaken trust in God (Dt 7:9; Ps 36:5 (Hebrew 6); Isa 11:5; Hos 12:6,9). (For fuller remarks on the name Yahweh in Ex 3:13-15, see articleUNCHANGEABLENESS .) It is, moreover, God's faithfulness as well as His immutability which is implied in those passages where God is called a rock, as being the secure object of religious trust (Dt 32:4,15; Ps 18:2 (Hebrew 3); 42:9 (Hebrew 10); Isa 17:10, etc.). This same attribute is also implied where God reveals Himself to Moses and to Israel as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and their fathers' God (Ex 3:6,15,16). The truth concerning God here taught is not simply that He stood in a gracious relation to the Patriarchs, but that He is faithful to His gracious promise to their fathers, and that what He was to them He will continue to be to Moses and to Israel. This is the fundamental idea in the Old Testament concerning the faithfulness of God.

This can be seen also from the Hebrew words which are used to express this quality of God's nature and activity. These words are ne'eman, the Niphal participle of the verb 'aman used as an adjective--"faithful"--and the nouns 'emeth and 'emunah--"faithfulness." The verbal stem 'aman means "to be secure or firm." In the Qal it denotes the firmness of that which supports something, being used in the participle of a nurse who carries a child (Nu 11:12; 2 Sam 4:4; Isa 49:23). In the Niphal it denotes the firmness of that which is supported, for example, a child which is carried (Isa 60:4); a well-founded house (1 Sam 2:35; 25:28); a wall which firmly holds a nail (Isa 22:23,15); a kingdom firmly established (2 Sam 7:16); persons secure in political station (Isa 7:9); a heart which is faithful (Neh 9:8). Hence, in the Niphal the verb comes to have the meaning of being true in the sense of the agreement of words and assertions with reality; for example, of words and revelations (Gen 42:20; Hos 5:9); and of persons (Isa 8:2; Jer 42:5). It has also the meaning of being faithful, being applied to men in Nu 12:7; Ps 101:6; Neh 13:13, etc. In this sense the term is applied to the covenant-keeping Yahweh to express the truth that He is firm or constant, that is, faithful in regard to His covenant promises, and will surely fulfill them (Dt 7:9; Isa 49:7; and possibly Hos 11:12 (Hebrew 12:1)).

A similar use is made of the nouns 'emeth and 'emunah. Apart from the instances where 'emeth denotes the idea of truth or the correspondence of words and ideas with reality, and the instances where it denotes the agreement of acts and words with the inner disposition, that is, sincerity, it is also used to denote the idea of faithfulness as above defined. As regards the noun 'emunah, apart from a few passages where it is doubtful whether it means truth or faithfulness, it usually denotes the latter idea. Both these nouns, then, are used to signify the idea of faithfulness, that is, constancy or firmness, especially in the fulfillment of all obligations. In this sense these words are not only applied to men, but also to God to express the idea that He is always faithful to His covenant promises. It is this attribute of God which the Psalmist declares (Ps 40:10 (Hebrew 11)), and the greatness of which he affirms by saying that God's faithfulness reacheth to the clouds (Ps 36:5 (Hebrew 6)). It is this which he makes the object of praise (Ps 89:1,2 (Hebrew 2,3); Ps 92:2 (Hebrew 3)); and which he says should be praised and reverenced by all men (Ps 89:5,8 (Hebrew 6,9)). And even this faithfulness is itself characterized by constancy, if we may so speak, for the Psalmist says that it endures to all generations (Ps 100:5). Being thus a characteristic of God, it also characterizes His salvation, and becomes the basis of confidence that God will hear prayer (Ps 143:1). It thus becomes the security of the religious man (Ps 91:4); and the source of God's help to His people (Ps 31:5 (Hebrew 6)). Accordingly in the teaching of prophecy, the salvation of the covenant people rests upon no claim or merit of their own, but solely upon Yahweh's mercy, grace and faithfulness. When Israel incurred God's judgments, it might have appeared as if His promise was to fail, but, so far from this being true, as Yahweh, He is faithful to His word of promise which stands forever (Isa 40:8). Even from eternity His counsels are characterized by faithfulness and truth (Isa 25:1); and this is not because of Israel's faithfulness, but it is for His own sake that Yahweh blotteth out their transgressions (Isa 43:22-25; Mic 7:18-20). It is, moreover, this same characteristic of Yahweh which is asserted in many cases where the Hebrew words 'emeth and 'emunah are translated by the word "truth" in the King James Version. In Ex 34:6 it is God's faithfulness ('emeth) which is referred to, since it evidently signifies His constancy from generation to generation; and in Dt 32:4 it is also God's faithfulness ('emunah) which is mentioned, since it is contrasted with the faithlessness of Israel. The same is true of 'emeth in Mic 7:20; Ps 31:5 (Hebrew 6)); 91:4; 146:6. This is also true of the numerous instances where God's mercy and truth ('emeth) are combined, His mercy being the source of His gracious promises, and His truth the faithfulness with which He certainly fulfills them (Ps 25:10; 57:3 (Hebrew 4); 61:7 (Hebrew 8); 85:10 (Hebrew 11); 86:15). And since the covenant-keeping Yahweh is faithful, faithfulness comes also to be a characteristic of the New Covenant which is everlasting (Ps 89:28 (Hebrew 29)); compare also for a similar thought, Isa 54:8 ff; Jer 31:35 ff; Hos 2:19 f; Ezek 16:60 ff.

It is in this connection, moreover, that God's faithfulness is closely related to His righteousness in the Old Testament. In the second half of the prophecy of Isaiah and in many of the psalms, righteousness is ascribed to God because He comes to help and save His people. Thus righteousness as a quality parallel with grace, mercy and faithfulness is ascribed to God (Isa 41:10; 42:6; 45:13,19,21; 63:1). It appears in these places to widen out from its exclusively judicial or forensic association and to become a quality of God as Saviour of His people. Accordingly this attribute of God is appealed to in the Psalms as the basis of hope for salvation and deliverance (Ps 31:1 (Hebrew 2); 35:24; 71:2; 143:11). Hence, this attribute is associated with God's mercy and grace (Ps 36:5 (Hebrew 6); 36:9 (Hebrew 10); 89:14 (Hebrew 15)); also with His faithfulness (Zec 8:8; Ps 36:6 (Hebrew 7)); Ps 40:10 (Hebrew 11); 88:11,12 (Hebrew 12,13); 89:14 (Hebrew 15); 96:13; 119:137,142; 143:1). Accordingly the Old Testament conception of the righteousness of God has been practically identified with His covenant faithfulness, by such writers as Kautzsch, Riehm and Smend, Ritschl's definition of it being very much the same. Moreover, Ritschl, following Diestel, denied that the idea of distributive and retributive justice is ascribed to God in the Old Testament. In regard to this latter point, it should be remarked in passing that this denial that the judicial or forensic idea of righteousness is ascribed to God in the Old Testament breaks down, not only in view of the fact that the Old Testament does ascribe this attribute to God in many ways, but also in view of the fact that in a number of passages the idea of retribution is specifically referred to the righteousness of God (see RIGHTEOUSNESS ; compare against Diestel and Ritschl, Dalman, Die richterliche Gerechtigkeit im Alten Testament).

That which concerns us, however, in regard to this close relation between righteousness and faithfulness is to observe that this should not be pressed to the extent of the identification of righteousness with covenant faithfulness in these passages in the Psalms and the second half of Isa. The idea seems to be that Israel has sinned and has no claim upon Yahweh, finding her only hope of deliverance in His mercy and faithfulness. But this very fact that Yahweh is merciful and faithful becomes, as it were, Israel's claim, or rather the ground of Israel's hope of deliverance from her enemies. Hence, in the recognition of this claim of His people, God is said to be righteous in manifesting His mercy and faithfulness, so that His righteousness, no less than His mercy and faithfulness, becomes the ground of His people's hope. Righteousness is thus closely related in these cases to faithfulness, but it is not identified with it, nor has it in all cases lost entirely its forensic tone. This seems to be, in general, the meaning of righteousness in the Psalms and the second half of Isaiah, with which may also be compared Mic 6:9; Zec 8:8.

The emphasis which this attribute of God has in the Old Testament is determined by the fact that throughout the whole of the Old Testament the covenant relation of Yahweh to His people is founded solely in God's grace, and not on any merit of theirs. If this covenant relation had been based on any claim of Israel, faithfulness on God's part might have been taken for granted. But since Yahweh's covenant relation with Israel and His promises of salvation spring solely from, and depend wholly upon, the grace of God, that which gave firm assurance that the past experience of God's grace would continue in the future was this immutable faithfulness of Yahweh. By it the experience of the fathers was given a religious value for Israel from generation to generation. And even as the faithfulness of God bridged over the past and the present, so also it constituted the connecting link between the present and the future, becoming thus the firm basis of Israel's hope; compare Ps 89 which sets forth the faithfulness of God in its greatness, its firmness as the basis of the covenant and the ground it affords of hope for future help from Yahweh, and for hope that His covenant shall endure forever. When God's people departed from Him all the more emphasis was put upon His faithfulness, so that the only hope of His wayward people lay not only in His grace and mercy but also in His faithfulness, which stands in marked contrast with the faithlessness and inconstancy of His people. This is probably the meaning of the difficult verse Hos 11:12 (Hebrew 12:1).

2. Faithfulness of God in the New Testament:

In the New Testament teaching concerning the faithfulness of God the same idea of faithfulness to His gracious promises is emphasized and held up as the object of a confident trust in God. This idea is usually expressed by the adjective pistos, and once by the noun pistis, which more frequently has the active sense of faith or trust.

An attempt has been made by Wendt (SK, 1883, 511 f; Teaching of Jesus, English translation, I, 259 f) to interpret the words aletheia and alethes in many instances, especially in the Johannine writings, as denoting faithfulness and rectitude, after the analogy of the Septuagint rendering eleos kai aletheia for the Hebrew phrase "mercy and truth," in which truth is equivalent to faithfulness. But the most that could be inferred from the fact that the Septuagint uses the word aletheia to translate the Hebrew word 'emeth, and in about one-half the cases where 'emunah occurs, would be that those Greek words might have been prepared for such a use in the New Testament. But while it is true that there is one usage of these words in John's writings in an ethical sense apparently based on the Old Testament use of 'emeth and 'emunah, the Greek words do not have this meaning when employed to denote a characteristic of God. Neither is the adjective alethinos so used.

See TRUTH .

In the Epistles of Paul the word aletheia occurs quite frequently to denote the truth revealed by God to man through reason and conscience, and to denote the doctrinal content of the gospel. In two passages, however, the words alethes and aletheia seem to signify the faithfulness of God (Rom 3:4,7; 15:8). In the former passage Paul is contrasting the faithfulness of God with the faithlessness of men, the word alethes, 3:4, and aletheia, 3:7, apparently denoting the same Divine characteristic as the word pistis, 3:3. In the latter passage (Rom 15:8), the vindication of God's covenant faithfulness, through the realization of His promises to the fathers, is declared to have been the purpose of the ministry of Jesus Christ to the Jews.

This faithfulness of God to His covenant promises is frequently emphasized by Paul, the words he employs being the noun pistis (once) and the adjective: pistos. The noun pistis is used once by Paul in this sense (Rom 3:3 ff). In this place Paul is arguing that the unbelief of the Jews cannot make void God's faithfulness. Both Jew and Gentile, the apostle had said, are on the same footing as regards justification. Nevertheless the Jews had one great advantage in that they were the people to whom the revelation of God's gracious promises had been committed. These promises will certainly be fulfilled, notwithstanding the fact that some of the Jews were unfaithful, because the fulfillment of these promises depends not on human conduct but on the faithfulness of God, which cannot be made void by human faithlessness and unbelief. And to the supposition that man's faithlessness could make of none effect God's faithfulness, Paul replies `let God be faithful (alethes) and every man a liar' (Rom 3:4), by which Paul means to say that in the fulfillment of God's promises, in spite of the fact that men are faithless, the faithfulness of God will be abundantly vindicated, even though thereby every man should be proven untrue and faithless. And not only so, but human faithlessness will give an opportunity for a manifestation of the faithfulness (aletheia) of God, abounding to His glory (Rom 3:7). God's faithfulness here is His unchangeable constancy and fidelity to His covenant promises; and it is this fidelity to His promises, or the fact that God's gracious gifts and election are without any change of mind on His part, which gave to Paul the assurance that all Israel should finally be saved (Rom 11:25-29). Moreover this covenant faithfulness of God is grounded in His very nature, so that Paul's hope of eternal life rests on the fact that God who cannot lie promised it before the world began (Tit 1:2); and the certainty that God will abide faithful notwithstanding human faithlessness rests on the fact that God cannot deny Himself (2 Tim 2:13). It is because God is faithful that His promises in Christ are yea and amen (2 Cor 1:18,20). This attribute of God, moreover, is the basis of Paul's confident assurance that God will preserve the Christian in temptation (1 Cor 10:13); and establish him and preserve him from evil (2 Thess 3:3). And since God is faithful and His gracious promises trustworthy, this characteristic attaches to the "faithful sayings" in the Pastoral Epistles which sum up the gospel, making them worthy of trust and acceptance (1 Tim 1:15; 4:9; Tit 3:8).

This faithfulness of God in the sense of fidelity to His promises is set forth as the object of sure trust and hope by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews. It was the basis of Sarah's faith that she would bear a child when she was past age (Heb 11:11); and it is because God is faithful to His promise in Christ that we can draw nigh to Him with full assurance of faith, holding fast without wavering the profession of hope (Heb 10:23).

John also ascribes this attribute to God. Since one of the most precious of God's promises through Christ is the pardon of sin through the "blood of Jesus Christ," John says that God's faithfulness, as well as His righteousness, is manifested in the forgiveness of sin (1 Jn 1:9).

The faithfulness of God is viewed from a slightly different point by Peter when he tells his readers that those who suffer as Christians and in accordance with God's will should "commit their soul's in well-doing unto a faithful Creator" (1 Pet 4:19). The quality of faithfulness, which in the Scripture is more frequently ascribed to God in His relation to man as gracious Saviour, and as the ground of hope in His gracious promises, is here applied by Peter to God in His relation to man as his Creator, and is made the ground of comfort under persecution and suffering. The omission of the article before the words "faithful Creator" makes emphatic that this is a characteristic of God as Creator, and the position of the words in the sentence throws great emphasis on this attribute of God as the basis of comfort under suffering. It is as if Peter would say to suffering Christians, "You suffer not by chance but in accordance with God's will; He, the almighty Creator, made you, and since your suffering is in accordance with His will, you ought to trust yourselves to Him who as your Creator is faithful." It is, of course, Christians who are to derive this comfort, but the faithfulness of God is extended here to cover all His relations to His people, and to pledge all His attributes in their behalf.

This attribute is also ascribed to Christ in the New Testament. Where Jesus is called a faithful high priest, the idea expressed is His fidelity to His obligations to God and to His saving work (Heb 2:17; 3:2,6). But when in the Book of Revelation Jesus Christ is called the "faithful witness" or absolutely the "Faithful and True," it is clear that the quality of faithfulness, in the most absolute sense in which it is characteristic of God in contrast with human changeableness, is ascribed to Christ (Rev 1:5; 3:14; 19:11). This is especially clear in the last-named passage. The heavens themselves open to disclose the glorified Christ, and He appears not only as a victorious warrior whose name is faithful and true, but also as the one in whom these attributes have their highest realization, and of whom they are so characteristic as to become the name of the exalted Lord. This clearly implies the Deity of Jesus.

In summing up the Scripture teaching concerning God's faithfulness, three things are noteworthy. In the first place, this characteristic of God is usually connected with His gracious promises of salvation, and is one of those attributes which make God the firm and secure object of religious trust. As is the case with all the Scripture teaching concerning God, it is the religious value of His faithfulness which is made prominent. In the second place, the so-called moral attributes, of which this is one, are essential in order to constitute God the object of religion, along with the so-called incommunicable attributes such as Omnipotence, Omnipresence and Unchangeableness. Take away either class of attributes from God, and He ceases to be God, the object of religious veneration and trust. And in the third place, while these moral attributes, to which faithfulness belongs, have been called "communicable," to distinguish them from the "incommunicable" attributes which distinguish God from all that is finite, it should never be forgotten that, according to the Scripture, God is faithful in such an absolute sense as to contrast Him with men who are faithful only in a relative sense, and who appear as changeable and faithless in comparison with the faithfulness of God.

See RIGHTEOUSNESS ;TRUTH ;UNCHANGEABLENESS .

LITERATURE.

Besides the Commentaries on the appropriate passages, see Oehler, Theology of the Old Testament, English translation, 95, 112 f 505: Dillmann, Handbuch der alttest. Theol., 268-76, 269-70; Schlatter, Der Glaube im New Testament, 21-22, 259-60. In the works on New Testament theology this subject is treated under the sections on the truthfulness of God.

On the relation of God's truth and faithfulness, see Wendt, Der Gebrauch der Worter, und im New Testament,SK , 1883, 511 f; Stanton, article "Truth," inHDB ,IV , 816 f; and the above-mentioned work of Schlatter. On the relation of the faithfulness to the righteousness of God, see Diestel, "Die Idee der Gerechtigkeit vorzuglich im Altes Testament," Jahrbucher fur deutsche Theologie, 1860, 173 f; Kautzsch, Ueber die Derivate des Stammes im Altes Testament Sprachgebrauch; Riehm, Altes Testament Theol., 271 f; Smend, Alttest. Religionsgeschichte, 363 f; Ritschl, Justification and Reconciliation; Dalman, Die richterliche Gerechtigkeit im Altes Testament; and the above-mentioned Old Testament Theologies of Dillmann and Oehler.

Gaspar Wistar Hodge


FAITHLESS

fath'-les: The translation of apistos, "without faith," having the sense of "unbelieving," "disbelieving." Jesus upbraids the people, "O faithless and perverse generation!" (Mt 17:17; Mk 9:19; Lk 9:41); He says to Thomas, "Be not faithless, but believing" (Jn 20:27); the Revised Version (British and American) adds, "If we are faithless," instead of "believe not" (2 Tim 2:13); compare 1 Cor 7:12-15; 10:27; 14:22,24, etc.; Tit 1:15. In Lk 12:46 apistos has the sense of "unfaithful," so the Revised Version (British and American); perhaps also Rev 21:8, "unbelieving."


FALCON

fo'-k'-n, fol'-k'-n, fal'-kun: The Hebrews did not know the word. Their bird corresponding to our falcon, in all probability, was one of the smaller kestrels covered by the word nets, which seemed to cover all lesser birds of prey that we include in the hawk family. That some of our many divisions of species were known to them is indicated by the phrase "after its kind." The word occurs in the Revised Version (British and American) in Job 28:7, to translation 'ayyah, Greek gups (compare Lev 11:14; Dt 14:13):

"That path no bird of prey knoweth,

Neither hath the falcon's eye seen it."

This substitutes "falcon" for "vulture" in the King James Version. The change weakens the force of the lines. All ornithologists know that eagles, vultures and the large hawks have such range of vision that they at once descend from heights at which we cannot see them to take prey on earth or food placed to tempt them. The falcons and sparrow hawks are small members of the family, some of which feed on little birds, some on insects. They are not celebrated for greater range of vision than other birds of the same location and feeding habits. The strength of these lines lay in the fact that if the path to the mine were so well concealed that the piercing eye of the vulture failed to find it, then it was perfectly hidden indeed.

Gene Stratton-Porter


FALL

fol (vb.): The idea of falling is most frequently expressed in Hebrew by naphal, but also by many other words; in Greek by pipto, and its compounds. The uses of the word in Scripture are very varied. There is the literal falling by descent; the falling of the countenance in sorrow, shame, anger, etc. (Gen 4:5,6); the falling in battle (Gen 14:10; Nu 14:3, etc.); the falling into trouble, etc. (Prov 24:16,17); prostration in supplication and reverence (Gen 17:3; Nu 14:5, etc.); falling of the Spirit of Yahweh (Ezek 11:5; compare 3:24; 8:1); of apostasy (2 Thess 2:3; Heb 6:6; Jude 1:24), etc. the Revised Version (British and American) frequently changes "fall" of the King James Version into other words or phrases, as "stumble" (Lev 26:37; Ps 64:8; 2 Pet 1:10, etc.), "fade" (Isa 33:4), etc.; in Acts 27, the Revised Version (British and American) reads "be cast ashore on rocky ground" for "have fallen upon rocks" (Acts 27:29), "perish" for "fall" (Acts 27:34), "lighting upon" for "falling into" (Acts 27:41).

W. L. Walker


FALL, THE

fol:

1. Meaning of Genesis 3

2. Genesis 3 in the Old and New Testaments

3. The Fall and the Theory of Evolution

4. The Character of the Fall

The question concerning the origin, the age and the written record of the history of the Fall in Gen 3 need not be discussed here. For in the first place, science can never reach to the oldest origins and the ultimate destinies of humanity, and historical and critical inquiry will never be able to prove either the veracity or the unveracity of this history. And in the second place, exactly as it now lies before us, this history has already formed for centuries a portion of holy Scripture, an indispensable element in the organism of the revelation of salvation, and as such has been accepted in faith by the Hebrew congregation (Jewish people), by Christ, by the apostles, and by the whole Christian church.

1. Meaning of Genesis 3:

That Gen 3 gives us an account of the fall of man, of the loss of his primitive innocence and of the misery, particularly death, to which he has since been subjected, cannot reasonably be denied. The opinion of the Ophites, Kant, Schiller, Hegel, etc., that Gen 3 relates the awakening of man to self-consciousness and personality (see ADAM IN THE OLD TESTAMENT ), and therefore does not tell us of a fall, but a marked progression, is disputed by the name which the forbidden tree bears, as indicating to man not merely a tree of knowledge in the ordinary way, but quite specially a tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Gen 3 is not in the least meant to relate to us how man obtained the idea of his nakedness and sexual passions, and from a state of childlike innocence changed in this respect to manlike maturity (Eerdman's De Beteekenis van het Paradijsverhaal, Theologisch Tijdschrift, 1905, 485-511). For according to Genesis, man was created full-grown, received a wife immediately as helpmeet, and at the same time saw himself allotted the task of multiplying and replenishing the earth. Moreover, the idea that sexual desire is something sinful and deserves punishment was entirely foreign to ancient Israel.

Finally, the interpretation of Wellhausen (Geschichte Israels, 1878, 344) cannot be accepted, that man in Gen 3 should obtain "die intellektuelle Welterkenntniss, die metaphysische Erkenntniss der Dinge in ihrem Zusammenhange, ihrem Werth oder Unwerth, ihrem Nutzen oder Schaden" ("the intellectual knowledge of the world, the metaphysical knowledge of things in their connection, their worth or unworth, their utility or hurtfulness"). For in the first place, according to Gen, this was man's peculiar province from the beginning; he received indeed the vocation to subdue the earth, to keep and till the ground, to give the animals their names. And in the second place, the acquiring of this knowledge among the Israelites, who esteemed practical wisdom so highly, is difficult to represent as a fall, or as a punishment deserved for disobedience.

There is no other explanation possible of Gen 3 than that it is the narration of a fall, which consists in the transgression of an explicit command of God, thus bearing a moral significance, and therefore followed by repentance, shame, fear and punishment. The context of the chapter places this interpretation beyond all doubt, for before his fall man is represented as a creature made after God's image and receiving paradise as a dwelling-place, and after the fall he is sent into a rough world, is condemned to a life of labor and sorrow, and increases more and more in sin until the judgment of the Flood.

2. Genesis 3 in the Old and the New Testaments:

It is indeed remarkable how very seldom the Old Testament refers to this history of the Fall. This is not a sufficient reason for pronouncing it of later origin, for the same peculiarity presents itself at the time when, according to all criticism, it was recorded in literature. Prophets, Psalms, Proverbs never quote it; at the most, allusions may be found to it in Hos 6:7 and Eccl 7:29; and even Jesus and His apostles in the New Testament very seldom appeal to Gen 3 (Jn 8:44; Rom 5:12; 1 Cor 15:22; 2 Cor 11:3; 1 Tim 2:14). But it may be considered that the Prophets, Psalms and Proverbs only mention special facts of the past by way of exception, that the apostles even hardly ever quote the words and deeds of Jesus, and that all lived at a time when revelation itself was still proceeding and did not lie before them as a complete whole. With us it is quite a different matter; we are in a certain sense outside revelation, make it a subject of our study and meditation, try to discover the unity which holds all its parts together, and devote our special interest to Adam as a figure and counterpart of Christ. The creation and fall of man occupy therefore a much broader place in the province of our thoughts than they did among the writers of the books of the Old and New Testaments.

Nevertheless, the Fall is the silent hypothesis of the whole Biblical doctrine of sin and redemption; it does not rest only on a few vague passages, but forms an indispensable element in the revelation of salvation. The whole contemplation of man and humanity, of Nature and history, of ethical and physical evil, of redemption and the way in which to obtain it, is connected in Scripture with a Fall, such as Gen 3 relates to us. Sin, for example, is common to all men (1 Ki 8:46; Ps 14:3; 130:3; 143:2), and to every man from his conception (Gen 6:5; 8:21; Job 14:4; Ps 51:7). It arouses God's anger and deserves all kinds of punishment, not only of an ethical but of a physical nature (Gen 3:14-19; 4:14; 6:7,13; 11:8; Lev 26:14 f; Dt 28:15; Ps 90:7, etc.); the whole of Scripture proceeds from the thought that sin and death are connected in the closest degree, as are also obedience and life. In the new heaven and new earth all suffering ceases with sin (Rev 21:4). Therefore redemption is possible only in the way of forgiveness (Ps 32:1; Isa 43:25, etc.), and circumcision of the heart (Dt 10:16; 30:16; Jer 4:4), and this includes, further, life, joy, peace, salvation. When Paul in Rom 5:12; 1 Cor 15:22 indicates Adam as the origin of sin and death, and Christ as the source of righteousness and life, he develops no ideas which are contrary to the organism of revelation or which might be neglected without loss; he merely combines and formulates the data which are explicitly or silently contained in it.

3. The Fall and the Theory of Evolution:

Tradition does little toward the confirmation and elucidation of the Biblical narrative of the Fall. The study of mythology is still too little advanced to determine the ideal or historical value which may be contained in the legend of a Golden Age, in many people's obsequious honoring of the serpent, in the equally widespread belief in a tree of life. The Babylonian representation also (a seal on which a man and woman, seated, are figured as plucking fruit from a tree, while a serpent curls up behind the woman as if whispering in her ear), which G. Smith, Lenormant and Friedrich Delitzsch compare with the Paradise narrative, shows no similarity on nearer view (A. Jeremias, Das Altes Testament im Lichte des alten Orients2, Leipzig, 1906, 203). Indirectly, however, a very powerful witness for the fall of man is furnished by the whole empirical condition of the world and humanity. For a world, such as we know it, full of unrighteousness and sorrow, cannot be explained without the acceptance of such a fact. He who holds fast to the witness of Scripture and conscience to sin as sin (as anomia) cannot deduce it from creation, but must accept the conclusion that it began with a transgression of God's command and thus with a deed of the will. Pythagoras, Plato, Kant, Schelling, Baader have all understood and acknowledged this with more or less clearness. He who denies the Fall must explain sin as a necessity which has its origin in the Creation, in the nature of things, and therefore in God Himself; he justifies man but accuses God, misrepresents the character of sin and makes it everlasting and indefeasible. For if there has not been a fall into sin, there is no redemption of sin possible; sin then loses its merely ethical significance, becomes a trait of the nature of man, and is inexterminable.

This comes out, in later years, in the many endeavors to unite the Fall with the doctrine of evolution (compare Tennant, The Origin and Propagation of Sin2, 1905; A. S. Peake, Christianity: Its Nature and Its Truth, 1908; W. E. Orchard, Modern Theories of Sin, 1909; Francis J. Hall, Evolution and the Fall, 1910). All these endeavors lead to setting on one side the objective standard of sin, which is the law of God, and determining the nature and importance of sin subjectively by the feeling of guilt, which in its turn again depends on the knowledge of and the love for the moral ideal, and itself forms an important factor in moral progress. It is true that the strength of all these endeavors is drawn from theory of the descent of man from the animal. But as to this theory, it is worthy of notice: (1) that it is up to the present day a hypothesis, and is proved by no single observation, whether direct or indirect; (2) that the fossils of prehistoric men, found in Germany, Belgium, France and elsewhere have demonstrated the low degree of culture in which these men have lived, but in no sense their dissimilarity with mankind of today (W. Branca, Der Stand unserer Kenntnisse vom fossilen Menschen, Leipzig, 1910); (3) that the uncivilized and prehistoric man may be as little identified with the first man as the unjustly so-called nature-people and children under age; (4) that the oldest history of the human race, which has become known through the discoveries at Babylon in the last century, was not that of a state of barbarism, but of high and rich culture (D. Gath Whitley, "What was the Primitive Condition of Man?" Princeton Theol. Review, October, 1906; J. Orr, God's Image in Man, 1906); (5) that the acceptance of theory of descent as a universal and unlimited rule leads to the denial of the unity of the human race, in a physical and also in an intellectual, moral and religious sense. For it may be possible, even in the school of Darwin, to maintain the unity of the human race so long a time as tradition exercises its influence on the habit of mind; but theory itself undermines its foundation and marks it as an arbitrary opinion. From the standpoint of evolution, there is not only no reason to hold to the "of one blood" of Acts 17:26 the King James Version, but there has never even been a first man; the transition from animal to man was so slow and successive, that the essential distinction fails to be seen. And with the effacing of this boundary, the unity of the moral ideal, of religion, of the laws of thought and of truth, fails also; theory of evolution expels the absolute everywhere and leads necessarily to psychologism, relativism, pragmatism and even to pluralism, which is literally polytheism in a religious sense. The unity of the human race, on the other hand, as it is taught in holy Scripture, is not an indifferent physical question, but an important intellectual, moral and religious one; it is a "postulate" of the whole history of civilization, and expressly or silently accepted by nearly all historians. And conscience bears witness to it, in so far as all men show the work of the moral law written in their hearts, and their thoughts accuse or excuse one another (Rom 2:15); it shows back to the Fall as an "Urthatsache der Geschichte."

4. The Character of the Fall:

What the condition and history of the human race could hardly lead us to imagine, holy Scripture relates to us as a tragic fact in its first pages. The first man was created by God after His own image, not therefore in brutish unconsciousness or childlike naivete, but in a state of bodily and spiritual maturity, with understanding and reason, with knowledge and speech, with knowledge especially of God and His law. Then was given to him moreover a command not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This command was not contained in the moral law as such; it was not a natural but a positive commandment; it rested entirely and only on God's will and must be obeyed exclusively for this reason. It placed before man the choice, whether he would be faithful and obedient to God's word and would leave to Him alone the decision as to what is good or evil, or whether he would reserve to himself the right arbitrarily to decide what is good or evil. Thus the question was: Shall theonomy or autonomy be the way to happiness? On this account also the tree was called the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It did not bear this name in the sense that man might obtain from it the empirical knowledge of good and evil, for by his transgression he in truth lost the empirical knowledge of good. But the tree was so named, because man, by eating of it and so transgressing God's commandment, arrogated to himself "die Fahigkeit zur selbstandigen Wahl der Mittel, durch die man sein Gluck schaffen will": "the capacity of independent choice of the means by which he would attain his happiness" (Koberle, Sunde und Gnade im relig. Leben des Volkes Israel bis auf Christenrum, 1905, 64). Theonomy, as obedience to God from free love, includes as such the idea and the possibility of autonomy, therefore that of antinomy also.

But it is the free act and therefore the guilt of man that has changed the possibility into reality. For the mind, there remains here an insoluble problem, as much in the question, why God allowed this Fall to take place, as in the other, how man, created in the likeness of God, could and did fall. There is a great deal of truth in the often-expressed thought, that we can give no account of the origin of sin, because it is not logical, and does not result as a conclusion drawn from two premises. But facts are brutal. What seems logically impossible often exists in reality. The laws of moral life are different from those of thought and from those also of mechanical nature. The narrative in Gen 3, in any case, is psychologically faithful in the highest degree. For the same way as it appears there in the first man, it repeatedly takes place among ourselves (Jas 1:14,15). Furthermore we ought to allow God to justify Himself. The course of revelation discovers to faith how, through all the ages, He holds sin in its entire development in His own almighty hands, and works through grace for a consummation in which, in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He will gather together in one all things in Christ (Eph 1:10). (J. Orr, Sin as a Problem of Today, London, 1910.)

Herman Bavinck


FALLING STARS

See ASTRONOMY .


FALLOW

fal'-o (damam): Damam is translated only once in the sense of "fallow" (Ex 23:11). The law required that the Israelites allow their ground to lie fallow one year in, seven. the King James Version is (Dt 14:5) nir, and is translated "fallow" in its more obsolete sense of "tilled ground" in the King James Version (Jer 4:3; Hos 10:12).


FALSE PROPHETS

See PROPHESYINGS ,FALSE .


FALSE SWEARING; FALSE WITNESS

See OATH ;PERJURY ;CRIMES .


FALSE, CHRISTS

fols.

See CHRISTS ,FALSE .


FALSEHOOD

fols'-hood.

See LYING .


FAME

fam (shem, shema`; akoe, pheme): "Fame" has the twofold meaning, (1) of report or rumor, (2) of renown or reputation (in the Old Testament it is not always easy to distinguish the two senses). "Fame," shema`, "fame," "rumor," "reports" (Nu 14:15; Job 28:22, the Revised Version (British and American) "rumor") probably means "report"; but in 1 Ki 10:1; 2 Ch 9:1; Isa 66:19, it is most probably "renown," or "reputation"; shemu`ah (1 Ki 10:7; 2 Ch 9:6) may have either meaning; shoma` (Josh 6:27; 9:9; Est 9:4) seems to mean "fame" in the sense of reputation; but in Jer 6:24 (as the American Standard Revised Version) "report"; shem, "name," has the sense of reputation (1 Ki 4:31; 1 Ch 14:17; 22:5; Zeph 3:19, the Revised Version (British and American) "name"); qol, "voice," is report (Gen 45:16, the American Standard Revised Version "report"). In the New Testament akoe, "hearing," is "report," so the Revised Version (British and American) (Mt 4:24; 14:1; Mk 1:28); pheme, "word," "rumor," is report, fame in this sense (Mt 9:26; Lk 4:14); echos, "a sound," "noise" (Lk 4:37, the Revised Version (British and American) "rumor"), and logos, "word" (Lk 5:15, the Revised Version (British and American) "report") have the same meaning; diaphemizo, "to say throughout," "to report publicly" (Mt 9:31, "they .... spread abroad his fame"), seems to imply fame in the sense of reputation.

In 1 Macc 3:26, we have "fame" in the sense of reputation, "His fame (onoma, the Revised Version (British and American) "name") came near even to the king"; so 3:41, "heard the fame of them."

ERV has "fame" for "report" (shema`), Jer 50:43.

W. L. Walker


FAMILIAR

fa-mil'-yar: Is found as an adjective qualifying "friend" and "spirit."

(1) Used, in a number of Old Testament passages, of spirits which were supposed to come at the call of one who had power over them. 'obh, literally, something "hollow"; compare 'obh, "bottle" (Job 32:19 the King James Version); because the voice of the spirit might have been supposed to come from the one possessed, as from a bottle, or because of the hollow sound which characterized the utterance, as out of the ground (Isa 29:4); or, as some have conjectured, akin to 'ubh, "return" (nekromantis). Probably called "familiar" because it was regarded as a servant (famulus), belonging to the family (familiaris), who might be summoned to do the commands of the one possessing it. The practice of consulting familiar spirits was forbidden by the Mosaic law (Lev 19:31; 20:6,27; Dt 18:11). King Saul put this away early in his reign, but consulted the witch of Endor, who "had a familiar spirit" (1 Sam 28:3,7,8,9; 1 Ch 10:13). King Manasseh fell into the same sin (2 Ki 21:6; 2 Ch 33:6); but Josiah put those who dealt with familiar spirits out of the land (2 Ki 23:24).

It seems probable, however, that the practice prevailed more or less among the people till the exile (Isa 8:19; 19:3). See "Divination by the 'Ob" in The Expositor T,IX , 157;ASTROLOGY , 1;COMMUNION WITH DEMONS .

(2) "Familiars," "familiar friend," from yadha`, "to know," hence, "acquaintance," one intimately attached (Job 19:14); but more frequently of 'enosh shalom, "man of (my or thy) peace," that is, one to whom the salutation of peace is given (Ps 41:9; Jer 20:10; 38:22; also in Ob 1:7, rendered "the men that were at peace with thee").

Edward Bagby Pollard


FAMILY

fam'-i-li (mishpachah, bayith; patria):

1. The Foundation

2. Monogamy, the Ideal Relation

3. Equality of the Sexes

4. Polygamy

5. The Commandments and the Family (5th Commandment)

6. The Commandments and the Family (7th Commandment)

7. The Commandments and the Family (10th Commandment)

8. Primitive Monogamic Ideal

9. Reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah

10. The New Testament

11. The Teaching of Jesus

12. The Teaching of Paul

13. Modern Dangers

LITERATURE

1. The Foundation:

The Bible is the world's great teacher of monogamy--the union for life of one man and one woman in marriage as the basis of the family. Whatever may be said about the time of the writing of the books of the Bible, or of parts of them, the testimony of the whole is incontrovertibly to the point that marriage springs from the choice of one man and one woman of each other for a permanent family relation. Over and through the whole of the Bible this ideal is dominant. There may be instances shown here and there of violation of this rule. But such cases are to be regarded as contrary to the underlying principle of marriage--known even at the time of their occurrence to be antagonistic to the principle.

There may be times when moral principle is violated in high places and perhaps over wide reaches in society. The Bible shows that there were such times in the history of man. But it is undeniable that its tone toward such lapses of men and of society is not one of condonation but one of regret and disapproval. The disasters consequent are faithfully set forth. The feeling that finds expression in its whole history is that in such cases there had been violation of the ideal of right in the sex relation. The ideal of monogamic relation is put in the forefront of the history of man.

2. Monogamy, the Ideal Relation:

The race is introduced synthetically as a species in the incoming of life. "And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them" (Gen 1:27). But with the first particularization of the relation of the sexes to each other the great charter of monogamy was laid down so clearly that Jesus was content to quote it, when with His limitless ethical scrutiny He explained the marriage relation. "And the man said (when the woman was brought to him), This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh" (Gen 2:23,14). It is well to pause and look at the grammatical number of the nouns: "a man," "his wife." The words of the charter hold the sexes to monogamy. The subsequent words make marriage life-lasting. "They twain shall be one flesh." A dualism becomes an individualism. So said Christ: "Wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh" (Mt 19:6 the King James Version). Nothing but death separates a man from his own flesh. Nothing but life-monogamy can find place in the language of this charter.

There is much in the setting of this charter in the account given in Gen that is suggestive of the fine sentiment which we know has always gone along with love and marriage. That this account should have held the place in history that it has had adds testimony to the fine perception of sentiment and the strong grasp on principle out of which it came.

3. Equality of the Sexes:

Eve, "the mother of all living," comes out as distinctly as Adam on the canvas in the portraiture of the first pair. She is the feminine representative--'ishshah--of the race, as Adam is the masculine--'ish (Gen 2:23). The personality of Eve is as complete as that of Adam. She is a rational and accountable creature, as Adam is. In primitive intellectual and moral transactions she has share on equality with Adam, and is equally involved in their results. Different physical consequences fall on her for "transgression," because she is "woman," "the mother of all living" (Gen 3:16). But Adam does not escape retribution for sin, and it may be questioned whether its burden did not fall hardest on him (Gen 3:18,19), for motherhood has its joy as well as its pain, in the companionship of new-born child-life; but the wrestler for subsistence from a reluctant earth must bear his hardship alone. It cannot but be that much of the primitive conjugal love survived the fall.

4. Polygamy:

According to the record, monogamy seems long to have survived the departure from Eden. It is not till many generations after that event that we find a case of polygamy--that of Lamech (Gen 4:19-24). Lamech is said to have had "two wives." The special mention of "two" seems to show that man had not yet wandered far away from monogamy. The indications seem to be that as the race multiplied and went out over the face of the earth they forgot the original kinship and exhibited all manner of barbarities in social relations. Lamech was a polygamist, but he was also a quarrelsome homicide: "I have slain a man for wounding me, and a young man for bruising me" (Gen 4:23). If such acts and dispositions as are disclosed in the case of Lamech become common, it will certainly not be a long while before the only apt description of the condition of society must be that upon which we come in Gen. 6:5: "And Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Out of such condition will come war and slavery, and polygamy--and come they did. It is a straight road from Gen 6:5 to "The Koran, tribute or the sword," and the polygamy of Mohammedans.

5. The Commandments and the Family (5th Commandment):

The commandments (Ex 20:12; Dt 5:16) are a succinct summary of the supreme moral relations and duties of man. The first four pertain to our relationship to God. The six following concern human relations. Of these six, three have considerations of the family involved in them. Commandments do not come to people ignorant of the subjects to which they relate. A commandment to cover an unknown moral relation is an absurdity. The text of the Fifth Commandment is, "Honor thy father and thy mother." This refers to the relation of children to parents. This commandment could scarcely have arisen when polygamy was a common practice, certainly never from promiscuity. The equality of father and mother is stamped on its face. That idea never could have had strength and solemnity enough, except in a prevailing condition of monogamy, to entitle the command in which it appeared to rank with the important subjects covered by the other commands. Before the gaze of the children to whom this commandment came, the family stood in monogamic honor--the mother a head of the family as well as the father. There is no question about the position of the mother in this commandment. She stands out as clear as Sinai itself. There is no cloud on her majesty. Such honor as goes to the father goes to the mother. She is no chattel, no property, no inferior being, but the mother; no subordinate to the father, but his equal in rank and entitled to equal reverence with him. The commandment would not and could not have so pictured the mother had she been one of the inmates of a harem.

6. The Commandments and the Family (7th Commandment):

The Seventh Commandment (Ex 20:14; Dt 5:18) gives the family. It secures the home. It says that whatever children are born to the race shall be born in a home and of the home--shall be family-born. The terms adultery and fornication have now become synonymous. Under the influence of polygamous practices a distinction was made in respect to unlawful sex union as to whether one or both of the parties thereto were married or not, or whether one or both were single. Such distinction will not hold in morals. All or any sex union out of marriage is barred by the family idea. Outside of that all sex union is sin.

While it is true that in the laws of Israel sex sin outside the family relation was treated as a subject by itself, yet when we remember how early in life marriage came in those ancient days, and that betrothal in childhood was deemed as sacred as marriage itself, we see that even then the sweep of the commandment was well-nigh universal and over what a broad range it protected the family. The family is the primal eldest institution of man--the greatest and the holiest. Over this institution this commandment stands sentry. It prevents men from breaking up in complete individual isolation, from reverting to solitary savagery. Think to what a child is born outside of the family relation! Then think of all children being so born, and you have the picture of a low plane of animalism from which all trace of the moral responsibility of fatherhood has disappeared, and where even motherhood will be reduced to simple care during the short period of helpless infancy, to such care as belongs to animal instinct. Put up now the idea that marriage shall be universal and that the children born in marriage shall belong genuinely to it, and you have a new heaven and a new earth ia the sex relations of the race of man.

7. The Commandments and the Family (10th Commandment):

The Tenth Commandment seems almost out of place on the list of the commandments. All the others enjoin specific acts. This tenth seems to be a foregleam of the Savior's method--going to the thoughts and intents of the heart. It is an attempt at regulation in man. It goes beyond outward acts and deals with the spirit. Its purpose seems not regulation of man in society but in himself. So far as it has outward relation it seems to apply primarily to the rights of property. We have at common law the expression, "rights of persons; and rights of things," i.e. to property. But the list of things enumerated in the commandment comprises the things most common to family life: house, servants, animals. One is forbidden not only to take but even to desire such things. They are necessary to family life. In this list of things belonging to a neighbor that a man is forbidden to desire occurs the term "wife." To first thought it may seem strange that she should be listed with property in house and chattels. But it may not be very singular. One of woman's greatest blessings to man is helpfulness. Eve, the mother of all living, came as a helpmeet for Adam. Sarah is mistress of domestic operations. A wife quick of thought, accurate in judgment and deft of hand is usually the key to a man's material prosperity. As such help a man's desire might stray to his neighbor's wife as well as to his cattle. Even on this lower plane she is still a constituent element of the family. Here the thought of sex is scarcely discernible. Covetousness unlimited in the accumulation of property is what comes under ban. To treat of that matter would lead too far astray.

See COVETOUSNESS .

It is well to remember in taking leave of the commandments that half of those pertaining to human relations hold the family plainly in view. This is as it should be. The race is divided equally between male and female, and their relations to each other, we might expect, would call for half of the directions devoted to the whole.

8. Primitive Monogamic Ideal:

The laws against adultery and incest (Lev 20 and the like) may seem barbarously severe. Be it so; that fact would show they were carried along by a people tremendously in earnest about the integrity of the family. Beneath pioneer severity is usually a solemn principle. That the children of Israel had a tough grasp on the primitive monogamic ideal is not only apparent in all their history, but it comes out clear in what they held as history before their own began. Mr. Gladstone said the tenth chapter of Genesis is the best document of ancient ethnography known to man. But it is made up on family lines. It is a record of the settlement of heads of families as they went forth on the face of the earth. The common statement for the sons of Noah as they filed out over the lands of which they took possession is, `these are the sons of .... after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, in their nations.' Mr. Gladstone called attention to the fact that modern philology verifies this classification of the nations which rests on outgrowth from families.

9. Reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah:

Turning now to a very distant point in history--the return of the Jews from captivity in Babylon--we find in Ezra and Nehemiah the most critical regard for genealogy. The effort to establish "pure blood" was fairly a fanaticism and might even be charged with injustice. Yet this effort was ratified by the people--sufferers in degraded name though many of them must have been. This could never have been done had not the monogamic family idea rested in their hearts as just and right. Nehemiah (13:26) unsparingly condemned the mighty Solomon for his polygamy, and Israel upproved the censure.

10. The New Testament

When we come to the times of the New Testament, contemporaneous polygamy in Jewish society was dead. Wherever New Testament influences have gone, contemporaneous polygamy has ceased to be.

There has been in the United States by Mormonism a belated attempt to revive that crime against the family. But it has had its bad day, and, if it lives at all, it is under the ban of social sentiment and is a crime by law. Consecutive polygamy still exists in nations that are called Christian by the permission of divorce laws. But the tide of Christian sentiment is setting strongly against it, and it takes no special clearness of vision to see that it must go to extinction along with polygamy contemporaneous.

Jesus reaffirmed the original charter of the monogamic family (Mt 19:1-12; Mk 10:2-12). It is to be noticed that He affirmed the indissolubility of the family not only against the parties thereto but against the power of society.

See DIVORCE .

11. The Teaching of Jesus:

At first sight it seems a little strange that Jesus said so little about the family. But as we reflect on the nature of His mission we shall catch the explanation of His silence. He said, "Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfill" (Mt 5:17), that is, to fill out, to expound and expand. He also said, "For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost" (Mt 18:11 the King James Version), and, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners" (Mt 9:13), that is, to rectify what was wrong. To what was right He gave the right of way--let it go on in its own course. When the law was right, He said, not one jot or tittle of it should fail (Mt 5:18). With regard to the family, He held the old charter written in the heart of man, before it was burned in brick or committed to manuscript, was right. It was comprehensive, would and ought to stand. So He stood by that, and that sufficed His purpose. Christ did not try to regulate the family so much as to regulate the persons who entered into family life. This may explain why we have no utterance from Him in regard to the conduct and duties of children toward parents. Still stood the ancient statute, "Honor thy father and thy mother." He came not to destroy but to fulfill that. That still indicated the right relation of children to parents. If a child had asked about his relation to his parents, Christ would doubtless have referred him to that commandment, as He did other inquirers about duties to the commandments that cover so large a part of the ethical realm.

12. The Teaching of Paul:

Paul, who particularizes so much in explanation of duties in all relations, scarcely gets beyond the old commandment, "Honor thy father and thy mother," when he says, "Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing in the Lord." It has always been well-pleasing in the Lord. To be sure there was new inspiration to obedience from the new revelation of duty which came to them in Christ, but the duty was enforced by the Fifth Commandment, and that was copied from the deeper revelation in the heart of man.

13. Modern Dangers:

In modern society the two great foes of the family are Divorce and Migration. Families no longer live a continuous life together. We have less family life than the old pastoral nomads. They had to keep together for several generations in order to protect their lives and their flocks and herds. So arose the clan, the tribe and the nation. Family influence can be detected through them. Modern Industries are very much localized. We should easily think that families would be under their controlling influence. But they are not; the industries are localized, the workers are becoming rovers. When trouble comes in an industry, a workman's first resort is to try somewhere else. Cheapness of transportation gives him the opportunity he desires. So with a satchel he goes hunting, much as a barbarian roams the forest for game, alone. He may take his family or leave it behind. He may be separated from his family for months or years--possibly abandon it forever. A very common cause of divorce is abandonment of family by its male head.

In fact, those engaged in a great deal of legitimate industry are looking out for a better place quite as much as to develop the capacities of business in their own locations. The signs over places of business are few that carry the same name in town or city for a generation. Moving is perhaps more the order of the day than movement. The families are few that can be found in the same place for a quarter of a century. The wealthy cannot stay in the same house six months at a time. They have a house in the city for the winter and one in the country for the summer, and then forsake both and fly over the sea, perhaps to remain for years--traveling. How can family ties survive under such migratory life? Society supersedes the family.

Even education is subject to this malign influence. At their most impressive age, when they need family influence most around them, children are sent away to prepare for or to enter upon higher courses of education. This fits them for something else than life in the family from which they sprang and they rarely return to it. We may not be able to check this drift, but we ought to see its tendency to degrade the estimate of the value of the family.

LITERATURE.

Wolsey, Divorce, Scribners; Publications of the National Divorce Reform League; Reports State and National, ad rem; Peabody, Jesus Christ and the Social Question, chapter iii; Caverno, Divorce, Midland Publishing Co., Madison, Wis.; The Ten Words, Pilgrim Press, Boston.

C. Caverno


FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

See RELATIONSHIPS ,FAMILY .


FAMINE

fam'-in (ra`abh; limos):

1. Natural Causes

2. Famines Mentioned

3. Divine Relations

4. Figurative Uses

The common Old Testament word for "famine" is ra`abh; re`abhon also occurs (Gen 42:19,33; Ps 37:19), and kaphan (Job 5:22; 30:3), all meaning "hunger" and "famine"; in the New Testament the word is limos, meaning primarily "failure," "want of food."

1. Natural Causes:

In early times, especially in lands dependent on their own productions, famines were not infrequent. They were generally caused by local irregularities of the rainfall, by destructive hail storms (Ex 9:23,11,32), by ravages of insects (Ex 10:15; Joel 1:4) and by enemies (Dt 28:51); in a city a famine might be caused by a siege (2 Ki 6:25); pestilence often followed in its wake, and the suffering was great.

2. Famines Mentioned:

Famines are recorded in the time of Abraham (Gen 12:10, etc.), of Isaac (Gen 26:1), of Jacob, when Joseph was in Egypt--seven years of famine even in Egypt after seven of plenty (Gen 41:54), which also affected Canaan (Gen 42:1), and, indeed, "was over all the face of the earth" (Gen 41:56); in the time of the Judges (Ruth 1:1), of David, for three years (2 Sam 21:1), of Ahab and Elijah (1 Ki 17:1; 18:2; Ecclesiasticus 48:2,3), of Elisha (2 Ki 4:38), during the siege of Samaria (2 Ki 6:25), the seven years foretold by Elisha (2 Ki 8:1), in the reign of Zedekiah in Jerusalem when besieged by Nebuchadnezzar (2 Ki 25:3; Jer 52:6; compare 14:1), its great severity is referred to (Lam 5:10; Baruch 2:25); a "dearth" is also mentioned after the return from Captivity (Neh 5:3); when the city was besieged by Antiochus Eupator (1 Macc 6:54), after the death of Judas (1 Macc 9:24), when Jerusalem was besieged by Simon (1 Macc 13:49), in the time of Claudius (Acts 11:28, in his reign there were frequent famines, one of which in 45 AD severely affected Palestine; Josephus, Ant, XX, v); Christ predicted "famines .... in divers places" as characterizing the end of the age (Mt 24:7; Mk 13:8; Lk 21:11); in the siege of Jerusalem by Titus a terrible famine raged, the consequences of which to the people have never been surpassed.

3. Divine Relations:

Famines are frequently said to be sent as punishments sometimes threatened as such (Lev 26:19 f; Dt 28:49-51; 2 Ki 8:1; Ps 105:16; Isa 14:30; 51:19; Jer 14:12,15; 18:21, etc.; Ezek 5:16, etc.; Am 8:11; 2 Esdras 15:5,49; 16:19; Tobit 4:13; Ecclesiasticus 39:29; 40:9).

The righteous or godly should be preserved by God in time of famine (Job 5:20, "In famine he will redeem thee from death"; Ps 33:19, "to keep them alive in famine"; 37:19, "In the days of famine they shall be satisfied"); this was a special mark of the Divine favor and power.

4. Figurative Uses:

A famine is used by Amos to indicate the absence of Divine communications as a punishment that should come on the people, a "famine .... of hearing the words of Yahweh" (8:11; compare 1 Sam 3:1; 28:6; 2 Ch 15:3; Ezek 7:26; Mic 3:6); by Zephaniah of the destruction of heathen deities (2:11).

The Revised Version (British and American) has "dearth" for "famine" (Job 5:22); "famine" for "dearth" (Gen 41:54b; 2 Ch 6:28; Acts 7:11; 11:28); for "hunger" (Jer 38:9; Ezek 34:29; Rev 6:8); "famines" for "famines and pestilences" (Mt 24:7), "famines and troubles" (Mk 13:8), revised texts.

W. L. Walker


FAMISH

fam'-ish ra`ebh, razah): "To famish" as a transitive verb is the translation of ra`ebh, "to hunger" (Gen 41:55): "All the land of Egypt was famished"; of ra`abh, "hunger" (Isa 5:13), "Their honorable men are famished," margin "Hebrew their glory are men of famine"; of razah, "to make lean," "famish" (Zeph 2:11), "For he will famish all the gods of the earth"; it is intransitive as the translation of ra`ebh (Prov 10:3), "Yahweh will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish."


FAN, FANNER

fan'-er: The word "fan" occurs 3 times only in the American Standard Revised Version (Jer 15:7; Mt 3:12; Lk 3:17). In Isa 30:24 mizreh is translated "fork," which is a much better translation if the instrument referred to was shaped like the winnowing fork used by the Syrian farmer today and still so called. In Isa 41:16; Jer 4:11; 15:7, the verb zarah is rendered "winnow" in the American Standard Revised Version. In Jer 51:2, the Revised Version (British and American) substitutes "strangers" for "fanners."


FANCY

fan'-si (phantazo, "to cause to appear," "show"): In Ecclesiasticus 34:5, "And the heart fancieth, as a woman's in travail" (compare The Wisdom of Solomon 6:16; Heb 12:21).


FAR HOUSE

The marginal explanation in the Revised Version (British and American) of Beth-merhak (beth ha-merchaq, "house of distance"), which is given in the text of 2 Sam 15:17 instead of "a place that was far off."

See BETH-MERHAK .


FAR; FARTHER

far, far'-ther: "Far" (adj.), distant, remote; (advb.) widely removed, is most frequently in the Old Testament the translation of rachoq, and in the New Testament of makran, but also of other Hebrew and Greek words. The word chalilah, an exclamation of abhorrence or aversion Septuagint me genoito; see FORBID ), is rendered "far from me," "far from thee," etc. (Gen 18:25; 1 Sam 2:30; 20:9; 22:15; 2 Sam 20:20; 23:17; Job 34:10). Besides its literal sense, distance in a spiritual sense is expressed by "far," as "Salvation is far from the wicked" (Ps 119:155; compare Prov 15:29), "far from righteousness" (Isa 46:12), "not far from the kingdom of God" (Mk 12:34), etc. For "far" the Revised Version (British and American) has "aloof" in Job 30:10; in several places the word in the King James Version is omitted (Jdg 9:17; Ps 27:9; Isa 19:6; 26:15; Mk 13:34); "a far country" is changed to "another" (Mt 21:33; 25:14; Mk 13:34), etc. For "God forbid" the Revised Version (British and American) has "far be it," "far be it from me" (Gal 6:14; in the American Standard Revised Version, Gen 44:7,17; 1 Sam 12:23; Job 27:5, etc.).

The comparative "farther" occurs only once in the Old Testament (Eccl 8:17), and thrice in the New Testament (Mt 26:39; Mk 1:19; 10:1), and in each case is replaced in the Revised Version (British and American) by another word or phrase. The Revised Version (British and American), on the other hand, has "its farthest height" for "the height of his border" (Isa 37:24), and "his farthest lodging-place" for "the lodgings of his borders" (2 Ki 19:23).

W. L. Walker


FARE

far: Occurs twice in the Old Testament as the translation of two Hebrew words, shalom, "peace," "prosperity," "completeness" (1 Sam 17:18), found in the section on David's family history omitted by the Septuagint translators, and sakhar, "hire," "reward," Septuagint naulon, "passage-money," "fare" (Jon 1:3). In Hebrew both words are substantives; in English the former is a verb meaning "to go," or "get on as to circumstances" (Century Dict.), the latter, a substantive meaning the price which Jonah paid for a sea-voyage to Tarshish.

In Apocrypha the English verb "fare" helps in the translation of three Greek words, kakoo, "fare evil" (the Revised Version (British and American) "fare ill"), Sirach 3:26; elattoo, "fare worse" (the Revised Version (British and American) "suffer loss"), 32:24; rhonnumi, "be strong," "prosper," in 2 pers. (singular) imperat. (err(h)oso) or plural (err(h)osthe) as a farewell salutation, or at the close of a letter, or to describe the welfare (usually physical or social) of a friend (2 Macc 9:20; 11:21,28, etc.). Compare Acts 15:29; 23:30 margin.

In the New Testament the English verb "fare," in addition to its occurrence in the word "farewell" (which see), occurs only once (Lk 16:19), where it is said that the rich man "fared sumptuously every day" (the Revised Version, margin "living in mirth and splendor every day").

The Greek is euphrainomai, "be merry," and occurs 14 times in the New Testament, 10 in a good sense (Lk 15:23,14,29,32, all referring to the merry-making over the return of the lost son; Acts 2:26, translation of Hebrew samach, "be glad"; Rom 15:10, translation of Hebrew ranah, "to sing"; 2 Cor 2:2; Gal 4:27, translation of Hebrew ranah, "to sing"; Rev 12:12; 18:20); 4 in a bad, or less favorable, sense (Lk 12:19; 16:19; Acts 7:41; Rev 11:10). The Greek word is variously translated in the New Testament, "be merry," "make merry," "be glad," "rejoice," "make glad," and only once "fare" (Lk 16:19). In the last passage it means the general physical and material welfare of the rich man (so the Geneva (1560), the Bishops' and Rhemish Bibles, the Revised Version (British and American) (1881), and not simply partaking of rich food so Vulgate, Wyclif, Coverdale, Cranmer, Geneva (1557) and the King James Version). Luther translates Lk 16:19, "lebte alle Tage herrlich und in Freuden"; Weizsacker, "genoss sein Leben alle Tage in Glanze"; Ostervald, "se traitoit bien et magnifiquement"; Oltremare, "faisait brillante chere"; Segond, "menait joyeuse et brillante vie"; Weymouth, "enjoyed a splendid banquet every day," all of which virtually agree with the view taken by us as to meaning of "fare." The lampros, "sumptuously," shows that the rich man's manner of living was "brilliant," "magnificent." the Revised Version (British and American) has "fare" for "do" (Acts 15:36), "fared" for "did" (2 Sam 11:7), "hath fared" for "was" (Gen 30:29).

Charles B. Williams


FAREWELL

far-wel' (chairo), Fare ye, or thou, well: Originally a wish at parting for those faring forth (traveling):

(1) As a parting wish at the close of a letter it represents the Greek err(h)oso, "Be strong," imperative of rhonnumi, "to make strong" (Acts 15:29; 23:30 the King James Version; see the Revised Version, margin; 2 Macc 11:21); once chairete (imperative of chairo), "Rejoice!" (2 Cor 13:11, the Revised Version, margin "Rejoice: be perfected").

(2) As equivalent to our saying "good-bye," it represents the Greek apotassomai, "to separate one's self," "to take leave," "to bid farewell" (Lk 9:61, "to bid farewell to them that are at my house"; Acts 18:21, "bade them farewell," the Revised Version (British and American) "taking his leave of them").

See FARE ;GREETING .

W. L. Walker


FARM

farm: Mt 22:5 is the only passage where agros, has been rendered "farm." In the many other passages where the same word occurs it is rendered "field" or "piece of ground." Farms such as the Occidental is accustomed to see, namely, isolated dwellings with their groups of outbuildings, surrounded by walls or hedges and overlooking the planted fields, were probably unknown in Palestine. For protection against wild beasts and Arab marauders everyone lived in a village and went out to his fields, located perhaps miles away, only as occasion required.

James A. Patch


FARTHING

far'-thing: The rendering of two words in the Greek of the New Testament, assarion, and kodrantes, Latin quadrans. The assarion was the tenth part of the denarius, and hence in value about one penny or two centuries The quadrans was the fourth part of the Roman as, and worth only about three mills, or less than the English farthing, and is the only term rendered farthing by the American Standard Revised Version. It occurs in Mt 5:26 and Mk 12:42, while assarion, which occurs in Mt 10:29 and Lk 12:6, is rendered "penny" by the American Standard Revised Version.


FASHION

fash'-un (mishpaT; schema, the make, pattern, shape, manner or appearance of a thing (from Latin faction-em, "a making," through Old French fatson, fachon)): In the Old Testament the noun "fashion" represents 3 Hebrew words:

(1) MishpaT = literally, "judgment," hence, judicial sentence, right, custom, manner; usually translated "judgment" (very frequent), but also a few times "sentence," "cause," "charge," and more frequently "manner" (nearly 40 times in the King James Version). In 3 passages it is translated "fashion," in the sense of style, shape, make, in each case of a building or part of a building (Ex 26:30; 1 Ki 6:38; Ezek 42:11).

(2) Tekhunah = literally, "arrangement," "adjustment" (compare takhan, "to set right," "adjust," from kun, hekhin, "to set up," "establish"); Ezek 43:11, "the form of the house, and the fashion thereof." A cognate word in the preceding verse is translated "pattern" (the Revised Version, margin "sum").

(3) Demuth = "resemblance" (from damah, "to be similar"), generally translated "likeness" in English Versions of the Bible, but "fashion" in 2 Ki 16:10, where it means pattern or model. The verb "to fashion" stands for (a) yatsar, "to form," "fashion" (Ps 33:15; 139:16 the King James Version; Isa 22:11 the King James Version; Isa 44:12; 45:9); (b) `asah, "to work," "make," "form" (Job 10:8); (c) kun, "to set up," "establish," "prepare" (Job 31:15; Ps 119:73; Ezek 16:7); (d) tsur, "to bind up together," "compress" (Ex 32:4, of Aaron fashioning the golden calf out of the golden rings).

In the New Testament, the noun represents 5 Greek words:

(1) Of these, the most interesting is schema, "figure," "shape," "fashion" (from schein, aorist of echein, "to have," compare Latin habitus, from habeo, "I have"). Schema denotes a transient, external semblance or fashion, and so it may be distinguished from its synonym morphe, which denotes the essential intrinsic form of a thing, expressing its real nature. (See Lightfoot, Detached Note on Phil 2; Trench, New Testament Syn., 252 ff; Gifford, Incarnation, 22 ff. The distinction is rejected by Meyer, on Rom 12:2, and by others.) In the New Testament, the noun schema occurs but twice: 1 Cor 7:31, "The fashion of this world passeth away," where there seems to be an allusion to theatrical scenes, which are in their very nature transitory (compare 2 Macc 4:13); and Phil 2:8, "being found in fashion as a man," i.e. having the outward figure and bearing of a man, such marks of human nature as strike the senses (contrast morphe Theou, "form of God," Phil 2:6, and morphe doulou, "form of servant," 2:7, which describe Christ's real inner nature). The word schema is found in compound verbs in the following passages: Rom 12:2, "Be not fashioned (sunschematizesthe) according to this world: but be ye transformed (metamorphousthe) by the renewing of your mind" (so the Revised Version (British and American)), paraphrased by Sanday and Headlam, "Do not adopt the external and fleeting fashion of this world, but be ye transformed in your inmost nature" (Comm. in the place cited.); 2 Cor 11:13 f, metaschematizomai, the King James Version "transformed," better the Revised Version (British and American) "fashioned," the reference being to "the fictitious, illusory transformation whereby evil assumes the mask of good" (Lightfoot, Commentary on Phil, 131); 1 Pet 1:14, "not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts," paraphrased by Lightfoot, "not falling in with the capricious guidance of the passions" (same place) . In Phil 3:21, the adjective summorphos is translated "fashioned" in the King James Version, but better "conformed" as in Revised Version (British and American).

(2) Eioos, eidos, literally, "thing seen," "external appearance," "shape," is translated "fashion" in Lk 9:29, of the glorified appearance of the transfigured Christ.

(3) prosopon, literally, "face," hence, look, appearance, Jas 1:11, "The grace of the fashion of it perisheth."

(4) tupos, type, model, translated "fashion" in Acts 7:44 the King James Version (the Revised Version (British and American) "figure"), the Greek word being taken from the Septuagint of the quoted passage, Ex 25:40. The same phrase, kata ton tupon, in the parallel passage, Heb 8:5, is translated "according to the pattern."

(5) In one instance the phrase "on this fashion," "in this manner," represents the Greek adverb houtos, "thus" (Mk 2:12).

D. Miall Edwards


FAST; FASTING

fast, fast'-ing (tsum; `innah nephesh, "afflict soul or self," i.e. practice self-denial; nesteia, nesteuein): It is necessary to get rid of some modern notions associated with fasting before we can form a correct idea of its origin and significance in the ancient world. For instance, in the case of many ailments the dieting of the patient is an essential part of the remedy. But we may readily assume that originally fasting was not based on the salutary influence which it exercised on the health of the subject. Considerations of therapeutics played no part in the institution. The theory that fasting, like many other ancient customs, had a religious origin, is in favor with scholars, but we must not assume a religious origin for all practices which in process of time came to be associated with religion.

Many customs, purely secular in their origin, have gradually obtained a religious significance, just as purely religious customs have been dissociated from religion. It is also possible and, in the light of some usages, probable, that different motives operated in the association of fasting, as of some other customs, with religion. Scholars have been too ready to assume that the original significance of fasting was the same in all countries and among all nations. Robertson Smith in his Religion of the Semites advanced and defended theory that fasting was merely a mode of preparation for the tribal meal in which sacrifice originated, and came to be considered at a later stage as part of the sacrificial act. This hypothesis apparently accounts for the otherwise strange fact that both fasting and feasting are religious acts, but it does not give a satisfactory explanation of the constant association of fasting with the "wearing of sackcloth," the "putting of ashes on the head," and other similar customs. It is obvious that very different motives operated in the institution of fasting and of feasting religious observances.

It is a matter of common observation and experience that great distress causes loss of appetite and therefore occasions abstinence from food. Hannah, who was greatly distressed on account of her childlessness, "wept, and did not eat" (1 Sam 1:7). Violent anger produces the same effect (1 Sam 20:34). According to 1 Ki 21:4, Ahab, "heavy and displeased" on account of Naboth's refusal to part with his estate, sulked and "would eat no bread." Fasting, originally the natural expression of grief, became the customary mode of proving to others the inner emotion of sorrow. David demonstrated his grief at Abner's death (2 Sam 3:35) by fasting, just as the Psalmist indicated his sympathy with his adversaries' sorry plight in the same way (Ps 35:13). In such passages as Ezr 10:6; Est 4:3, it is not clear whether fasting is used in its religious significance or simply as a natural expression of sorrow (compare also Lk 5:33 and see below). This view explains the association of fasting with the mourning customs of antiquity (compare 1 Sam 31:13; 2 Sam 1:12). As fasting was a perfectly natural and human expression and evidence of the subject's grief, it readily claimed a place among those religious customs whose main object was the pacification of the anger of God, or the excital of His compassion. Any and every act that would manifest the distressful state of the suppliant would appeal to the Deity and move Him to pity. The interesting incident recorded in 2 Sam 12:16-23 suggests the twofold significance of fasting as a religious act or a mode of appealing to the Deity and as a funeral custom. David defends his fasting before and not after the child's death on the ground that while the child was alive David's prayer might be answered. His fasting was intended to make his petition effectual (compare also 1 Ki 21:27; Ezr 8:21; Est 4:16). Occasionally fasting was proclaimed on a national scale, e.g. in case of war (Jdg 20:26; 2 Ch 20:3) or of pestilence (Joel 1:13 f). Fasting having thus become a recognized mode of seeking Divine favor and protection, it was natural that it should be associated with confession of sin, as indisputable evidence of penitence or sorrow for sin.

Fasting might be partial, i.e. abstinence from certain kinds of food, or total, i.e. abstinence from all food as well as from washing, anointing, sleeping. It might be of shorter or longer duration, e.g. for one day, from sunrise to sunset (Jdg 20:26; 1 Sam 14:24; 2 Sam 1:12; 3:35). In 1 Sam 31:13 allusion is made to a seven days' fast, while Daniel abstained from "pleasant bread," flesh, wine and anointing for three weeks (Dan 10:3). Moses (Ex 34:28) and Elijah (1 Ki 19:8) fasted for 40 days. It is probable that these last three references presuppose a totally different conception of the significance of fasting. It is obvious that dreams made a deep impression on primitive man. They were communications from the departed members of the family. At a later stage they were looked upon as revelations from God. During sleep there is total abstinence from food. It was easy to draw the inference that fasting might fit the person to receive these communications from the world of spirits (Dan 10:2). The close connection between fasting and insight--intellectual and spiritual--between simple living and high thinking is universally recognized.

See further underABSTINENCE ;FEASTS AND FASTS .

LITERATURE.

Nowack, Hebadische Archaologie; Benzinger, Hebadische Archaologie; Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites.

T. Lewis


FASTS AND FEASTS

See FEASTS AND FASTS .


FAT

(chelebh, chelebh): The layer of subcutaneous fat and the compact suet surrounding the viscera and imbedded in the entrails, which, like the blood, was forbidden as food in the Mosaic code (Lev 3:17). It was to be sacrificed to God by being burnt upon the altar (Lev 3:16; 30). This had to be done on the very day on which a beast had been slaughtered, to remove temptation from the Israelite to use it otherwise (Ex 23:18). The law was probably a sanitary restriction, for, at an early date, leprosy, scrofula and disfiguring cutaneous diseases were thought to be caused by the use of fat as food. It was, moreover, an important pedagogical provision teaching the idea of self-denial, and the maxim that the richest and best meat of the edible animal belonged to Yahweh.

See also FATLING ;FOWL ,FATTED .

The expression "fat" is often used in figurative senses, e.g. abundant, exuberant, lusty, fertile, robust, outwardly successful (Dt 32:15; Ps 92:14 the King James Version; Ps 119:70; Prov 11:25; 13:4, etc.).

H. L. E. Luering


FAT (VAT)

WINE, WINE PRESS, II.


FATHER

fa'-ther (Anglo-Saxon, Foeder; German, Vater; Hebrew 'abh, etymology uncertain, found in many cognate languages; Greek pater, from root pa, "nourisher," "protector," "upholder"):

1. Immediate Male Ancestor:

Immediate male ancestor. The father in the Hebrew family, as in the Roman, had supreme rights over his children, could dispose of his daughter in marriage (Gen 29), arrange his son's marriage (Gen 24), sell his children (Ex 21:7), but not his daughter to a stranger (Neh 5:5), had power of life and death, as in the case of Isaac (Gen 22), Jephthah's daughter (Jdg 11:34 ff), the sacrificing of his children to Molech (Lev 18:21; 20:3-5), etc. Respect, reverence and affection for fathers (and equally for mothers) is most tenderly, explicitly and sternly prescribed from the earliest times (Ex 20:12; Lev 19:3; Dt 5:16; Mic 7:6; Ezek 22:7, etc.). A symmetrical and beautiful picture of the duties and character of the ideal human father may be built up from the Old Testament, with added and enlarged touches from the New Testament. He loves (Gen 37:4); commands (Gen 50:16; Prov 6:20); instructs (Prov 1:8, etc.); guides, encourages, warns (Jer 3:4; 1 Thess 2:11); trains (Hos 11:3); rebukes (Gen 34:30); restrains (Eli, by contrast, 1 Sam 3:13); punishes (Dt 21:18); chastens (Prov 3:12; Dt 8:5); nourishes (Isa 1:2); delights in his son (Prov 3:12), and in his son's wisdom (Prov 10:1); is deeply pained by his folly (Prov 17:25); he is considerate of his children's needs and requests (Mt 7:10); considerate of their burdens, or sins (Mal 3:17, "As a man spareth his own son"); tenderly familiar (Lk 11:7, "with me in bed"); considerately self-restrained (Eph 6:4, "Provoke not your children to wrath"); having in view the highest ends (ibid., "Nurture them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord"); pitiful (Ps 103:13, "as a father pitieth his children"); the last human friend (but one) to desert the child (Ps 27:10: "When (a thing to the psalmist incredible) my father and my mother forsake me, then Yahweh will take me up").

2. Ancestors, Immediate or Remote:

(a) Ancestor, immediate or remote: Gen 28:13, "Abraham thy father" (grandfather); 1 Ki 22:50, "Jehoshaphat .... David his father"; Jer 35:6, "Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our father"; Dan 5:11, "Nebuchadnezzar thy father" (personal or official ancestor); Gen 15:15, "Go to thy fathers in peace" (and so (in the plural) in over 500 passages). The expressions "slept with his fathers," "go down to his fathers," "buried with his fathers," "gathered to his fathers," are self-explanatory euphemisms. (b) The founders of the (Hebrew) race, specifically the patriarchs:' Rom 9:5, "whose are the fathers," considered here also as in a sense the religious ancestors of all believers. (c) Progenitors of clans, i.e. (Revised Version (British and American)) "fathers' houses": Ex 6:14; 1 Ch 27:1, etc. (d) Gods as progenitors of men: Jer 2:27, "Who say to a stock, thou art my father."

3. Figurative and Derived Uses:

(a) A spiritual ancestor, one who has infused his own spirit into others, whether good, as Abraham, the father of the faithful, Rom 4:11; or bad, as Jn 8:44, "Ye are of your father the devil." (b) Indicating closest resemblance, kinship, affinity: Job 17:14, "If I have said to corruption, Thou art my father." (c) A source: Eph 1:17, "Father of glory"; Job 38:28, "Hath the rain a father?" (d) Creator: Jas 1:17, "the Father of lights." (e) The inventor or originator of an art or mode of life: Gen 4:20, "father of such as dwell in tents" (a hint here of hereditary occupations? Probably not). (f) One who exhibits the fatherly characteristics: Ps 68:5, "a father of the fatherless." (g) One who occupies a position of counsel, care, or control (frequently applied by sultans to their prime ministers): Gen 45:8, "a father to Pharaoh"; Jdg 17:10, "Be unto me a father and a priest." (h) A revered or honored superior: 2 Ki 5:13, "My father, if the prophet had bid thee"; but especially applied to prophets: 2 Ki 2:12, "My father, my father!" also to elderly and venerable men: 1 Jn 2:13, "I write unto you, fathers"; hence also, with perhaps an outlook on (2) (a), deceased early Christians: 2 Pet 3:4, "from the day that the fathers fell asleep." An ecclesiastical title, condemned (in principle) by our Lord: Mt 23:9, "Call no man your father on the earth"; but applied, under the power of the Spirit, to members of the Sanhedrin (probably) by Stephen: Acts 7:2; and by Paul: 22:1, but the latter, perhaps also the former, may simply refer to the elderly among his hearers. Christ's condemnation is clearly of the praise-seeking or obsequious spirit, rather than of a particular custom.

"Father," used by Mary of Joseph, in relation to Jesus, equals "putative father," a necessary reserve at a time when the virgin birth could not yet be proclaimed (Lk 2:49). But note Jesus' answer: "my Father's house."

Philip Wendell Crannell


FATHER'S HOUSE, FATHERS' HOUSE

(beth 'abh, beth 'abhoth): Father's house in the Old Testament is (1) a dwelling, the family home (Gen 12:1; 31:14,30; 38:11; 1 Sam 18:2); (2) a family or household (Gen 41:51; 46:31; Ex 12:3, the Revised Version (British and American) "fathers' houses"); (3) the group of households, of several of which the "family' or "clan" was constituted, aggregations of which formed the "tribe," generally "fathers' houses" (Nu 1:18,20 ff; 17:2; Ezr 2:59; Neh 10:34, etc.); (4)the "family" (clan), mishpachah, "fathers' houses" (Ex 6:14 f; Nu 3:20 ff); (5) the tribe, "fathers' house," "houses" (Nu 7:2; 17:1-3, etc.).

In the New Testament "father's house" (oikos tou patros) occurs in the sense of dwelling, house (Lk 16:27; compare 16:4). our Lord also uses the phrase (1) of the earthly temple-dwelling of God at Jerusalem (Jn 2:16, "Make not my Father's house a house of merchandise"; compare Ps 11:4; Isa 63:15); (2) of heaven as the abode of God and His children (Jn 14:2, "In my Father's house are many mansions," the Revised Version, margin "abiding places," oikia "house," "dwelling," also household, family; compare Ps 33:13; Isa 63:15; Mt 6:9). The phrase occurs also (Acts 7:20) of Moses, "nourished .... in his father's house" (oikos).

Revised Version has "father's hquse" for "principal household" (1 Ch 24:6), "heads of the fathers' houses" for "chief fathers" (Nu 31:26; 32:28; 36:1; 1 Ch 9:34, etc.); "one prince of a father's house," for "each of" (Josh 22:14); "the heads of the fathers' (houses)" for "the chief of the fathers," and "the fathers' houses of the chief," for "the principal fathers" (1 Ch 24:31).

W. L. Walker


FATHER, GOD THE

In the Christian religion God is conceived of as "Father," "Our Father .... in heaven" (Mt 6:9,14,26, etc.), "the God and Father of the Lord Jesus" (2 Cor 11:31, etc.). The tenderness of relation and wealth of love and grace embraced in this profound designation are peculiar to Christ's gospel. Pagan religions also could speak of God as "Father" (Zeus Pater), and in the general sense of Creator God has a universal fatherly relation to the world (Acts 17:24-28). In the Old Testament God was revealed as Father to the chosen nation (Ex 4:22), and to the special representative of the nation, the king (2 Sam 7:14), while fatherly love is declared to be the image of His pity for those who fear Him (Ps 103:13). In the gospel of Jesus alone is this Fatherhood revealed to be of the very essence of the Godhead, and to have respect to the individual. Here, however, there is need for great discrimination. To reach the heart of the truth of the Divine Fatherhood it is necessary to begin, not with man, but with the Godhead itself, in whose eternal depths is found the spring of that Fatherly love that reveals itself in time. It is first of all in relation to the eternal Son--before all time--that the meaning of Fatherhood in God is made clear (Jn 1:18). In "God the Father" we have a name pointing to that relation which the first Person in the adorable Trinity sustains to "Son" and "Holy Spirit"--also Divine (Mt 28:19). From this eternal fountain-head flow the relations of God as Father (1) to the world by creation; (2) to believers by grace. Man as created was designed by affinity of nature for sonship to God. The realization of this--his true creature-destiny--was frustrated by sin, and can now only be restored by redemption. Hence, the place of sonship in the gospel, as an unspeakable privilege (1 Jn 3:1), obtained by grace, through regeneration (Jn 1:12,13), and adoption (Rom 8:14,19). In this relation of nearness and privilege to the Father in the kingdom of His Son (Col 1:13), believers are "sons of God" in a sense true of no others. It is a relation, not of nature, but of grace. Fatherhood is now the determinative fact in God's relation to them (Eph 3:14 ff). It is an error, nevertheless, to speak of fatherhood as if the whole character of God was therein sufficiently expressed. God is Father, but equally fundamental is His relation to His world as its Moral Ruler and Judge. From eternity to eternity the holy God must pronounce Himself against sin (Rom 1:18); and His fatherly grace cannot avert judgment where the heart remains hard and impenitent (Rom 2:1-9). For the fuller discussion of these points see GOD ;CHILDREN OF GOD ;TRINITY .

James Orr


FATHER-IN-LAW

fa'-ther-in-lo.

See RELATIONSHIPS ,FAMILY .


FATHERLESS

fa'-ther-les (yathom; orphanos): The fatherless are frequently mentioned in the Old Testament, generally in association with the widow and the stranger, as typical instances of the unprotected and necessitous, who are, specially subject to oppression, and also to God's special protection. Great philanthropic regard is bestowed on this class throughout. In early legislation there is a special clause to guard them against affliction (Ex 22:22-24). They have a still more prominent place in the Deuteronomic legislation, which gives instructions that a charitable fund be formed out of the tithe, once every three years, for the relief of the destitute (Dt 14:28,29; 26:12-14), and that gleanings be left in the cornfield, the olive garden, and the vineyard for the benefit of this class (Dt 24:19-22; compare Lev 19:9 f; 23:22, where, however, the "fatherless" are not specially mentioned). The Deuteronomist declares that God is on their side (Dt 10:18), and strongly condemns those who would oppress them (Dt 24:17; 27:19). The prophets and psalmists are equally emphatic in pleading for mercy and justice to the fatherless, and in declaring that God is their special guardian (Isa 1:17; Jer 7:6 f; 22:3; Hos 14:3; Zec 7:10; Ps 10:14; 68:5; 82:3; 146:9; compare Prov 23:10). Oppressing the fatherless is frequently mentioned as a typical act of cruelty and injustice (compare Job 6:27; 22:9; 24:3,1; 29:12 f; 31:16,17,21; Ps 94:6; Isa 1:23; 10:2; Jer 5:28; Ezek 22:7; Mal 3:5). Here we have instances of the prophetic passion for righteousness and compassion for the helpless, inspired by a profound sense of the value of human life. Passages in the Apocrypha reflect the same spirit (2 Esdras 2:20; Ecclesiasticus 4:10).

In the New Testament the word "fatherless" occurs but once, where James declares, in the spirit of the Old Testament prophets, that true religious ritual consists in visitation of the fatherless and widows and in moral purity (Jas 1:27). Here the word for "fatherless" is orphanos ("bereft," "orphaned"), which is the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament yathom. In the New Testament the Greek word is found besides only in Jn 14:18, where it means destitute of a teacher or guide (compare Lam 5:3).

D. Miall Edwards


FATHERS' BROTHER

See RELATIONSHIPS ,FAMILY .


FATHOM

fath'-um (~orguia): The literal meaning is the length of the outstretched arms, and it was regarded as equal to 4 cubits, or about 6 feet. (Acts 27:28).

See WEIGHTS AND MEASURES .


FATLING; FATTED

See CALF .


FATNESS

fat'-nes (deshen; piotes):

1. Literal:

The translation of deshen (Jdg 9:9, "But the olive-tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness?"; Job 36:16 (of food)), "full of fatness"; of chelebh, "fat," "the best part," "the marrow" (Job 15:27; Ps 73:7; Isa 34:6,7); of mishman, "fathess," "fertility" (Gen 27:28, "the fatness of the earth"; Isa 17:4, "the fatness of his flesh"); of shemen, "fatness," "oil" (Ps 109:24); of piotes, "fat," "fatness" (Rom 11:17, "partaker .... of the root of the fatness of the olive tree").

2. Figurative:

"Fatness" is used figuratively for the richness of God's goodness; as such it is the translation of deshen ("They shall be abundantly satisfied (margin "Hebrew watered") with the fatness of thy house" (Ps 36:8); "Thy paths drop fatness" (Ps 65:11; compare Isa 55:2; Jer 31:14).

"With fatness" is supplied, Dt 32:15 the King James Version, "covered with fatness"; the Revised Version (British and American) has "become sleek"; for "The yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing" (Isa 10:27) the American Standard Revised Version has "by reason of fatness," margin "Hebrew oil"; the English Revised Version as the King James Version, with margin as the American Standard Revised Version; the text is believed to be corrupt; Septuagint has "from your shoulders."

W. L. Walker


FAUCHION

fo'-shun.

See SCIMITAR .


FAULT

folt (chaTa'; aitia, memphomai): Implies defect, of less moral weight than crime or sin. It is the translation of chaTa', "error," "failure," "sin" (Ex 5:16); of cheT', same meaning (Gen 41:9, "I do remember my faults this day"); of `awon, "perversity," "iniquity" (2 Sam 3:8; Ps 59:4); of rish`ah, "wrongness," "wickedness" (Dt 25:2, the Revised Version (British and American) "wickedness"); of shechath (Aramaic) "corruption" (Dan 6:4 twice); me'umah, "anything" (1 Sam 29:3, "no fault in him," literally, "not anything"); of aitia, "cause," "case," "guilt," (Jn 18:38; 19:4,6; Pilate of Jesus, "I find no fault in him," the Revised Version (British and American) "no crime"; the same word is rendered "accusation," i.e. `legal cause for prosecution,' Mt 27:37; Mk 15:26; compare Acts 25:18,27); of aition, same meaning (Lk 23:4,14; 23:22, aition thanatou "cause of death"); of hettema, "a worse condition," "defect" (1 Cor 6:7, the Revised Version (British and American) "a defect," margin "a loss to you"); of paraptoma, "a falling aside" (Gal 6:1, "If a man be overtaken in fault," the Revised Version (British and American) "in any trespass," margin "by"; Jas 5:16, "Confess your faults one to another," the Revised Version (British and American) "Confess therefore your sins one to another"); hamartano, "to miss," "err," "sin," is translated "your faults" (1 Pet 2:20 the Revised Version (British and American), "when ye sin"); memphomai, "to blame," is translated "to find fault" (Mk 7:2 omitted the Revised Version (British and American); Rom 9:19; Heb 8:8); elegcho, "to convict," "to tell one's fault" (Mt 18:15, the Revised Version (British and American) "show him his fault"); amomos, "without blemish," "spotless," is translated "without fault" (Rev 14:5, the Revised Version (British and American) "without blemish," "faultless"; Jude 1:24, "able to present you faultless," the Revised Version (British and American) "without blemish"); amemptos, "blameless," "without reproach" (Heb 8:7, "for if that first covenant had been faultless"). "Faulty" is the translation of 'ashem, "guilty" (2 Sam 14:13, "as one which is faulty," the Revised Version (British and American) "guilty"); of 'asham, "to be or become guilty" (Hos 10:2, Revised Version "guilty").

W. L. Walker


FAVOR

fa'-ver (chen, ratson, with other Hebrew words; charis): Means generally good will, acceptance, and the benefits flowing from these; in older usage it meant also the countenance, hence, appearance. Alternating in English Versions of the Bible with "grace," it is used chiefly of man, but sometimes also of God (Gen 18:3; 30:27; 39:21; Ex 3:21; 2 Sam 15:25, "in the eyes of Yahweh," etc.). It is used perhaps in the sense of "countenance" in Prov 31:30, "Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain" (the King James Version), where for "favor" the Revised Version (British and American) has "grace"; the reference is to external appearance. "Favored" is used in the sense of "appearance" in the phrase "well-favored" (Gen 29:17; 39:6; 41:2,4).; conversely, "ill-favored" (Gen 41:3,4). For "favor" the Revised Version (British and American) has "have pity on" (Ps 109:12), "good will" (Prov 14:9), "peace" (Song 8:10); the English Revised Version "grace" (Ruth 2:13), the American Standard Revised Version "kindness" (Est 2:17; Dan 1:9), etc. In the American Standard Revised Version "the acceptable year of the Lord" (Isa 61:2) is changed Into "the year of Yahweh's favor"; "Do I now persuade men" (Gal 1:10) into, "Am I now seeking the favor of men," and there are other the Revised Version (British and American) changes.

W. L. Walker


FAWN

fon.

See DEER .



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