Duty Calls

Then you would trust, because there is hope; and you would look around and rest securely.  Job 11:18  NASB

Hope – Do you trust God?  Perhaps you’re surprised by the question.  “Of course, I trust God,” would be the typical answer, as if the question itself is almost rhetorical.  But notice what Zophar says about trust.  “You trust because there is hope.”  Consider his suggested connection.  Is your trust in God based on hope?  Hope that those things you wish for will come true.  Hope that God will vindicate you.  Hope that your trials and tribulations will grant you passage to heaven. Hope that all those promises will yet be fulfilled.  What if there were no hope for a different future?  Would you still trust?  If you believed that your life would not be any different than it is today for all the days to come, would you still trust?  Does bāṭaḥ depend on tiqwâ?

We are quite familiar with the Hebrew verb bāṭaḥ.

The basic idea would then have to do with firmness or solidity. Be that as it may, in Hebrew, bāṭaḥ expresses that sense of well-being and security which results from having something or someone in whom to place confidence. It is significant that the LXX never translates this word with πιστευω “believe in” but with ελπιζω “to hope,” in the positive sense “to rely on God” or πειφομαι “to be persuaded,” for the negative notion for relying on what turns out to be deceptive. This would seem to indicate that bāṭaḥ does not connote that full-orbed intellectual and volitional response to revelation which is involved in “faith,” rather stressing the feeling of being safe or secure. Likewise, all the derivatives have the same meaning “to feel secure,” “be unconcerned.”^[1]

Ah, yes.  So we have to carefully remove our cognitive and volitional ideas about trust and remember that bāṭaḥ is about feeling secure.  Did you note that Oswalt draws the connection to the Greek “hope”?  He’s agreeing with Zophar.  Feeling secure is hoping.  Why?  Because this security depends on the reliability of something other than me.  It’s externally directed.

Think about the idea of financial security.  What does this kind of confidence rely on?  Something external.  A bank account.  A retirement plan.  A stable government.  If I only have myself to rely on, will I feel financially secure?  How many of the things that offer me the feeling of financial security are really out of my control?  I hope they continue, but I can’t guarantee they will.  With this example, we can see why Zophar speaks of trust in God.  God is the only totally reliable external source in the universe.  If He offers me security, then I am guaranteed it will be true.  Any other source is contingent.

Now we see the connection to the Hebrew meaning of hope.  Tiqwâ isn’t about wish fulfillment.

This root means to wait or to look for with eager expectation. . . Waiting with steadfast endurance is a great expression of faith. It means enduring patiently in confident hope that God will decisively act for the salvation of his people (Gen 49:18). Waiting involves the very essence of a person’s being, his soul (nepeš; Ps 130:5). Those who wait in true faith are renewed in strength so that they can continue to serve the Lord while looking for his saving work (Isa 40:31). There will come a time when all that God has promised will be realized and fulfilled (Isa 49:23; Ps 37:9). In the meantime the believer survives by means of his integrity and uprightness as he trusts in God’s grace and power (Ps 25:21). His faith is strengthened through his testings, and his character is further developed (Ps 27:14). Israel is encouraged to hold fast to love and justice, i.e. they are to follow the law faithfully and maintain consistently the standards of justice, at the same time preserving an attitude of godly love (Hos 12:6 [H 7]; cf. Ps 37:34; Job 4:6).

During times of visitation and judgment, the righteous must exercise great faith (Isa 26:8; Lam 3:19–33). Thus Isa confidently asserts, “I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him” (Isa 8:17). When God arrives on the scene with redemptive power, the response of those who have waited will be jubilant joy and great singing (Isa 25:9).^[2]

What can we conclude?  Hope is a function of perseverance.  It is not dashed to the ground just because some desire of mine is not fulfilled.  It is eschatological, that is, it anticipates something not yet happening.  It is pressing forward regardless of the present circumstances because of trust in the source.  That’s the key in Hebraic thought.  The source is critical.  If my hope isn’t based on the character of God, it is fictitious.  He is the guarantee—the only guarantee.  And that means I am called to trust Him despite circumstances.  When Job declares, “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him,” he tells us exactly what trust means.  He uses the Hebrew term yāḥal, not tiqwâ, because yāḥal means to wait with confident expectation, the very definition of trust, which is why the King James translated this verse as “Though He slay me, I will trust in Him.”

Zophar claims that secure rest is a function of the trust/hope combination.  Of course, his claim relies on God, not any other source.  He’s right.  Job’s declaration about trusting even if he dies demonstrates Zophar is right.  It’s also a challenge to us.  Radical trust means relying on God’s character even when the circumstances and actions seem to say something else.  There really isn’t any other choice.

Topical Index: trust, hope, bāṭaḥ, yāḥal, tiqwâ, perseverance, Job 13:15, Job 11:18

^[1] Oswalt, J. N. (1999). 233 בָּטַח. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(electronic ed., p. 101). Moody Press.

^[2] Hartley, J. E. (1999). 1994 קָוָה. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 791). Moody Press.