The name “Faithful God” encapsulates another of the attributes of God. God is true to His covenant promises to His people. The Hebrew root word for faithful includes the idea of confirmation or proof. God always proves to be reliable when it comes to His relationship with us. The Bible verse in which this name of God appears links the name to God’s covenant reliability.
Faithful God (Ha’El hanne’eman) in the Hebrew text of Deuteronomy 7:9.
The Faithful God in Hebrew:
Ha’El hanne’eman
Strong’s Concordance numbers: 410, 539
The root word behind this name is ’aman. “At the heart of the meaning of the root is the idea of certainty.”1
Bible reference: Deut. 7:9
Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments. (Deut. 7:9)
The prophets proclaimed the same characteristics of God: Isaiah referred to “the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you” (Isa. 49:7). Hosea called God, “the Holy One who is faithful” (Hos. 11:12). Hosea’s description of God comes in stark contrast to the people of Israel and Judah who surrounded God with lies and deceit.
A similar Old Testament name is God of faithfulness (or truth, KJV). The book of Revelation has three similar names of Jesus: Faithful and true witness, Faithful and true, and Faithful witness. It is only to be expected that Jesus would have similar names because He shares the attributes of God.
The book of Revelation also calls Jesus the Amen (Rev. 3:14). This brings us back to where we started because the Greek word amen is adapted from the Hebrew word ’aman. Interestingly Revelation 3:14 goes on to call Jesus “faithful and true.”
- J. B. Scott, in Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament Ed. R. Laird Harris (Moody Press, 1980), p.51. [↩]
