The Faithful Witness

The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
-Psalm 19: 7B

The word "testimony" ('aduth) is often a synonym for "law" in the Old Testament. It comes from a Hebrew word that means to repeat or reiterate--a courtroom term that described the repetitions (for emphasis) of a witness's statement about an event. It applies to God's witness to Himself in His character and in His actions. That witness can be His own word as expressed in the law: the Ten Commandments kept in the ark of the covenant were referred to as the "tablets of the testimony." It can be a divine symbol existing on the physical level: the tent in the wilderness was referred to as the "tabernacle of witness." The repetition of the law's witness is also reflected in nature in this same Psalm ("Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge").

This piling up, as it were, of witnesses to God and by God--from God's existence within Himself, to His witness in law and gospel, to the witness of man-made symbols, to the witness of nature--expresses a pleading earnestness spoken over and over again to man, who prefers to close his eyes and put his hands over his ears. It is a cry of grace and a threat of judgment.

The Psalmist calls this testimony "sure" (ne'e-manah--from which we derive amen). At a physical level, the word can mean "steady," "fixed," "confirmed," "supported," "established." At a deeper level, it can be translated "trustworthy" or "faithful." It seems almost redundant to use such an adjective to support God's witness to Himself. And yet there again is this repetitive pressure to convince man that God is, and that He is true, and that He is faithful to what He is, and to His truth. It is the confirmation of what is already confirmed, a shout over the din of the fall.

The Sure Testimony is said to "make wise the simple." How? First, we need to remember that "wisdom" is not just intellectual knowledge, but a type of living learned by repentance, by faith, and often by suffering. The second clue is in the word "simple." The Hebrew pe-thi comes from a root meaning "open." The simple person, then, is open to everything and anything, and has no stability, direction, or inner guard (discernment). Interestingly, the cognate verb form of this noun means to "deceive" or "seduce."

When the serpent in the garden tempted Eve, he called 'aduth ne'emanah into question. First he attacked the witness ("has God said?"), and then God's trustworthiness ("God knows...you will be like God...."). When the foundation crumbled, Eve became the first open-minded person on the planet. Since then human independence has become both a virtue and a bondage.

The tempter is described as cunning, or "subtle" ('arum). This is the same word that is translated "naked" in the previous verse, speaking of Adam and Eve. While Hebrew scholars agree that the two words come from different roots, it is hard to believe that the author of Genesis did not intend a play on words when he placed them in such close proximity. The tempter hid behind his deceit in the same way that Adam and Eve hid behind the trees of the garden. His subtlety was really nakedness. That nakedness was exposed when God prophesied that he would be rendered powerless by One who would crush his head. That one would be the Wisdom of God who would make wise the simple, the Faithful Witness who's faithfulness is proved by the destruction of death, and by his control of human history (Revelation 1: 5).