Doubt (???? !)

I recently saw a video of Joseph Solomon, retelling of his crisis with doubt, a prayer or series of prayer with God. As fellow Christians have discussed, this is an area some or most struggle with.  It’s an area where our Faith is challenged.  Joseph shared a similar experience I have when God answers me.  Direct, to the point, Divine, and can be backed with scripture.  Here is a link, where God gave him an answer on combating doubt.

 

 

As I pondered the video most of the day, a phrase caught my attention. “Doubt your doubts.”  Some of my experiences with God have shown me there is something for the immediate, and something for later.  I began to consider the word doubt, and its use in the Bible.  I had a suspicion that God was telling me there was more in this video, for I had a spiritual burst inside of me I haven’t felt in a few weeks since going through some spiritual battles.  Like Joseph Solomon, doubt is a battle I face.

I did a search in the King James Version, where I found the word doubt, or a form of the word, appears 33 times. I did another search in the NKJV, which resulted in 23 appearances.  Yet, I had a feeling this was not accurate.

Before I start, I want to make sure I understand the word doubt, so I ask to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, which defines as:  to be uncertain about (something), to believe that (something) may not be true or is unlikely, to have no confidence in (something), or to consider unlikely.  Now that I have a background on the word, I started to review the verses where the word doubt is found.

The word doubt first appears in Genesis 37:33

“And he knew it, and said, it is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.”

The Hebrew word used here for doubt is taraph and is repeated twice.  The word actually means rent or torn to pieces.  In this verse, Jacob is actually making an exclamation by repeating the word taraph twice, so literally the verse reads,  “Joseph is torn to pieces, is torn to pieces!”

The next verse I reviewed is Deuteronomy 28:66

“And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shall fear day and night, and shall have none assurance of thy life.”

The Hebrew word used for doubt here is neged, which is an adjective meaning: in front of you, straightforward, before your face, over against, before.  The CLV, a direct word for word translation reads, from in front of.

Next Job 12:2

“No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.”

The Hebrew word used for doubt here is ‘omnam, which means verily, indeed, truly, surely.

Other places where the form of doubt is used:

Numbers 14:30 doubtless, Hebrew word ‘im, a primitive particle, Lo!, interrogative, whether? Or conditional, if.

2 Samuel 5:19 doubtless, Hebrew word nathan, which means to give, put, set.

Psalms 126:6 doubtless, Hebrew word bow’ to go in, enter, come, go, come in.  It is used twice in the verse as we saw with Jacob, and literally reads, “…drawing forth the seed to come, he shall come in jubilation..”

Lastly, in the Old Testament, the word doubts is found in Daniel 5:12,16, from an Aramaic word qetar, which means knot, joint, problem, difficulties and metaphorically difficult questions, which figuratively could be “doubts”.

The CLV translates as “…interpreting of dreams, and disclosure of problems, and untying of knots (dissolving of doubts)…”  5:12,  and “to interpret interpretations and to untie knots (dissolving of doubts)…” 5:16

By now, you probably understand my suspicion and why I have gone through each instance. Before I conducted this word study, I had a hint, the word doubt did not really appear, but being human, we add doubt to our Christian lives.  Our translators “added” doubt to give us better grammar and understanding as they were trying to interpret the scriptures for us.  The translators did a wonderful, superb job in which I am no one to criticize.  Having experience with speaking different languages, I understand the difficulties they faced in trying to interpret an ancient language that was basically not spoken for over 1,500 years.

God told this young man, Joseph Solomon, to “Doubt the doubts!”  This gave me a deeper insight into God answering  his prayers, and I feel it was also a message for me to do this word study.

What about the New Testament?

In Matthew 14:31,

“And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?”

The Greek word used is distazo, and means proper to duplicate, mentally waiver in opinion, doubt. Here is one verse I could see the word doubt used, but as Peter was sinking in the water, didn’t his faith waiver?

Matthew 21:21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.

The Greek word here is Diakrino, which means to separate, to withdraw, oppose, hesitate, discern, doubt, judge, be partial, stagger, waiver.  The CLV translates as “If ever you may be having belief and not judging…”

Here are the remainder of the verses and the Greek word used.

Mark 11:23 Diakrino as used in Matthew 21:21.

Luke 11:20 ara – particle through the idea of drawing a conclusion, CLV translates consequently.

John 10:24 airo – to raise up, elevate

Acts 2:12 diaporeo – to be perplexed, nonplussed??, to be entirely at a loss

Acts 28:24 pantos – by all means, altogether, surely, certainly

1 Co 9:10 gar – a conjunction, particle, assigning a reason

Gal 4:20 aporeo – to have no way out, be at a loss, to be without resources, to be left wanting

1 John 2:19 meno – to remain, abide, dwell, continue, to stay (in a given state, relation, expectancy)

Studying the locations and the words used that were translated into doubt, I myself have come to understand what God was telling me with, “Doubt the doubts.” I do not believe the word doubt belongs in our English Bible translations.   Look at the variety of words used in Hebrew and Greek where we have placed doubt.  In Hebrew, no two words have the same exact meaning.

Praying over this study, I got a similar answer.  Doubt your doubts.  I am the Lord, your God.

This study has showed me doubt does not belong in our translated Bible, nor does doubt belong in our Christian lives. I have struggled with actually writing the following, but it has been impressed on me all through the day and night.  I believe it is okay to mark out the word doubt in our Bible, it doesn’t belong, so whenever I read these verses or hear someone quote them, I will mark out the word doubt, recalling this word study.  Being human, and wavering  in our faith, we often doubt God.  When it feels like you are drowning in a sea of your questions, just know that HE is there. As the young man in the video’s answer from God, “Doubt your doubts!”