8
II Kings 12:15 and 22:7 speak of temple workmen who "did their work with faithfulness."
The context clarifies that these references indicate that these men were demonstrating
consistently proper financial procedures, so proper that no special accounting was required of
them. As in the previous passage, "faithfulness" describes the steadiness with which some kind
of activity is carried out, in this case consistent financial honesty.
In II Chron. 19:9 Jehoshaphat charged the judges that he had appointed to do their
judging "in the fear of the LORD, faithfully and wholeheartedly." Here I would argue that both
the words "with faithfulness" and "with a whole heart" qualify the principal issue, the fear of
YHWH. The difference between "faithfully" and "wholeheartedly" might be consistency that is
both demonstrated and intended (both external and internal). Other passages that show this same
usage of "faithfulness" are II Chron. 31:12, where the people brought offerings with regularity,
31:18, where people consecrated themselves with faithfulness, and 34:12, where people worked
with consistency.
A passage where "faithfulness" might seem to be taken in a primary sense, i.e. not
qualifying another activity, is Prov. 12:17, "one who utters faithfulness (or truth) declares
righteousness." And yet the meaning of truth can be thought of as speech that habitually mirrors
reality. A similar usage is found in Prov. 12:22, where "lips of a lie" are contrasted with "those
who do faithfulness." In Prov. 28:20 we read of a man of utter faithfulness, i.e. one who is steady
and persistent in all he does and says.
32
What we have seen in the verses cited is that faithfulness is usually related to some other
activity or quality. The function of the word is to highlight that the "primary" quality is
31
The translation closely follows NASB, with interpretive changes.
32
The text is plural, probably an emphatic plural.