J. Hastings. FAINT.— From /etn< the ptcp. of Old Yr.feindre to feign, faint signified first ' feigned,' ' pretended,' as Earl Rivers, Dictes, 144, ' He that loueth the
FAIES
with feynt lone.' But it passed early into the sense of weak : whether (1) as a purely physical state, as Gn 25'' ' Esau came from the field, and he was faint' (^ so 25*>, Dt 25'«, Jg 8''-», Is 2!)» ; I'y 1 S 14=8- »', 2 S 21" ; vs 1 S 'M^"- » ; li:; 2 S 16», Is 40-« ; iKUo/iai 1 Mac 3") ; or (2) as chiefly Tnoral, almost = ' cowardly,' * which occurs only m the phrase faint-hearted, Dt 20* (3?'?ri t3, lit. ' soft-hearted ') ; Is 7* {TS^V ^3?l'i, RV ' neither let thine heart be faint '), Jer 49^ {u-::, RV ' they are melted away '), Sir 4* (ij.ii dXtyotf'vx'ficv', so 7'°) j or (3) as spiritual, through sorrow, Jer 8'*, La 1" (both -V!) 1" 5" (both ni^), or calamity. Is 1» Cn). The verb is derived from the adj. It is used in the foregoing senses, and also m the modern physical sense of ' swoon ' (Dn 8", Ad. Est 15'). Faintnesa is used physically in Ad. Est 15'° and spiritually in Lv 26X J. HASTINGS.
FAIR. — 1. Beautiful, as Sus v.* 'a very fair woman ' («taX^ <r(pbSpa) ; Sir 24'* ' I am the mother of fair love' (rrji d707ri)i7fus rrji icaX^s). So fre- quently in OT ; but in NT only Ac 7* [Moses] ' was exceeding fair ' (dcrxf los rip dap, lit. ' fair to God,' see under EXCEEDING. The adj. occurs also He 11^ and again of Moses ; AV ' proper' ; RV ' goodly,' the word in Ex 2' where the Heb. is 3io 'good'). 2. Unspotted, Zee 3°*" 'a fair mitre' (imp). Cf. Pr. Bk. (1552) 'a fayre white lynnen clothe ' ; Ezk 1' Cov. ' fayre scoured metaU ' ; Wesley (1737), Works, i. 46, ' a paper book ; all the leaves thereof were fair, except one.' Wyclif s tr. of Zee 3" is (1382) 'acleene cappe' (138S, 'a cleene mytre ') ; Douay, 'a cleane mitre.' Coverdale gives ' fair,' and the other V.SS follow him. Amer. RV restores 'clean.' 3. Plausible, Gal Q'^ 'to make a fair show ' (eiiTrpoiraur^irai) ; elsewhere only of speech. In Sir 6° ' fair speaking ' is used in n
food sense, ' a fair-speaking tongue will increase ind greetings ' (eOXaXos). The modem form ' fair- spoken ' had also a good meaning once, as Capgrave (l-f60), Chron. 81, ' He was . . . fayre-spokyn, but he spak but seldam.'
In Ezk 27'*-'*- '«• "■ "■" ' fairs,' i.e. markets, is used in AV (after Wye. in v."" and Geneva through- out) as tr. of Heb. o'Jbiy, which Ls evidently ' wares ' as AV has it in v.", the only other occurrence of the word. RV gives ' wares ' (wh. see) throughout. J. HASTINGS.
FAIR HAVENS (EaXo! At/i^ves), one of the places mentioned in connexion with St. Paul's voj'age to Rome (Ac 27''"'), is a small bay, two leagues E. of Cape Matala, on the S. coast of Crete. There does not seem to have been a town at the place, but there was one near it, called Lasea. Neither Fair Havens nor Lasea is mentioned in classical writings, but the former name survives in the modem Gr. dialect as AiiitCifas KaXoi/j, and archa'ological re- search has confirmed the identity of both places. It has been suggested that the name is euphemistic, and the fact that an attempt was made to reach Phoenix, the modem Lutro, a considerable dis- tance W. along the coast, in the circumstances mentioned in Ac, adds emphasis to the statement that the haven was not commodious to winter in. On the other hand, it proved a welcome shelter to St. Paul and those who were with him, for a con- siderable time, at a most critical part of their voyage. The difference between Fair Havens and Pliwnix was, that while the former was sheltered only from the N. and N.W. winds, the latter was ' the only secure harbour in all winds on the S. coast of Crete.' W. MuiB.
FAIRS.— See FAIR, Wakes.
• Cf. H. Smith. Worki, U. 219, ' The faint eplee that want (0 the land of Canaan.'
\
FAITH
FAITH
827
FAITH.— I. The Philolooical Expression of Faith. —The verb 'to believe' in AV of OT aniforraly represents the Heb. y~x^, Hiph. of ItX, except, of course, in Dn 6^ where it repre- sents the corresponJing Aramaic form. The root, which is widely spread among the Semitic tongues, and which in the word ' Amen ' has been adopted into every language spoken by Christian, Jew, or Mohammedan, seems everyNvhere to convey the fundamental ideas of ' fixedness, stability, stead- fa.stnes.1, reliability.' What the ultimate conception is which underlies these ideas remains somewhat doubtful, but it would appear to be rather that of 'holding' than that of 'supporting' (althoui'h this last is the sense adopted in Uxf. Hcb. Lex.). In the simple species the verb receives both transitive and intransitive vocalization. With intransitive Tocalization it means ' to be finn,' ' to be secure,' ' to be faithful,' and occurs in biblical Hebrew only in the past participle, designating those who are ' faithful ' (2 S 20", Ps 12' Sl^S). With transitive vocalization it occurs in biblical Hebrew only in a very specialized application, conveying the idea, whether as participle or verbal noun, of ' caretak- ing ' or ' nursing ' (2 K 10'- », Est 2', Ru 4", 2 S 4<, Nu 11", Is 49'=', La 4»; cf. 2 K 18" ' pillars ' and [the Niphal] Is 60*), the implication in which seems to be that of ' holding,' ' bearing,' ' carrying.' The Niph. occurs once as the passive of transitive Qal (Is 60*) : elsewhere it is formed from intransitive Qal, and is used very much in the same sense. What- ever holds, is steady, or can be depended upon, whether a wall which securely holds a nail (Is 22"- *), or a brook which does not fail ( Jer 15"*), or a kingdom which is firmly established (2 S 7"), or an assertion which has been verified (Gn 42^), or a covenant which endures for ever (Ps 89^), or a heart found faithful (Neh 9*), or a man who can be trusted (Neh IS^), or God Himself who keeps covenant (Dt 7"), is \c^i. The HiphU occurs in one passage in the primary physical sense of the root (Job 39"). Elsewhere it Dears constantly the sense of ' to trust,' weakening down to the simple ' to believe ' (Ex 4»', Ps 1 16'», Is 7» 28", Hab 1»). Obvi- onsljrit is a subjective causative, and expresses the acquisition or exhibition of the firmness, security, reliability, faithfulness which lies in the root- meaning of the verb, in or with respect to its object. The pcijo is therefore one whose state of mind is free from faintheartedness (Is 7") and anxious haste (Is 28"), and who stays himself upon the object of his contemplation with confidence and trust. The implication seems to be, not so much that of a pa.ssive dependence as of a vigorous active commit- ment. Hfc who, in the Hebrew sense, exercises faith, is secure, assured, confident (Dt 28"*, Job 24", Ps 27"), and lays hold of the object of his confi- dence with firm trust.