Emuna is the Hebrew word that is translated into English as ‘faith’. Trek on the other hand is a slow arduous journey, thus Emuna trek is the slow struggle and laborious journey to discovering true biblical faith.

When I created the name of my blog, I initially chose two words from the two subjects that is dear to me and that is, true Torah emuna (faith); discovering the ancient, Hebrew, biblical faith radically changed my life. And of course Star Tek; I found the two words, emuna & trek to be great companions when brought together.

Little did I know, some years later I would discover just how much the pairing of those two words was Divine providence.

I had just begun the study of the book of Job using the Artscroll Tanach Series commentary. It is a compilation of Jewish sources spanning centuries. When discussing the first few verses there was the answer that explained the journey that the non-Jewish nations must travel. It is our share in this world, our part to play in the grand scheme of things.

It is our share in this world, our part to play in the grand scheme of things.

Created For The Journey

The Creator tells the prophet Ezekiel in chapter eighteen that every soul belongs to Him.

Ezekiel 18:4 “Behold all souls are Mine;”

The Creator created space and time and they are subject to will; He then created all the souls, those who have already been, are now and will be. He places each soul where, when and how many times He wants it to be on the earth.

Out of the billions of souls, He designates a few to the nation of Israel to be His priest and caretakers of His sacred instructions i.e. the Torah – Written and Oral; and all other souls are to inhabit the rest of the planet.

The Sages of Israel have a tradition that Moses wrote down what the Creator told him and presented it to Israel and he is attributed to have written the book of Job for the non-Jewish gentile nations. As noted in the Tanach Series commentary of Job on page 6, “Job’s prophecies were entirely directed to the nations of the world and that, indeed, he is to be regarded as a kind of patriarch of the gentile peoples.”

There are many lessons in the book of Job intended for the non-Jewish nations, and the primary lesson for us, is that Creator can be found through search and struggle. We the people of the nations have to find the Creator in our own journey though this life. This journey can be very arduous and sometimes down right torturous.

Now, on the surface, that may seem to be unfair or wrong to grant one nation an easier path to the Creator and make the rest of us struggle and strive without any guarantee of a successful conclusion.

Remember, that the Creator owns every soul – so lets look at the positive aspect of all of this.

We were created for the journey, our Creator placed us on the path when and where He wanted. Our path is one of ‘Emuna Trek” – that slow and arduous journey into true biblical faith. It is a blessing to seek the Creator like a hidden treasure.

It is a blessing to seek the Creator like a hidden treasure.

How many of you have seen the show about searching for the treasures of Oak Island? Treasure hunting is a hard, dirty and at times, life threatening. But when the treasure is found there is great joy, the joy of accomplishment has its own reward.

Proverbs chapter 2 tells us that to find the knowledge of G-d, we must seek for it as silver and search for it has a hidden treasure.

Yes, Israel is blessed to be chosen to guard the Torah, but they too have many struggles and they have test and trials that we of the gentile nations will never have to be tested on. But we are blessed as well, we were created for the journey. Through all the struggles, the seeking and searching, the blood sweat and tears there is an amazing treasure to behold – the Creator of heaven and earth.

What can we liken our journey to?

As I was writing this blog it occurred to me, that we, the people of the gentile nations are the Indiana Jones of our own journey. We encounter pitfalls, enemies, traps, deceptions and wrong turns – sometimes we have no choice but to travel the harsh and dangerous highways and byways of this thing we call life.

So lets put on our hats, leather jackets, grab our whips and go hunting for the greatest treasure there is, after all, it is what we were created for.

Terry W. Hayes
ben Noach

2/2017