Weekly Facebook Scripture
אַתָּה יְהוָה לֹא־תִכְלָא רַחֲמֶיךָ מִמֶּנִּי
חַסְדְּךָ וַאֲמִתְּךָ תָּמִיד יִצְּרוּנִי
כִּי אָפְפוּ־עָלַי רָעוֹת עַד־אֵין מִסְפָּר
הִשִּׂיגוּנִי עֲוֹנֹתַי
וְלֹא־יָכֹלְתִּי לִרְאוֹת
עָצְמוּ מִשַּׂעֲרוֹת רֹאשִׁי
וְלִבִּי עֲזָבָנִי
רְצֵה יְהוָה לְהַצִּילֵנִ
יְהוָה לְעֶזְרָתִי חוּשָׁה
“You, O LORD, do not withhold your compassion from me;
may your faithful devotion continually guard me.
12 For evils beyond counting surround me;
my iniquities have caught up with me,
and I’m unable to see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
and my heart has forsaken me.
13 Be pleased, O LORD, to rescue me;
O LORD come quickly to deliver me.”
(Psa 40:11-13)
God is concerned with hearing and obeying rather than religious piety.
He always has been and He always will be.
He wants the law to be in the heart of His people.
We often think of this as something that comes into existence only in the New Testament, but that is based on ignorance of the Hebrew Scriptures and centuries-old stereotypes rather than on the Biblical text itself. When Jesus called people to inner holiness and devotion to God, He wasn’t introducing a new concept; He was calling God’s people back to the God who had delivered them from slavery into freedom and had chosen them to be a light to the whole world through their relationship with Him.
This relationship would be characterized by Ḥesed (חֶסֶד) or “Faithful devotion.” Though sometimes translated as “loving-kindness”, “steadfast love”, or “mercy”, these all fall short of conveying the actual meaning of this word. Its meaning is better “summed up as ‘steadfast love on the basis of a covenant’. It is employed both of God’s attitude towards his people and of theirs to him.”[*]
Ḥesed is life.
Ḥesed is peace.
Ḥesed is the ultimate assurance.
When things are at their worst, God’s Ḥesed remains as a sign to His people that He has not abandoned them. Alternatively, the prospect of God withdrawing His Ḥesed is utterly devastating and leaves one in a state of hopelessness.
Whenever two humans had an agreement (covenant) and one of them went back on it or abandoned it, the other would no longer show Ḥesed to them. The guilty party would have completely broken off the covenant relationship through their disobedience. At best, they would no longer be friends; at worst, they would be enemies.
However, as David, who wrote this song (that’s what Psalms are, by the way!) knew from his own life experiences, if someone goes back on God’s covenant but then realizes it and confesses their guilt (rather than trying to hide it or shift the blame to others) in a spirit of repentance, God’s Ḥesed remains—not because the person deserves it; but because God is merciful beyond measure and is devoted to His people. David had known this all his life, as we see in one of his earlier songs:
“Even if my father and mother abandon me, the LORD will hold me close.” (Psa 27:10 NLT)
In Psalm 40, David joyously celebrates God’s love, goodness and faithfulness. He then vividly depicts in the verses above what he has described thus far in the song: His guilt, his forsakenness and his fear leading to his crying out to God for forgiveness and for God to treat him with unmerited, undeserved covenant love and faithfulness. He knows God will do this, not because he deserves it, but because God promised that He would be faithful to those who come to Him in true repentance and trust.
Usually WE are the ones who are unwilling to forgive. Despite God’s continual promises of forgiveness through simple repentance, faith and trust, we constantly feel the need to do something for Him—to offer some type of sacrifice in order to earn back His Ḥesed. But what we fail to realize (or don’t allow ourselves to believe) is that there is no sacrifice we can make when we turn away from God and break covenant with Him. As David realizes in the song, we are surrounded by evils and blinded by our innumerable iniquities.
In other words, Sin, by its very nature, is an enemy that pursues us and, when we give in and allow it to manifest itself in our lives, captures us as its prisoner.
BUT…
God, in His Ḥesed, has already taken that into account and provided in His own flesh (literally, through Jesus!) the means by which Sin’s grasp can be broken and its claims rendered powerless. The ultimate enemy has been beaten. Thus, those who come to God in humble confession and turn away from (the literal meaning of “repent”) Sin are lovingly welcomed into His grace, mercy and kindness…His Ḥesed.
This leads to the final lines of the song, in which David ends on a note of both tension and anticipation. He has not experienced God’s full deliverance by the end of the song, but he knows it’s coming and maintains hope—all the while reassurring his enemies that when all is said and done, God WILL deliver him and put everything right.
“I am needy and poor;
Yet the Lord will give thought to me;
You are my deliverer and my rescuer.
My God, do not delay!”
(Psa 40:18)
And as he makes clear, this is not based on David’s amount of faith or his own prestige. Rather, it is based on the greatness of the God, with whom he has entered into covenant, and God’s desire for a relationship that goes to the very core—“the heart” in Hebrew—of the believer.
This is indeed “good news” (the meaning of the term “gospel”)…right here in the “Old Testament!”
How will you respond to God’s offer of Ḥesed?
JMS
[*] cf. Koehler & Baumgartner, A Hebrew-Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT), p.336
Categories: Biblical Theology, Blog, Hebrew Bible
Great lunch JM… I’m looking forward to our opportunity to learn from the HS together.
Hesed is a great background term for John’s Gospel. It connoted going beyond obligation or honor. The service most meritorious was called Gemilut Hassadim (work of lovingkindness). It was a service that couldn’t be repaid (and typically done secretly when the receiver of the service was still alive…to avoid the receiver’s obligation of repayment). Gemilut Hassadim was performed thus most perfectly in two ways: By honoring a bridegroom at his wedding, or by preparing a body for burial (and grieving with the survivors). Notice this is relevant to the first and last signs of John’s gospel.
Hesed is central to how John presents the new covenant. So, Moses brought down God’s Law, Jesus the love and devotion (1:17). The light of the first day, to John, is the revelation of God’s attributes, Hesed v’emet. John saw Day One of the creation, as the manifestation of God’s radiance on mankind. While He was with us, the light of the earth walked among us.
The theme of Day One is loyalty and love (read the first letter in Rev).
by Eric Orozco on Apr 11, 2009 at 11:48 pm