I always enjoy the material from The Bible Project and this short video on a key Old Testament word, chesed or khesed, is no exception.
The word is a rich one, with English translations employing a wide
variety of options to try to capture the scope of this rich Hebrew word.
The word occurs nearly 250 times in the Old Testament. Just within the King James Version alone, it is translated as: 'mercy' (149 times), 'kindness' (40 times), 'lovingkindness' (30 times) and 'goodness' (12 times) and several other variants.
Modern versions also utilise many different renderings to try to capture the sense of the word. If we look at a single test verse, 1 Kings 8:23, it reads (my translation): 'And he said, O Yahweh, the God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth below. You keep covenant and lovingkindness [chesed] with your servants who walk before you wholeheartedly.'
In other versions, the word in bold 'lovingkindess' is rendered:
- mercy (KJV, NKJV)
- lovingkindness (ASV, NASB95)
- loyalty (CEB)
- steadfast love (RSV, NRSV, ESV)
- love (NIV, Good News)
- gracious love (ISV)
- loyal love (Lexham,
- faithfulness (NASB)
- covenantal loyalty (NET)
- unfailing love (NLT)
- kindness (LSV)
- constant love (REB)
- loving-commitment (The Scriptures)
From these a number of elements are clear enough:
- There is an element of emotion conveyed by 'love' and 'kindness'.
- There is an element of commitment conveyed by 'loyalty' and 'faithfulness'
- There is an element of constancy. This love is 'steadfast', 'unfailing' and 'constant'
- There is an element of this love being undeserved. It is 'gracious' and 'merciful'
That this is the love that God has for his people. This is his covenant love. It is no mere cold legal agreement - it is a loving commitment. It never fails. God remains faithful and loyal to his covennat promises at all times. And perhaps most wondrous of all, it is a love that we can never merit or deserve.
This Old Testament language carries over in the New Testament concept of agape love. It is the same love Paul spoke about in 1 Corinthians 13 where we could easily substitute the Old Testament concept of chesed for the word agape in Greek which Paul used:
'Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.' (1 Cor. 13:4-8, ESV)
