And we're back for season 2! This season we're coming the Fruit of the Spirit... but in Hebrew!
The first fruit listed in Galatians 5:22-23 is Love. In this episode We sit down to discuss the Hebrew understanding of the fruit of the spirit, specifically love, or Chesed. There are many words that can be used, but based on our study, chesed is the best one that fits.
Also referenced in this episode is C.S. Lewis's book The Four Loves. Find it here on Amazon.
Chesed (חֶסֶד)
Strongs translates חֶסֶד as:
- mercy (149x), kindness (40x), lovingkindness (30x), goodness (12x), kindly (5x), merciful (4x), favour (3x), good (1x), goodliness (1x), pity (1x), reproach (1x), wicked thing (1x)
- Strongs concordance is usually a good place to start to investigate a basic understanding of a word, because it is available for free from sites like BlueLetterBible.org. It’s not foolproof, as it is based off of the King James Bible, and manuscripts available at the time of its compiling
Definitions:
- goodness, kindness, faithfulness
- a reproach, shame
Hirsch (Clark, 1999):
- Devote oneself entirely; Give oneself to needs
- Being selfless, shaming, sinful devotion, stork sharing prey
LXX translates chesed at least 10 different ways, making it difficult to trace chesed into the New Covenant writings.
(But we’ll find it, with God’s help)
Gematria number:
ד
ס
ח
חסד
4
60
8
72
What is Gematria?
- In simple terms it is an alphanumeric code, where the 1st letter of the alphabet equals 1, the second letter equals 2, etc. See the graphic on right.
- Evidence of this type of code can be found in some form since before the time of David, so it is reasonable to suspect that it is encoded into the language. Much of the specific meaning of this encoding has either been lost or is muddied by mysticism and new-age. Using it as a Biblical hermeneutic is not generally recommended but in some cases, it can help us tie concepts together.
(More on this later)
Usage and lessons of the word from Genesis:
- Some consider Chesed not to be translatable into English by word or concept but we’re going to try anyway.
- First usage is in Genesis 19:19
- Lot expresses his thankfulness to the visitors that they had warned him of the coming doom instead of allowing him to perish with the rest of the people. This teaches us that chesed involves unmerited kindness
- Next we see Abraham use the word when he is recounting how he asked his wife to deceive on his behalf: Genesis 20:13
- This suggests that chesed is related to a benefit to one and a cost to the other. Her act of deception was for the purpose of Abraham’s well-being.
- Next Abraham reminds his servant of his own chesed towards the servant: Genesis 21:23
- This teaches us that chesed invites faithful service from the recipient.
- Next, Abraham’s servant repeatedly speaks of God’s chesed for Abraham, and invites the family of Nahor to do the same: Genesis 24:12-14, 24:49
- This teaches us that human beings are invited to imitate God by having chesed for those for whom He has chesed.
- In the Joseph story, we see that God has chesed for him and prospers his work, and that he asks the fellow prisoners to show him chesed by remembering him before pharoah, and asks his brothers to show him chesed by taking his bones with them when they eventually leave Egypt. Genesis 39:21, 40:14, 47:29
Checkpoint:
- In most of these stories so far, we have seen that chesed is linked to covenants, not necessarily to “love” of “affection”, and yet we often see chesed translated as “steadfast-love”. As we move into Exodus, we see chesed become more than just an interaction between God and humans, but as a key component of who He is.
- In Exodus we find that the reason God delivers Israel al all is because of His chesed, and we find that chesed is one of God’s self-proclaimed 13 attributes: Exodus 15:13, 34:6, 7a
- God was willing to let His reputation rest squarely on the shoulders of a misfit nation who regularly forgot Him and had their heads turned by any of the latest and greatest gods they encountered.
- Over ¾ of the occasions that chesed is used, it is describing God’s relationship to humanity (Schlimm, 2018, p. 125)
- By the time David started writing psalms, he had about a thousand of years of history to prove that God maintained chesed for His people. It is for this reason that David continually appealed to God’s chesed: Psalm 6:5, 13:6, 23:6
Complicated passage to note:
- One of the reasons chesed is difficult to translate is a verse in Exodus:
- “If a man takes his sister, his father’s daughter, or his mother’s daughter, and sees her nakedness, and she his, it is chesed. They are to be cut off in the sight of the children of their people, for he has uncovered his sister’s nakedness, and will bear his iniquity.” Leviticus 20:17
- Our discomfort with this usage of chesed can be lessened if we remember that even Lot recognized that chesed was unreasonably kind, crossing the boundaries of propriety. In this case we understand that the regard that the two individuals in question have for one another is inappropriate and crosses a line. God is the only one capable of transcending all boundaries to make His unreasonable regard for humanity a holy, beautiful thing.
We have seen that God’s chesed represents a commitment to His promises, commitment to our wellbeing, and self-sacrifice and personal risk to a laughable degree. This is all in keeping with His character. It is just what we would expect from a God who would send His son to die a shameful and ridiculous death in front of humanity and all of the divine beings.
Mystical and Other Writings:
- Chesed in Hebrew has a gamatria number of 72. In Kabballah there is a tradition of the 72 “names” of God, which supposedly are all the words He used in creation. Thus linking God’s work in creation to “72”
- In Deuteronomy we read:
- “When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. But the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.” Deuteronomy 32:8
- According to Judaism, the number of nations that arose from Shem, Ham, and Japheth was 70 which means there are 70 principalities over the nations. They then add Israel and God Himself, making the total number of the Divine Council 72.
- In Numbers, we see this again:
- “So Moses went out and told the people Adonai’s words. He gathered 70 of the elders of the people and had them stand around the Tent. 25 Adonai descended in the cloud and spoke with him. He took some of the Ruach that was on him and placed it on each of the 70 elders. It so happened that when the Ruach first rested on them, they prophesied—but never again. 26 Two men, however, had remained in the camp. The name of one was Eldad and the name of the other was Medad. The Ruach rested on them. They were among those listed, but they had not gone out to the Tent. So they prophesied in the camp.” Numbers 11:24-26
- And now you know why Jesus sent out 72 disciples in Luke 10 “and why some manuscripts say 70). It is theologically important that Jesus established the same authority as Moses, and that God’s chesed is reaching out to all the nations.
- Recall that John often referenced some of the more mystical texts in Judaism when he was explaining the work of Jesus. I believe he is thinking about chesed when he describes the love of God.
- Loved ones, let us love one another, for love is from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:7, 8
- “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
Bibliography
Clark, M. (1999). Etymological dictionary of Biblical Hebrew. Jerusalem, Israel: Feldheim Publishers.
Schlimm, M. R. (2018). 70 Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know. Nashville: Abingdon Press.
Strong, J. (2022, June 9). H2617 - ḥeseḏ - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv). Retrieved from Blue Letter Bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h2617/kjv/wlc/ss0/0-1