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by Kevin Pauley
What am I going to do with you, Ephraim? What am I going to do with you, Judah? Your loyalty is like the morning mist and like the early dew that vanishes. This is why I have used the prophets to cut them down; I have killed them with the words of My mouth. My judgment strikes like lightning. For I desire loyalty and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. But they, like Adam, have violated the covenant; there they have betrayed Me. - Hosea 6:4-7 HCSB
Sometimes one culture will have a concept with the matching vocabulary that simply doesn’t exist in other cultures and languages. For instance, think of how many words for snow the Eskimos must have! We Western European Gentiles run into the same problem with the Hebrew word “ch’esed”.
Ch’esed is often translated kindness or mercy, but these are actually the emotional qualities that drive it. Sometimes, it is translated benevolence or faithfulness but again, these are merely aspects of ch’esed. Though there is some crossover in the use of the terms, ch’esed is etymologically different from zeal (qanah) and faithfulness (aman). Zeal is the impetus behind ch’esed and faithfulness is ch’esed consistently expressed.
At its simplest gut level, ch’esed is properly understood as desire, love or ardor for someone or something that is properly expressed as consistent, zealous acts of kindness towards someone. One of the closest words for that definition would be “loyalty” and the Holman translators properly rendered it so in Hosea 6. So the concept of loyalty in Hebrew is expressed in the term “ch’esed”[1] and its related term “ch’asid”[2] which can be literally interpreted as “loyal one.”
A lot of people will claim to be loyal, but true loyalty is actually a rare and very precious commodity.[3]Commonly, loyalty is expressed among men by doing good deeds or favors for each other, through acts of benevolence or by considering the other’s benefit in our own pursuits.[4]
Because the ch’asid must determine and pursue what is actually best for the object of his ch’esed (as opposed to simply what the person wants), loyalty is expressed in different ways depending on the context or situation. This explains why it is often interpreted or described with many different words: kindness, mercy, zeal, benevolence, charity and, at times, even hatred.
If we are truly loyal to our spouse, we will be kind to them. There is no room for abusive behavior towards the object of one’s loyalty. We will be zealous in pursuing their good. This means that we will sacrificially consider their good as of utmost importance and will regularly perform acts of charity for them. Our loyalty towards them will cause us to hate any act that could bring harm to them and compel us to zealously pursue and destroy whatever or whoever may hurt them.
Ch’esed is the ultimate expression of every good act and Hashem (one of God’s names) is the ultimate ch’asid.
[1] Strong’s #2617 pronounced something like “heh SED”
[2] Strong’s #2623 pronounced something like “hah SEED”
[4] Philippians 2:4; Romans 12:15; 15:1-2; 1 Corinthians 8:9-13; 10:24,33; 12:25-26; 13:4-5; 2 Corinthians 6:3; Galatians 6:2; 1 John 3:14-18
Kevin Pauley is a pastor and writer. He lives in Illinois with his wife, Lynn, their five children and two dogs. His internet address is Berea.
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