LOVING-KINDNESS (partial definition)
checed OT:2617, "loving-kindness; steadfast love; grace; mercy; faithfulness; goodness; devotion." This word is used 240 times in the Old Testament, and is especially frequent in the Psalter. The term is one of the most important in the vocabulary of Old Testament theology and ethics.
In general, one may identify three basic meanings of the word, which always interact: "strength," "steadfastness," and "love." Any understanding of the word that fails to suggest all three inevitably loses some of its richness. "Love" by itself easily becomes sentimentalized or universalized apart from the covenant. Yet "strength" or "steadfastness" suggests only the fulfillment of a legal or other obligation.
Behind all these uses with man as subject, however, stand the repeated references to God's checed. It is one of His most central characteristics. God's loving-kindness is offered to His people, who need redemption from sin, enemies, and troubles. A recurrent refrain describing God's nature is "abounding plenteous in checed" Ex 34:6; Neh 9:17; Ps 103:8; Jonah 4:2. The entire history of Yahweh's covenantal relationship with Israel can be summarized in terms of checed. It is the one permanent element in the flux of covenantal history. Even the Creation is the result of God's checed Ps 136:5-9. His love lasts for a "thousand generations" Deut 7:9; cf. Deut 5:10 and Ex 20:6, indeed "forever" (especially in the refrains of certain psalms, such as Ps 136).
(from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright © 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
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Esteban
Thursday, June 3, 2010
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1 comments:
This is great! I never really thought about the three fold aspect of love. When Andy and I got married, we clung to this verse as a verse to look upon throughout our marriage: Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. (1 john 3:18) Love is not just a feeling but it must be supported in strength and devotion to one another.... I wish that the English language had more than one word for love like the Greek! I have never really thought about this but I will now, what love am I showing and giving? Thanks for making me think Esteban!
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