The God of Hesed

Hello and welcome to a brand-new week of Theophilus. I am glad you are here!

This week we will be kicking off the start of a new format — God’s character. In this series we will choose one aspect of God’s character and dive into what the Bible says about who our God is.

In this way, we hope to grow your relationship and understanding of who our God is through how he has revealed himself to us. 

And this week we start with one of the most fundamental aspects of his character: Hesed.

Hesed is a Hebrew word used throughout the old testament used to describe our God. But its translation is tricky. Depending on the version and context it can be translated many different ways. 

One of the most common ways it is translated is “steadfast love.”

But it is can also be translated as mercy, loving-kindness, covenant faithfulness, generous, loyalty, faithful love, beauty, unfailing kindness, goodness and much more.

It occurs in the Bible about 250 times across the old testament and it is one of primary ways in which God describes himself, perhaps seen most vividly in Exodus 34:6 when God speaks to Moses proclaiming in his own words who he is:

This is our God.

One who is abounding in not just love, but faithful, merciful, kind, good, loyal, unfailing, unconditional love. 

And while God’s love may be preached every week at the Sunday service, I hope this week may offer you a new perspective on His love by diving into three different instances where the word hesed is used in the old testament to understand on an even deeper level who our God is.

We will start tomorrow by looking in the book of Deuteronomy. 

Until then,

Be Blessed

Aaron

Theophilus Newsletter

P.s. Much of this week is inspired by the book “Inexpressible, Hesed and the mystery of Gods LovingKindness by Michael Card. This week will be far from comprehensive on character of God concerning hesed. Should you want to learn more you can check out his book.