chesed

HOW GREAT IS GOD!

(August 15, 2023) Dr Jim McClure challenges readers… 

Around 3500 years ago something occurred that still impacts our lives today – God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. 

Let me give you a brief background here. After the people of Israel had spent 400 years in Egypt God raised up Moses to lead them out of Egypt. Early in their journey to the Promised Land God gave them the Ten Commandments which are a brief summarise the basic life values which are just as relevant today as they were when God first revealed them to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:1-21).    

While those commandments have repeatedly been broken throughout history, today we are witnessing a deliberate and defiant disregard of them!

As I was reflecting on this and considering how they tell us much about the fallibility of human nature, I was aware that they also reveal something about the breathtaking character of Almighty God.

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WORDS OF LIFE (#5) LOYAL LOVE – CHESED

Jim McClure(December 12, 2016) Dr Jim McClure, respected theologian, continues his series on selected scripture words…

The root of one of the most common Hebrew words for love is ‘aheb’ which occurs about 250 times in the Old Testament. In many ways its meaning is similar to the English word ‘love’ in that it has a wide range of applications.  However, our focus in this study is on another Hebrew word, ‘chesed’ which has been translated by a variety of words in the KJV including mercy, kindness, goodness, favour, pity and loving-kindness (a word made up by Miles Coverdale in the early 16th century).

Sometimes it has been translated as faithfulness, grace, leal-love, steadfast love and troth. The fact that so many words have been employed to translate ‘chesed’ reveals that it is extremely difficult to find an equivalent English word and every attempt is ultimately inadequate. (more…)