Covenantal Love

 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(Romans 8:38-39 ESV)

Behind every covenant in Scripture is the Hebrew word "chesed" (transliteration). In our English Bibles, this word is translated a number of ways. Sometimes the word is rendered "mercy", other times "kindness", and still other times as "lovingkindness." All of these words give a bit of a picture into the meaning of chesed, but to be quite clear there is a lot lost in translation.

There are phrases like this in every language. Idioms and cultural expressions that when you attempt to translate lose a great deal of meaning. The translated words are similar, but there is a certain depth to some words that can only be explained in the context and culture of the original language."Chesed" is one of these words. Sure, we can say it is mercy, or kindness, or lovingkindness, but all of these words fall short to explain the beauty of chesed. Chesed is a word ingrained in the culture of ancient Israelites. Not merely a word, but a principle upon which all of salvation history is based.

Salvation history is a phrase that is used to describe the series of events and the orchestrations by God to bring His covenant people to salvation. It is the way that God chooses the Israelites to be His people and the way that He works in and through them.  All of this is centered on covenant. All of this is centered on chesed.

Imagine for a second that you are the best friend someone could ever have. You always put your friends first, you shower your friends with love and compliments, and you are just an all-around nice person. But instead of reciprocating this friendship, one of your friends constantly insults, betrays, and hurts you. For a while, you may bear with this friend, being able to make excuses for them. However, if this type of behavior continued, you may start to consider your friendship with this person. Other friends would advise that the relationship is toxic, and would encourage you to move on. Who could blame you? Even though you are the best friend someone you could ever have, eventually you could no longer be friends with this person.

Understand that God's relationship with the Israelites was toxic. God was the best friend they could ever have, showering them with blessings, with protection, with deliverance, and provision. The Israelites however, only repaid that goodness with rebellion, with betrayal, and with insult.

When the Israelites are in slavery in Egypt, they are consistently complaining, consistently crying out to God for salvation, begging for salvation. God hears their cry, and lifts up a deliverer in Moses, who bursts into Egypt with miraculous plagues and the power of God behind him. Israel is then released from slavery, their prayers answered, and taken on a journey to receive their own land. The Israelites had just seen the power of God, the blessing of God, the provision of God, and the protection of God in an extremely tangible way.

I imagine Israel running out of Egypt, blessing the Lord seeing all that He had done for them. They had been  delivered, they had been saved, their prayers were answered! Unfortunately, the Scriptures tell us a different story.

Shortly after the miracles and the plagues, the Israelites begin to complain that Egypt was better than the wilderness. Not long after this, the Israelites melt down their jewelry, lead by their high priest, and build a golden calf and worship it as their god. God had just worked in a miraculous way, if there was any doubt as to the worship and honor He deserved before the plagues His redemptive work of deliverance put that doubt to sleep. God delivers, God blesses, God provides, God protects, and yet the Israelites reciprocate with insult, with betrayal, and rebellion, placing their praise and worship in a man made statue. This one event is just merely a picture of the pattern of salvation history.

If we were God, we would be done with this toxic relationship. We would look at the way the Israelites treated us, even after all we did, and would decide that we did not need this relationship. We would move on, we would give up, and no one would blame us. In fact, that is exactly what others would tell us to do. It is the logical, practical, common sense, normal thing to do. God however responds illogically, throwing out practicality, putting up His nose to common sense, as a reminder that He is not normal, with chesed.

Chesed reponds to betrayal, insult, and rebellion with a love that never gives up. To use the words of N.H.Snaith, chesed is "a sure love which will not let Israel go. Not all Israel's persistent waywardness could ever destroy it. Though Israel be faithless, yet God remains faithful still. This steady, persistent refusal of God to wash his hands of wayward Israel is the essential meaning of (chesed)." This is so much deeper than love, so much deeper than loving-kindness, this is out-of-this world love, this is crazy kindness, this is unmeasurable mercy.

This chesed is behind all of God's covenants, and exists in God's relationship with His covenant people. As Christians, understand that we are now God's covenant people (and act just like the Israelites btw). This means that God's heart is filled with chesed for you! Think about that for a second. Seriously, walk away from this post, sit down in a distraction-free environment and understand that no matter what you do, God will never stop loving you, He will never give up on you, He will always have chesed for you.

A beautiful illustration of chesed is found in the book of Hosea. Hosea is a man who is commanded by God to marry a whore (Hosea 1:2). Hosea willingly marries Gomer, a woman whom he loves, but a woman who he knows is not going to be faithful to him. Gomer routinely cheats on Hosea, and eventually moves out to live with one of her lovers. Hosea is crushed. The woman that he loves with all his heart has betrayed his love and reciprocated his love with infidelity. Hosea showers love on Gomer, and she reciprocates with rebellion.

No doubt during this time that Hosea's friends tried to console him, telling him that the relationship was toxic, that he needed to be done with Gomer. I imagine conversations with these friends as they tell Hosea that they saw Gomer and that she looked terrible, that her harlotry had taken a toll on her, and that Hosea was not missing anything. None of this would console Hosea, for his love so deep for Gomer that it did not matter. He would never stop loving (chesed) her.

Gomer is passed around by lovers and eventually thrown on the street. Her lovers are done with her, they have worn her out, and used her for what they wanted. Now she is like this crumbled up dirty ball of paper blowing through the allies of the city on a cold night. No one is picking up that paper, no one is giving it any mind, it is trash. Eventually Gomer sells herself as a slave, realizing that it is better to be a slave under a roof then garbage blowing through the streets.

Hosea hears that a slave auction is going on and Gomer is being sold in the town square. Hosea jumps up, driven by chesed to buy back his wife. When Hosea gets to the auction, he sees this old, beat up, whore, stripped naked being sold for 15 shekels. She hardly looks as she once did, but Hosea's heart jumps. There is his bride, there is his lover, there is his covenant partner. When Gomer is brought to auction, Hosea empties his pockets and purchases her back. He embraces her and says, “You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you. You will be mine, and I will be yours. I will always love you, I will never give up on you.”

The story of Hosea is an allegory, God is Hosea and Gomer is His covenant people. You are that whore, who has reciprocated God's love, blessings, provision, and protection with rebellion. You are for sale in the town square after the "lovers" of this world have beat you up and put you out on the streets. You are naked, you are old, beat up, you are utterly disgusting, and stained. No one wants you, no one cares. All of your "lovers" are done with you.

Yet, in this moment, God comes to the square, sees you and His heart bursts. He cries, He jumps with joy, purchases you back, and says, “You shall not play the whore, or belong to another; so will I also be to you. You will be mine, and I will be yours. I will always love you, I will never give up on you.”

The fact that God has made you His covenant partner means that He has chesed, the love behind every covenant of God., the love that governs your entire existence, for you.