Living a Life of Lovingkindness (God’s Hesed • Lovingkindness – part 8)

Throughout this series as we’ve examined the Hebrew concept of “hesed” (often translated as mercy, lovingkindness, or steadfast love), an unasked question confronts us personally: are we going to live a life of hesed?

If God defines a central aspect of His character and nature with hesed, and now He lives inside of us through His Spirit, shouldn’t our lives showcase His hesed to our world?

In this episode, we talk about the reciprocity of hesed, the story of the Good Samaritan, and what it means for us to “live a life of lovingkindness.”

Listen to or download the episode

Hesed (lovingkindess / mercy / steadfast love)

Throughout this series, we have talked about the Hebrew word hesed, often translated as:

• love, kindness, grace, mercy, faithfulness, favor, loyalty, goodness, lovingkindness, steadfast love, faithful love, devotion, gracious covenant, covenant loyalty, loving instruction, covenant friendship, beauty
• Or as Michael Card so beautifully defined, “When the person from whom I have a right to expect nothing gives me everything.”⁽¹⁾

Hesed in the New Testament

The Hebrew word “hesed” can be found in the New Testament word “mercy” (for more, listen to the last episode on the “House of Mercy“).

Mercy, Not Sacrifice

After the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the location of holiness and the presence of God (found at the Temple) was gone. What option did the Jews have for worship?

The rabbis provide a remarkable story about Yohanan ben Zakkai and his pupil Yehoshua as they were leaving the smoldering ruins of Jerusalem. Joseph, the younger, lamented, “There is no longer a source of holiness in Israel.” If you stop and think about it, he was right. If your religion dictates that you offer sacrifices in one single location, and that location is destroyed and you are forever banned as a people from returning, everything is indeed over.

In response ben Zakkai said, “We have a greater source of holiness.” And then he quoted Hosea 6:6, “I desire hesed and not sacrifice” (Avot de Rabbi Natan 4). Ben Zakkai would go on to become one of the great reformers of post-temple Judaism in the city of Javneh, stressing acts of hesed over sacrifices. At that moment the seed was planted for what would eventually become Hasidic Judaism—that is, a Judaism founded on works of hesed, comprising a community that was completely dependent on the hesed of God.⁽²⁾

Later in his book, Michael Card gives the actual quote and a longer explanation …

Everything would radically change on the ninth of Av (August 10) in AD 70 when Titus burned Herod’s magnificent temple to the ground. What was already a fragmented faith seemed by all appearances to be coming to a smoldering end.

The Talmud tells the fascinating story of the moment when, as the smoke was still rising from the ruins of Jerusalem, Judaism was born anew, re-visioned by a follower of Hillel named Yohanan ben Zakkai. I alluded to this story earlier; here is the passage in full:

Once Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai was leaving Jerusalem. Rabbi Yehoshua was following behind him and saw the ruins of the Temple. Rabbi Yehoshua said: Woe to us for this! The place where atonement was obtained for Israel’s sins is in ruins. He replied: My son, let this not sadden you. We have another form of atonement which is equal to this. And what is it? Gemiluth hesed [the practice of hesed] as it is said; ‘For I desire hesed and not sacrifice.’ Hosea 6:6.⁽³⁾

What might have been a violent end of Judaism was in fact its rebirth. Until the destruction of the temple, Shammai’s school had represented the center of power. Then Hillel’s followers took leadership of the thought life of Israel. They became the shapers of the Judaism we know today. As happens so often in the Scriptures, it was precisely suffering that God used to reshape his people. Where there had been division and fragmentation there was now a new righteousness and a new lens through which to look at the world: hesed.

Hesed is not simply a Hebrew word—it is a Hebrew ideal. Befitting the more verbal Hebrew mind, it is always looked on as something you do. You come to understand hesed not by defining it but by doing it. Acts of hesed extend God’s image out into the world.

Ethan the Ezrahite had sung, “I will sing about the Lord’s hesed forever” (Ps 89:1). This idea became central in rabbinic discussions for centuries to come. In one of his lectures, Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz says, “Hesed is not only the most important theme of the Torah, it is the theme of everything; all of Torah and of Creation flows from the value of hesed.” Hesed is at the heart of the contemporary Jewish search for meaning. Here are some of the things the Talmud has to say about hesed:

• “He who occupies himself with Torah study alone without doing acts of hesed is as if he had no G-d.” (Avodah Zarah 17b)
• “Acts of hesed rescue a man from the clutches of his evil desires.” (Avodah Zarah 5b)
• “The world stands on three things; Torah, service of G-d and acts of hesed.” (Pirkei Avos 1:2)
• “Acts of hesed are greater than righteousness [tzedakah].” (Sukkot 49b; referencing Hosea 10:12)

Across the spectrum of modern Judaism, the doing of hesed remains absolutely central. Some sects focus almost exclusively on acts of kindness toward other Jews, while others have taken on social activism as an expression of their commitment to doing hesed. To begin to understand hesed in modern Jewish observance, two important terms provide a good start: gemilut hesed and tikkun olam.

Both of these terms (like rabbi and synagogue) are postbiblical. Gemilut hesed, or “the practice of hesed,” refers to the many different ways hesed can be done. The second phrase describes the healing effect doing hesed has on the culture and the world: tikkun olam, “repairing the world.” Simply put, the repairing of the world is accomplished through acts of hesed.⁽⁴⁾

The Reciprocity of Hesed

One evidence that you’ve experienced hesed is that you are willing to show hesed to others. Michael Card writes, “Reciprocity is an indication that you have internalized the truth of hesed. If it is not returned freely in gratitude, you have not understood the nature of the hesed that was shown to you in the first place. … The expectation of mutuality is based not on strict obligation but on the hope that the one who received hesed will reciprocate. You have, in a sense, violated hesed if you fail to show hesed in response.”⁽⁵⁾

If Yahweh God defined one of His main attributes with hesed (see Exodus 34:6–7), and then took on flesh (Jesus) and lived and taught hesed, culminating at the Cross, then sent forth His Spirit to indwell our lives … it would suggest that the same God of hesed wants to showcase and demonstrate His hesed through our lives to the world.

In the “Good Samaritan” parable, Jesus tells the story of a man who gets beat up, looked over, but strangely receives hesed from a Samaritan (someone whom the Jews would have detested). When Jesus asked the lawyer “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” (Luke 10:36), the lawyer couldn’t even say the name “Samaritan” but confessed, “The one who showed mercy toward him” (Luke 10:37).

If we are going to love our neighbor (see Luke 10:27, 29), it will demand hesed. Jesus’ conclusion … “Go and do the same” (Luke 10:37).

As Micah 6:8 asks, “what does Yahweh require of you but to do justice, to love lovingkindness [hesed], and to walk humbly with your God.”

How can you show hesed to your world (work, school, family, church, community, etc.) today?

I’d love to hear from you …

This series on hesed has been deeply stirring to my soul. If it has been impactful, I’d love to hear from you—join the Deeper Digest and hit reply on next Saturday’s email and send me a message.

FOOTNOTES

(1) Michael Card, Inexpressible: Hesed and the Mystery of God’s Lovingkindness (Westmont, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2018), 5.
(2) Michael Card, Inexpressible, 90–91.
(3) Avot de Rabbi Nathan 4.1, in Scholastic Rabbinism: A Literary Study of the Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan (Providence, RI: Brown Judaic Studies, 1982).
(4) Michael Card, Inexpressible, 128–129.
(5) Michael Card, Inexpressible, 65.
Photo Credit: Kevin Carden (Lightstock)

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Question: How are you showing hesed to your world?