To Live is Christ — amazed at His goal

The Bible frequently pairs certain words. Grace and peace are commonly put together in the New Testament. After looking at today’s reading in several versions, the pairing in these verses intrigues me. 

Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man. (Proverbs 3:3–4)

Still puzzled at the meaning of mercy in the Hebrew language, I found several articles online that explain the importance of this word. It actually has been mistranslated, not deliberately but because it is very difficult to explain in English.

This word has great theological importance. It is hesed and stands for the attitude which both parties to a covenant ought to maintain toward each other. In the Old Testament Scripture, the covenant is between God and Israel. On God’s part, hesed is demonstrated in His dealings with His people. They were continually wayward yet God was determined to never let go of them. Therefore, He treated them with loving-kindness, mercy, and goodness, although they deserved none of that.

This is why many translators use “mercy” or “forgiveness” when trying to put hesed into English. However, it has a grander meaning. It includes His need to exercise mercy, yet that is just one method God uses in His determined faithfulness to keep His part of the covenant.

Many Greek translators of the Old Testament translated hesed with the Greek word eleos. This word means mercy or pity. They wanted to convey how God’s passion for righteousness is so strong that He could not be more insistent in his demand for it, yet at the same time, His persistent love for His people is more insistent. That is, God's people throughout the centuries were stubbornly wayward, but if a remnant were to be preserved, God has had to show mercy more than anything else.

While the Hebrew hesed can be translated by loving-kindness and mercy, no one can think that God is content with anything less than righteousness. Hesed is not about pity or sentimental kindness. In fact, the Bible makes no suggestion of mercy apart from repentance where this word is used. God’s demand for righteousness is insistent and always at maximum intensity. Yet the hesed of God means that his mercy is greater even than that. This is the marvelous wonder — His love is unfailing and solves the problem of His demands for utter righteousness. (See more)

Again, when used of the Lord, this word 'hesed' is always in connection with the covenant that God established with His people. It was God's gift and a grace for Israel, a covenant that God committed to respect it. It is rooted in a love that gives, a love more powerful than all betrayals, a grace that is stronger than all our sin.

Proverbs 3:3 pairs mercy and truth. The Hebrew word used for truth means more than meets the eye too. In short, it describes someone who is dependable and loyal, true to a standard, conforms to a reality, sure and certain, so sure as not to be false. This is about integrity. As does the word hesed, this word describes God.

However, the verses say that I am not to let mercy and truth forsake me. Remember, this is about both parties in a covenant. Hesed and truth are to be a part of who I am also, as if written on my heart. All of what is said about this concerning God keeping His covenant with His people is to be my attitude toward the covenant I have with God, and toward other people. These lofty and amazing characteristics of devotion ought to motivate my life and all that I do.

As I reread this, I’m feeling overwhelmed. Two words that say so much, that ask so much. Yet I know that if they were not true of God, they could never be true of me. Without Him, I can do nothing. And if I should think that I’m all that I can be, I better wake up — because I’ve lost sight of the target.