God’s Covenant Faithfulness: Hesed — 1 Samuel 20

God’s loving-kindness, hesed, goes beyond simple mercy to encompass the faithfulness and loyalty required within a covenant relationship. Through the friendship of David and Jonathan, we explore the sacred obligation of one in a superior position to protect and unfailingly care for the one who is vulnerable.

God’s Loving-Kindness – HESED

God’s loving-kindness, hesed, is a Hebrew term used in the context of covenant relationships. It carries two core meanings: the commitment of covenant partners to treat one another well, and the expectation that a covenant, once made, should endure over time. The first dimension is rendered in translations as kindness, mercy, or love; the second as faithfulness, loyalty, or steadfastness.

Hesed Found in Hosea 6:6

The difficulty of translating this word into English is clearly evident in the variety of renderings found across English Bible translations of Hos 6:6: “mercy” (KJV), “loving-kindness” (RSV), “goodness” (AJT), “loyalty” (NEB), and so on.

Scholarly studies of this word show that, on the human level, while social standing may shift with changing circumstances, hesed is applied to relationships that are in some sense “unequal”—in that one party holds greater power or influence by virtue of their social position.

A prime illustration of this is the friendship between David and Jonathan. At one point, David says to Jonathan: [8] Therefore deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the LORD with you. But if there is guilt in me, kill me yourself, for why should you bring me to your father?” (1 Sam 20:8a, ESV)

As long as Jonathan occupied the superior position (as the king’s son), it was his duty within their sacred covenant of friendship to help David escape his father’s evil schemes. However, Jonathan required David to promise that when their roles were reversed—when David came to power—David would show him hesed in return.

David’s obligation of friendship extended even beyond Jonathan’s death, for he resolved to show hesed to other members of Saul’s household for Jonathan’s sake (2 Sam 9:1, 3, 7).

Hesed, therefore, is the faithfulness of the stronger party toward the one in the weaker position. It is not a virtue or a character trait, but something that must be actively “done.” This explains why hesed is paired with action verbs such as “to do,” “to keep,” and “to show” (or “to love”) hesed.

We must be careful, however, not to equate hesed with noblesse oblige—the notion of the wealthy showing charity to the poor, or those of high rank acting nobly toward those beneath them. Rather, faithfulness springs not from any external legal obligation or social convention, but from the relationship itself.

It is an act of inner loyalty—and therefore an act of grace. Even when the weaker party in the relationship is suffering and has no other recourse, whether the stronger party shows hesed or not remains a matter of that person’s own free choice.

Source: Understanding the Old Testament, Bernhard W. Anderson

Originally published in Korean at bible2u.com