While I was reading Chuck Swindoll's book, Living the Psalms, he said that one word: chesed is "perhaps the most important word in the entire Old Testament because it effectively sums up the character of God." (page 188)
So, I started researching chesed. It turns out chesed and hesed can be used interchangeably. I had heard of hesed from the loyal love depicted in the Book of Ruth. From my research on line, I found this quote:
"Love is the single most powerful and necessary component in life. Love is the origin and foundation of all human interactions. It is both giving and receiving. It allows us to reach above and beyond ourselves. To experience another person and to allow that person to experience us. It is the tool by which we learn to experience the highest reality - God. In a single word: love is transcendence."
(http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/276673/Jewish/Omer-1.htm)
It goes on to say: "Everyone has the capacity to love in their hearts. The question is if and how we actualize and express it." They go on to ask you to ask yourself: "What is my capacity to love another person?"
I asked a Rabbi friend to tell me the difference between chesed and hesed. He said hesed conveys covenantal loyalty (remember Ruth in the Bible), whereas chesed shows deeds of kindness. This is the kind of kindness God shows us, a love that comes from no where to give to people who do not deserve His kindness, with no prospect of reward for Himself. He explained that the way you show loyal love is to show kindness to each other. He reminded me the first 5 Laws are about Covenantal Loyalty, where the last commandments are about kindness. I never realized how they blended together and depended on each other.
One Rabbi (Shimon Leiberman) even said it is "properly described as an act that has no 'cause.'" He describes chesed as "proactive - it is the initiator of interaction." He concluded it is "something for nothing." (http://www.aish.com/sp/k/Kabbala_10__Chesed_-_The_World_is-Built_on_Kindness.html)
If Swindoll thinks it could be the most important term in the Old Testament, I think it would behove us to know more about it.
So, I started researching chesed. It turns out chesed and hesed can be used interchangeably. I had heard of hesed from the loyal love depicted in the Book of Ruth. From my research on line, I found this quote:
"Love is the single most powerful and necessary component in life. Love is the origin and foundation of all human interactions. It is both giving and receiving. It allows us to reach above and beyond ourselves. To experience another person and to allow that person to experience us. It is the tool by which we learn to experience the highest reality - God. In a single word: love is transcendence."
(http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/276673/Jewish/Omer-1.htm)
It goes on to say: "Everyone has the capacity to love in their hearts. The question is if and how we actualize and express it." They go on to ask you to ask yourself: "What is my capacity to love another person?"
I asked a Rabbi friend to tell me the difference between chesed and hesed. He said hesed conveys covenantal loyalty (remember Ruth in the Bible), whereas chesed shows deeds of kindness. This is the kind of kindness God shows us, a love that comes from no where to give to people who do not deserve His kindness, with no prospect of reward for Himself. He explained that the way you show loyal love is to show kindness to each other. He reminded me the first 5 Laws are about Covenantal Loyalty, where the last commandments are about kindness. I never realized how they blended together and depended on each other.
One Rabbi (Shimon Leiberman) even said it is "properly described as an act that has no 'cause.'" He describes chesed as "proactive - it is the initiator of interaction." He concluded it is "something for nothing." (http://www.aish.com/sp/k/Kabbala_10__Chesed_-_The_World_is-Built_on_Kindness.html)
If Swindoll thinks it could be the most important term in the Old Testament, I think it would behove us to know more about it.
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