⁰ My God in His lovingkindness will meet me; God will let me look triumphantly upon my foes …¹⁷ O my strength, I will sing praises to You; for God is my stronghold, the God who shows me lovingkindness. (Psalm 59:10, 17)

Love is from God, we are told in 1 John 4:7. While “agape” love in the NT conveys a self-sacrificing commitment, lovingkindness (Heb: “hesed”) in the OT conveys a somewhat different connotation. Scholars used to think the word should be translated mercy, and is so translated in the LXX by the Greek word “eleos” for mercy. However, later studies showed that hesed refers to a loyalty to covenant obligations. So the debate is whether God’s lovingkindness (hesed) comes from God’s eternal nature and therefore extends to all people, or whether it relates only or primarily to Israel because of the covenant He made with them.

We see in Joshua 2:12 that Rahab’s actions in supporting Israel’s spies was described as hesed, lovingkindness, so the word itself is not isolated to covenantal use. God describes Himself as “showing lovingkindness to thousands” (Ex 20:6). That is the nature of who He is. Yet the OT clearly presents God’s hesed in relationship to the people of the covenant, so we find it difficult to separate God’s eternal character from His covenantal obligations.

In what sense is God under obligation? Does that not imply He is accountable to something outside of Himself? Not at all. The best way to look at this is that the covenants God made with Israel, whether we refer to the Abrahamic, Mosaic, Palestinian or Davidic covenants, flow from His eternal character of hesed. He willingly entered into these commitments to show favor to His people. Remember when God had Abraham divide up the animals in the typical form of an ancient covenant, where the two parties would walk through the midst of the cut pieces of the animals, signifying that their individual fates would be like that of those animals should they break covenant (Genesis 15)? In that instance, God put Abraham to sleep and then in the dream passed through the animal pieces by Himself, symbolized by a smoking torch. It was a unilateral agreement, God willingly holding Himself accountable for the promise of land to Abraham’s descendants. God holds Himself accountable to Himself.

The Lord has now entered into a new covenant of blood with all who believe, through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). This stems from God’s eternal character of lovingkindness. He is committed to loving us, now, as a father loves his children

Lord, unlike human love, You are committed to loving me. Thank You.