Putting the Chesed |
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of Adonai before your eyes... |
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For thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes: |
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A word variously translated as "mercy," "lovingkindess," "steadfast love," "compassion," and even "goodness" is the Hebrew word chesed (the LXX usually uses ελεος ("mercy"), and the Latin uses misericordia). Chesed is one of the thirteen attributes of God that the Jewish sages derived from the study of God's revelation to Moses (see Exodus 34:6-7). |
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In this verse, we are told that by putting the chesed of God "before our eyes" – that is, by choosing to believe in the lovingkindness of God toward us through a heart of faith – we are enabled to walk in God's sure truth: for indeed the Lord God our Savior is the Source and Fulfillment of all real and abiding love. As the apostle John wrote, "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." (1 John 4:7-8) |
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