Is "Hesed" equal to "Agape"?

God is Love – 1/3

..how the two loves are linked

A study on divine love and the intertwined Christian character

Kindness and faithful love (hesed) pursue me every day of my life. I make my home in the house of YHWH for all time to come.
Psalm 23:6
For this is how God loved (agape) the world: he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
John 3:16

What is Hesed?

The word that is translated to “faithful love” is the Hebrew word “Hesed (or 'checed').” This word is translated in other places as “kindness,” “faithfulness,” “mercy,” “goodness,” “loyalty,” and “steadfast love.” God's love for His covenant people in the Old Testament is expressed by the Hesed. This love expressed in the Hebrew texts as hesed we'emet for example in Gen 24:49; 32:11; 47:29; Ex 34:6; Jos 2:14; 2 Sam 2:6; 15:20.
However hesed has a narrower definition than the English word "love". In the Hebrew Scriptures, it refers to the love that is both promised and owed. Hesed is an exchange of affection and loyalty based on mutual obligations: love formed in the bonds of a covenant.
Let me explain: Contracts concern material possessions, but covenants concern intangibles like honor and loyalty. In human relationships, Hesed means union, fidelity, and committment in the context of the marriage-covenant (Gen 24:49). When used between men or nations, it expresses the covenant bond of family loyalty or a treaty obligation (Gen 21:27; 1 Sam 11:1).

Hesed expresses
the covenant bond of family loyalty
or a treaty obligation

In the Old Testament the word Hesed expresses God's faithfulness to His covenant and the blessings and mercy He shows His obedient covenant people.

YHWH passed before Moses and called out.
"YHWH, YHWH, God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in faithful-love (hesed) and constancy, maintaining his faithful-love (hesed) to thousands, forgiving fault, crime and sin, yet letting nothing go unchecked, and punishing the parent's fault in the children and in the grandchildren to the third and fourth generation!"
Exo 34:6-7

A great famous example of the usage of Hesed is the Psalm 136, here we can see the word 26 times.
Another well known example is Hos 2:21 as a marriage covenant for Israel:

"I shall betroth you to myself forever,
I shall betroth you in uprightness and justice, and faithful love (hesed) and tenderness."
Hos 2:19

(→ see also: Ex 20:6; Dt 5:10; 2 Sam 22:51; Ps 18:50; Jer 32:18.)
In this way, YHWH shows a covenant love and calls the humans for the same kind of commitment through the generations!

...I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,
but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Exod 20:5-6 → see also: Deut 5:10

The word Hesed also carries the idea of a loyal love that is always available whether the recipient is worthy or receptive to the one giving the love. This word also carries the idea that the one who is loving is bound by their own nature to love.
As for the loyalty: In the Old Testament Times humans (the Jewish nation) had a complex atonement system plus a yearly atonement for the restoration of the Covenant with YHWH.

the Jewish nation had
a complex atonement system..
for the restoration of the Covenant

But now – we have a Good News. There's a road back to God for all the human who has been drifted away. What's even more amazing: It is paved solely with His faithful love. Therefore, in this case this is a greater form of His loyalty! God’s loyal love is the reason Jesus came!

Jesus is more than Hesed!

But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8

Here comes the historic change of the heavenly love!
Jesus is Gd's love in flesh. He is the one who loved us first(1John 4:19). It was and it is God’s nature to have steadfast love but today His love is un-conditional: While we were away from God (doing our own thing and living our own way), Jesus died for us.

Jesus is Gd's love in flesh
He is the one who loved us first
today His love is un-conditional

You see, God loves you and pursues you whether you return His love or not. This is much more than Hesed – it's an invitation from the Heaven: The reason why the apostles use the word agape to describe this unilateral, selfless, initiating love! This is a New Covenant and a New kind of Righteousness before God!

i - ii - iii

- Chpt 2. Filia, Storge and Agape
- Chpt. 3. The breastpiece
- "Love" in the Scriptures (recommended)
- Desiring mercy-love
- Submit to God's Righteousness
- The 'End' of the Law

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