The Character of God- Part 6

Subtitle:  God is Abounding in Lovingkindness

Exodus 34:6-7.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on January 12, 2025.

Today, we will look at the fourth description of God’s character from Exodus 34.  God is abounding in lovingkindness!

Let’s look at our passage.

God abounds in lovingkindness in the Old Testament

Even in the English language, we can see that a compound word, like lovingkindness, is having trouble translating the original word.  This is a small Hebrew word, khesed (khe’ sed), but it has a big meaning. 

It essentially has three components to it.  First, it speaks of loving care, and then, it adds generosity.  Lastly, we add a sense of keeping commitment, loyalty.  Thus, God’s khesed is His generous, covenant-keeping love for us.  You might see that the word lovingkindness touches on two of these, but doesn’t quite cover all three aspects. 

There is a wide variety of ways that different translations have translated this.  In fact, even within a particular translation, you may see several different words. However, before we look at some English translations, I want to look at a Greek translation from the 3^rd century B.C. (c. 200 to 250).  This translation is called the Septuagint.

The Septuagint, also shown as LXX, translates this word with a Greek word that means mercy.  On first look, it may seem that they gave up on finding a word, but there is more to it than that.  We do not experience God’s khesed in a vacuum.  Rather, His amazing khesed is in the context of our continual failure to reciprocate with a love that is even remotely close to it.  Rather, humanity has tended toward a stingy, covenant-breaking self-love.  Thus, God’s generous, covenant-keeping love in the face of our unfaithfulness can be definitely understood in the context of mercy.

It is common to distinguish between grace and mercy by this.  Grace is receiving what you don’t deserve, i.e., a gift, but mercy is not receiving what you do deserve, i.e., a pardon.  Of course, the word mercy is more than this.  At its root, there is a concept of misery.  God’s grace touches the guilt of our sin, but God’s mercy goes deeper and touches the misery of our sin.

We see that this is quite a word.  Let me point out some of the choices of English versions.  The New King James Version uses lovingkindness in Exodus 34, but it also translates khesed in other places as “mercy” and even “goodness.”  The New American Standard Bible 1995 also used lovingkindness, but then, in the 2020 edition, changed it to faithfulness.  The New International Version takes the simple route and translates it as love.  The English Standard Version chose steadfast love.  Christian Standard Bible chose faithful love; New Living Translation chose unfailing love; the New English Translation chose loyal love.  They are all very similar, but no one of them capture the whole sense of khesed without requiring the reader to understand its connections to these other concepts.  Thus, God’s love (khesed) is a love like no other.  Let’s look at some examples of its usage in the Old Testament.

The story of Ruth involves a couple, Elimelech and Naomi, who lived in Bethlehem.  A famine came upon the area, and they finally sold everything and moved to Moab with their two sons.  While in Moab, Elimelech dies.  Next, we see that the two sons marry Moabite women.  They live there for over ten years when something happens that is not detailed.  Both sons die, leaving Naomi and the two daughters-in-law alone.  Ruth realizes that her daughters-in-law would be better off to go back to their families.  She also hears that the famine has lifted in Israel, so she plans to go back.

This gives us a beautiful scene where Ruth refuses to go back to her family, but chooses to go with Naomi back to Israel.  Look at her words in Ruth 1:16-18.  “16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. 17 Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.” 18 When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she [e]said no more to her.” (NASB) We need to keep this expression of love in the back of our minds as we jump to their arrival in Israel.

Of course, they have no money to buy back Elimelech’s property, and they wouldn’t be able to work it by themselves even if they did.  We are told that they arrive just as the barley harvest is beginning.  This leads to Ruth deciding to glean what she can from the fields after they have been cut.  She just happens to end up in the fields of a man named Boaz.  Boaz just happens to be a near kinsman to Elimelech.  He ends up being very generous to Ruth because he is aware of Naomi’s situation and Ruth’s commendable, extreme faithfulness to her mother-in-law.

This brings us to the first mention of a generous, covenant-keeping love in Ruth 2:20.  “Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed of the Lord who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living and to the dead.” Again Naomi said to her, “The man is our relative, he is one of our closest relatives.” (NASB)

Here, Ruth returned home the first day and was able to glean almost 5 gallons of cleaned barley.  Naomi is astonished that she could gather so much in one day.  She realizes that someone has been gracious to Ruth and to her.  Several blessings are revealed as Naomi quizzes Ruth.  Ruth ended up in the field of a kinsman, and on top of that, a kinsman who was inclined to be generous to her.  The version above chose to translate khesed with the lesser term kindness.  However, Naomi uses khesed precisely because Boaz has demonstrated a generous, covenant-keeping love towards them.  He is not necessarily in a covenant with them, but as their kin, he does have a commitment to help them as best he can.  Why is Boaz being so kind, or generous?  Well, let’s look at his words in the next chapter.

Naomi begins to realize that God is helping them, and Boaz is a unique guy.  She counsels Ruth on how to discretely propose that Boaz take on the role of the kinsman redeemer by marrying her and raising up a child for Elimelech’s line.  This leads to Ruth coming to the field late in the evening while Boaz is sleeping among the harvest as a security.  She uncovers his feet and rests at his feet, waiting for the cool air on his feet to wake him up.  When Boaz wakes up, he sees a woman lying at his feet and says this.  “He said, ‘Who are you?’ And she answered, ‘I am Ruth your maid. So spread your covering over your maid, for you are a close relative.’ 10 Then he said, ‘May you be blessed of the Lord, my daughter. You have shown your last kindness to be better than the first by not going after young men, whether poor or rich.’”

Just as we saw Naomi declaring the actions of Boaz to be khesed, so we have Boaz declaring of Ruth that she has twice shown khesed.  The first time that he has in mind is her faithfulness to come to Israel with Naomi.  Boaz is clearly declaring that she had done an act of khesed.  Yet, her proposal to him to marry her is called an even better khesed.  Maybe it is better simply because it is done towards him.  Regardless, we might ask again, what commitment would Ruth be keeping by asking Boaz to marry her?  First, she is a Moabitess and has every reason to fear marrying a man of a different nation.  Yet, she would do so because it would better her and Naomi’s situation.  Carrying this risk on herself is an act of keeping covenant in difficult circumstances.  Yet, she is also honoring the circumstance of Boaz being the one who was gracious to her.  Apparently, Boaz is much older than her (she is probably mid-twenties).  She might choose to marry simply to eat, but if she was merely following the lusts of her flesh, she would look for a much younger relative, redeemer, to approach with this proposal.  She is being faithful to the fact that it was he who took notice of her and chose to bless her instead of mistreating her.

Thus, David comes from great-grandparents who not only understood what khesed was, but also lived it.

Jacob’s fear of Esau in Genesis 32 is another place where we find this word.  Jacob had taken advantage of his brother when Esau was hungry.  Esau gave Jacob his birthright for a bowl of beans.  Later, Jacob deceived his father and, thereby, swindled Esau out of the blessing.  This led to Jacob fleeing to what is northeastern Syria today.  Over 20 years, he accumulated two wives, twelve kids, and he had many sheep, goats, oxen and donkeys.  Then, God told Jacob to go back to Canaan.

Genesis 32:9-10 is a prayer that Jacob prays to God on the borders of Canaan because he fears what Esau will do to him.  In verse 10, he recognizes that he is not worthy of all the lovingkindness, khesed (generous, covenant-keeping love), that God has given to him.  Lovingkindness is coupled with the word translated in NASB as “faithfulness.”  This is the word that we will look at next week, which is the last description in Exodus 34:6.

Jacob knows that he doesn’t deserve God’s blessing in his life, nor His protection.  Yet, he goes on to ask God to spare him.  He mentions his grandfather and father, recognizing that God’s mercy to him is directly connected to his covenant with them.  He is in a long line of chosen ones to whom God showed great khesed.  Yet, these chosen ones are part of God’s great khesed to humanity.  This brings us back to Israel in Egypt and God’s deliverance.

Israel’s redemption from Egypt comes to a highpoint in Exodus 15.  Israel has just come through the Red Sea in an impossible way, only to see Pharaoh’s army drowned trying to follow them.  On the opposite shore of the Red Sea, Israel sings a song of God’s deliverance.  We find this description in the middle of the song in verses 11 through 13.  “Who is like You among the gods, O LORD?  Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders?  You stretched out Your right hand, the earth swallowed them.  In Your lovingkindness You have led the people whom You have redeemed; in Your strength You have guided them to your holy habitation.”

God is generously keeping his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by rescuing Israel.  Despite all of their failings through worshiping other gods, complaining about Moses and an overall stubbornness in sin in the face of God’s miracles, God has loved them.  They too could say with Jacob, “We are unworthy of Your khesed, O God!” 

This why the intercessions of Moses are so key throughout the Torah.  We saw some of these intercessions while Moses was with Israel at Mt. Sinai, and we saw the generous love that God gave to Israel then.  Yet, God’s khesed did not stop there.  When they get to the Promised Land, they refuse to go in because they see the giants.  They balk and accuse Moses (God) of bringing them to this place to get them killed.  Oh, yes, that makes sense.  God saved you from Egypt and Pharaoh’s army only to sacrifice you to Canaanite giants.  Still, unbelief has never been bothered by its penchant to overlook God’s faithfulness in the past. 

They plan to kill Moses, elect a new leader and then go back to Egypt.  In this context, God gives Moses the same offer again.  He will dispossess Israel and send plagues against them, while making a new chosen nation out of Moses and his descendants.  Numbers 14:17-20 records Moses interceding for Israel again.

“17 But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have declared, 18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.’ 19 Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”  20 So the Lord said, “I have pardoned them according to your word…”

Notice here that Moses is quoting God’s description of Himself in Exodus 34 back to Him.  He is calling upon the generous covenant-keeping love of God to pardon Israel’s sin and give them mercy.  They don’t deserve it, but do it for the sake of who You are, for Your character, for Your great name!

God does lay a punishment upon that generation, but it is not one in which they can’t repent and serve God by teaching their children not to do what they did (unbelief and rebellion).  This is a grace that is similar to Adam and Eve.  Yes, difficult things are put upon them.  However, if they will carry those heavy things with faith in God, then those heavy things will do a good work in them, and God will pardon their sins.  Yes, these people will be in the wilderness for another 40 years, but they can teach their kids to avoid the failings that they did.  They can show them the good way instead of becoming angry with God’s discipline in their life.  We can embrace His generous, covenant-keeping love in the midst of his disciplines and become a testimony to others.

There are some other worthy mentions of khesed in the Old Testament.  The book of Hosea emphasizes the khesed of God versus the worthless love of Israel.  Hosea 6:4-7 says, “What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?  What shall I do with you, O Judah?  For your loyalty is like a morning cloud and like the dew which goes away early.  5 Therefore I have hewn them in pieces by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth; and the judgments on you are like the light that goes forth.  6 For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.  7 But like Adam they have transgressed the covenant; there they have dealt treacherously against Me.”

God’s great khesed deserves a response of khesed towards Him.  Yet, Israel’s khesed was like the dew that quickly dissipates under the heat of the sun (difficulty, trials and temptations).  However, this was not unique to Israel.  Over and over again, whether it be Adam, the pre-flood world, the Tower of Babel generation, the patriarchs, David, Israel, etc., humanity has reciprocated God’s generous covenant keeping love with lip-service, even complete rebellion.  His generous, covenant-keeping love is met with stingy, covenant breaking treachery.  Yet, even so, God’s faithfulness would still respond by sending His Anointed One, Jesus, to create salvation from this problem for whosoever would put their faith in him.  The prophets pointed out this problem and answered that there was still hope because of God’s abounding khesed.

Jesus is the overly generous, covenant-keeping, merciful love of God

The Apostle John speaks of God’s great love given to us (1 John 3:1).  This love is not just about Israel.  Jesus dies on the cross to take the failure of Israel upon himself, but he is also dying for the Gentiles too.  It is in this reality that we can know that God really does love us.  He really has kept His covenant with us as a group (humanity) and as an individual.  In these last days, He is offering an everlasting covenant to whosoever will take Him up on it.  This covenant is really between the Father and Jesus, the perfect, human Son of God.  However, like Boaz with Ruth, we who are moral beggars can come into relationship with Jesus and participate in this covenant.

This is key.  In the face of our failures, the eternal Word of God becomes one of us to bind himself to us forever.  It is a kind of burning the bridges behind.  When Jesus takes on a mortal body, it would one day die, but to be resurrected as a human, but in an immortal, heavenly body, is a form of showing that there is no going back.  Jesus will not turn back until he has completed redemption.  He has inherited all things, and we can too because of our living connection to him.  Yet, it is more than a connection.  He has drawn us close into an intimate relationship.

We should notice throughout the Bible that those who are being cast out, or pushed out, are really being handed over to their sins so that they will repent in the midst of their resultant misery.  The sad results of our willful sin can open our eyes to God’s goodness and lead us to cry out for mercy, for grace.  “Everyone who calls upon the LORD shall be saved!”  (Joel 2:32; Acts 2:21).  All of this is in the face of our failures.

Christmas should not be seen as a lovely thing of babies and gifts.  That little baby was birthed into this world with one goal in mind, to go to the cross and glorify God the Father.  He was born into a dark and evil world that truly hated him.  It was worse than an abject failure of humanity to merit anything from God, but an actual positive resistance against His purpose and plan of redemption.

The life of Jesus is the essence of sowing seeds while weeping.  Just as there was at the laying of the foundations of the earth, so too here, there is a melancholy in the midst of God’s confident love towards humanity.  All of this is done because the Lord Jesus knows that there is joy on the other side of this sadness.  The grace of God will bring it to an ultimate good.  In Jesus, the unthinkable, the inconceivable, is there over the top of our complete failure.

Though it is clear that Jesus is the perfect khesed of God towards humanity, we should not miss the reality that Jesus is also the perfect khesed of humanity towards God.  In Jesus, humanity has fully reciprocated the khesed of God with absolutely perfect khesed.  Jesus is the greater Isaac who does not struggle as he is brought to the place of sacrifice and bound to the wood.  There is no Angel of the LORD to intervene.  The greater Isaac is the greater offering that the LORD has provided to redeem humanity.

Jesus is also the greater Boaz.  He is the Son of God’s love, and we can come under his covering because he is a willing kinsman redeemer.  As Naomi counseled Ruth regarding how they could be saved, so we see our own salvation.  Others have told us how to present ourselves to Jesus, in humility, without pretense, simply asking for the grace of being covered and redeemed, asking Jesus to take us under his wing as his bride.

Jesus has the wealth to redeem us.  He has the ability to redeem everything we have lost.  Yet, he also has the heart, the loving disposition, to save us.

Yes, to connect to Christ is to receive an inheritance in the future.  However, it also gets back for us an inheritance in this mortal life.  We don’t know what that fully entails, but by faith, we press forward to take possession of our souls first, and then our lives.  We can do this because Jesus has poured out the Holy Spirit upon those who put their faith in him.  I’m not talking about houses and money.  I am talking about the works that God has determined for us to do from the very laying down of the foundation of the earth.  Let us put our faith in Jesus, listening to the Holy Spirit, trusting the Scriptures, and doing those things that He has called us to do!

Lovingkindness audio