Language Studies

Hebrew Thoughts

Cheçedh - חסד (Strong's #02617); Chên, חן (Strong's #02580)
Grace

"Therefore, know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and grace with them that love Him and keep His commandments, to a thousand generations." (Deuteronomy 7:9)

In the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) the concept of grace appears in the words חסד cheçedh (Strong's #02617) and חן chên (Strong's #02580).

חן chên is translated by 'grace' some 38 times in the King James Bible and has the additional meanings of 'favour', 'beauty' and 'loveliness'. In 40 of its 69 occurrences it is found in the phrase, "find grace/favour in the eyes of . . .", for example, its first use is in Genesis 6:8 of Noah finding grace or favour in the eyes of the Lord. חן chên comes from the root verb חנן chânan (Strong's #2603) which combines 'mercy, grace, pity, and favour' in its 78 occurrences. There is an interesting shared sound and root syllable with the word חנה chânâh (Strong's #2583) which means to encamp, half of whose occurrences are in the book of Numbers describing the Israelites' camp which lay on all four sides of the tabernacle, the site of God's protective presence, grace and merciful provision. Perhaps the shared root meaning is 'to be inclined towards', whether in setting down to pitch camp or in inclining one's face and favour towards another.

Possibly the richest in meaning of the Hebrew words signifying 'grace' is חסד cheçedh. It can range in meaning from 'zeal', 'love', 'kindness', 'benevolence', to 'grace', 'favour', 'loyalty', 'mercy' and even 'piety' or 'beauty' (once in Isaiah 40:6). It occurs 248 times in the Hebrew Bible (which is the same as the number of bones in man's body, according to the rabbis and the same as the number of positive commandments of God - there are reputedly 365 negative commandments, one for each day of the modern year) but is most often inadequately translated as 'mercy' (e.g., in AV, 149x). It is never translated as 'grace' by the King James Bible, perhaps because of a negative view of the Old Testament covenant with Israel. It is closest when it is translated by 'loving-kindness' some 30 times, and if this were prefixed by 'unmerited' it might offer a good paraphrase. חסד cheçedh has rightly been termed "the OT reflex of 'God is love'",^F1 it is how Hebrew prefers to speak of God's faithful love and grace. Nevertheless, it has rightly been said of חסד cheçedh that it "has no exact equivalent in our modern languages".^F2  

חסד cheçedh is particularly connected with Davidic promises, faithfulness, covenant and truth. On more than 7 occasions cheçedh appears in close connection with Old Testament covenant (berîyth) and may sometimes be translated as 'covenant [of] grace' by hendiadys (A form of speech where two similar parts of a sentence connected by 'and', e.g., 2 nouns, actually mean one and the same thing, either identically or by way of describing one another - hence 'covenant and grace' may mean 'covenantal grace' or 'graceful covenant' or even 'covenant of grace'.).

"Therefore, know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments, to a thousand generations." (Deuteronomy 7:9)

"And it shall be, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, the LORD your God shall keep to you the covenant and the mercy which He swore to your fathers." (Deuteronomy 7:12)

Deuteronomy 7:9 is in fact quoted back to God by Solomon, Nehemiah and Daniel (1 Kings 8:23 // 2 Chronicles 6:14; Nehemiah 1:5; 9:32; Daniel 9:4)

Apart from hendiadys, poetic parallelism of Hebrew words paired by meaning in alternate phrases demonstrates the similarity of concept and meaning between covenant and grace:

"I will keep My grace / for him forever, //
and My covenant / shall stand fast with him." (Psalm 89:28)

"But I will not completely take / My loving-kindness from him,
and I will not be false in My faithfulness. //
I will not break / My covenant,
nor change the thing that has gone out of My lips." (Psalm 89:33-34)

"For the mountains / shall depart, //
and the hills / be removed;
but My kindness / shall not depart from you, //
nor shall the covenant of My peace / be removed" (Isaiah 54:10)

"Bow down your ear, and come to Me; //
hear, and your soul shall live;
and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, //
even the sure mercies of David." (Isaiah 55:3)

Psalm 85:7 demonstrates by parallelism the close thought between grace and salvation, even in the Old Testament:

"Show us / Your grace (cheçedh), O LORD,
and grant us / Your salvation."

Three times the Psalms record, and only in the Psalms, the cry "save me for grace (cheçedh) sake" (6:4; 31:16; 109:26)

God Himself is Grace incarnate, "the Lord is חסד chaçidh in all His works" (Psalms 145:17; 86:2; 4:3). Some versions translate these verses as 'holy'. From this same word we get the Maccabean orthodox Jewish party of Hasidim and a hasid, or 'holy man'.

The pre-Christian Greek translation of the Old Testament usually renders חסד cheçedh by ελεος eleos ('mercy' Strong's #1656) and חן chên by charis ('grace', 'charm' or 'favour'), however, in the later books of the O.T. חסד cheçedh is often rendered as χαρις charis (Strong's #5485) and thus came closer in meaning to חן chên. Of the numerous occasions charis is used in the N.T., many are therefore to be taken as 'mercy', but, the English translators have consistently translated it always as 'grace', some 130 times of its 156 occurrences. This gives the appearance of more 'graces' in the N.T., especially when compared to its relative size (approximately one fifth of the size of the O.T.).

FOOTNOTES:
F1: Dom Sorg, Hesed in the Psalms, Pro Decimo, 1953
F2: Edmund Jacob, Theology of the Old Testament, H&S, 1958/74, p.103

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