Truth, Justice and the American Way
Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart. Proverbs 3:3 NASB
Kindness and truth – The Hebrew phrase hesed ve’emet is critically important. It describes the connection between the covenant relationship of God and community with the faithfulness and reliability of the mutual promises. Let me unpack that. Hesed is the four-fold relationship-based action-oriented IOU “pay it forward” plan of God. It is the uniquely Hebrew one word description of God’s character and expectations. It is the not optional Torah-based deduction of godly response to grace. And it is intimately connected to ‘emet, the word of reliability, trustworthiness and steadfastness. Hebrew truth is not about being 100% correct. It’s about keeping a promise. Hesed entails and requires ‘emet. Mutual obligation and transferred benefit are worthless without reliability. You respond to God with a promise to do what He asks because you are absolutely certain He will do what He says.
Got it? Good. Now look at the verse again. Both of these utterly necessary conditions for relationship between God and others can be lost! The verb is ‘azab. It is the same verb we find in Genesis 2:24. “To cut off, to leave, to forsake, to loose.” Sometimes this is a negative action. Rehoboam (1 Kings 12:8) forsakes the advice of the elders. He ends up in a near civil war. But in Proverbs the word is used positively. “Under no circumstances forsake hesed and ‘emet.” That implies it is possible to do so, but we are to never let it happen. Ah, if only we remembered all of the biblical examples of human stupidity and frailty before we let go of these obligations.
That’s the problem, isn’t it? We laud four-fold hesed and we praise ‘emet, but far too often we shake off the yoke and erase the tablet. We live out our private lies, hiding our failures from everyone and from God Himself (if we only could). We don’t remember the requirement of the qualities of godliness. We think like Romans, doing what people do in Rome. We think in compartments and as long as God is happy with the “religious” part of our lives, we are happy to ignore the totality of hesed and ‘emet. But it doesn’t last. The amazing and devastating truth about hesed ve’emet is that these terms are built into the structure of the universe and they cannot be permanently ignored or constantly disobeyed. In the end, they will get you.
The real defense of the biblical worldview does not require intellectual argument or logical justification. The real defense is that you simply can’t live without these terms. Over the long run, a life without obligation or reliability collapses inwardly and leaves the victim in chaos. And what is true for the individual is also true for the community and the nation. The loss of hesed and ‘emet inevitably leads to personal, communal and national anarchy. But it doesn’t happen immediately. As one current leader is fond of saying, “It’s not a problem now.” YES IT IS! It’s the most important problem right NOW because it carries inevitable consequences. That’s the way God warns us, not with immediate lightening bolt punishments but with glimpses of the coming chaos.
Listen up! You can’t avoid it if you keep on this path. Teshuvah! (Turn around). Now!
Topical Index: hesed, ‘emet, consequences, Proverbs 3:3
“The real defense of the biblical worldview does not require intellectual argument or logical justification.”
By any chance, are you commenting on the book I mentioned a while ago?
The problem with apologetics is finding the line of reason that induces genuine receptivity in the person you’re reasoning with. If you are reasoning with a group of people, that is at least one order of magnitude more difficult. Biblically we see many approaches taken, not one. The Ruach H’Kodesh knows the what will open the door every time it is possible to open the door.
I wasn’t intentionally commenting on any book, just noting that intellectual arguments tend to be just that–intellectual, not life transforming. I have never met anyone who became a follower on the basis of a mental argument. It’s possible, of course, but most people I know came through personal crisis that encompassed much more than just thinking.
Well, I did, but I’m not the best example, since I was freshly 3. Nonetheless, there was absolutely nothing bad going on, let alone a life crisis. My mother told me about The LORD, answered my questions, and I accepted that worldview. It has held up quite well through the decades.
A first. Thanks.
EMETT , is the way of maturity, I love the way this Jewish psychologist, Dr. Miriam Adahan founder of EMETT (“Emotional Maturity Established Through Torah”) A Step by Step Guide to Emotional Maturity Established Through Torah uses it to help people .
That is fairly common among children. They are very sensitive to the Spirit.
Often a life crisis brings one of those little ones back after straying which is my story.
Sorry that was in response to David.
” You respond to God with a promise to do what He asks because you are absolutely certain He will do what He says.”
The grandest moment of Aha at our Passover this year was the realization that as Yeshua sat with his diciples on the night he was betrayed millions of fathers sat with their children telling the story of how God had promised Abraham that his children would go into captivity but that HE himself would come and get them. Joh 14:3 And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will come back again and will take you to be with me, so that you may be where I am. That’s hesed ve’emet!
As a senior citizen in this life, who was raised to respect and trust in the American way, I now find, with haunting heart-ache, that my past truth and defining justice would prove to stand worthless and without reliability when placed in light of God’s path, when trnsparent – not transforming to God’s command, when not discipline to not exceed past His simpleness, holiness, and immutability, when filled with self, I did serve to love myself more than the truth and the kindness that the freedom of His commandments does give me.
This is not something I learned just at my mother’s feet, as a freeman of God, it is something I surrender too and understand it is something I must do everyday of my life – everyday, until the breath of His life fills my being complete for etenity. Nor is it a statement of an apologetic; by far, heretofore, this freedom that I choose to tie around my neck and burn onto my heart, is that healing element that this once hyper-christian had to learn – to be able to serve Him better, to be thankful of His grace and to walk humbly in His presence.
How can I understand truth and kindness if I have no realtionship with humbleness. For this truth and kindness, that is burned in my heart by His holy promise, will revile to me the haunting truth that I am a desperate soul, that lives for the joy of knowing His truth and kindness – not the “Judgment” I deserve. But this cannot be obtained by lgical means, it is obtained by faithful action and walking together in the covenant He made. Let me never brew-up false-truth unto other believerss, as if it was my own actions or my own understanding that servers-out corrections. For my arrogance will bear-out, in it’s disobedience, the human-underbelly of sin in contrace to God’s anointment – my ugliness for His beauty, my sinfull nature for His order, my cries for His peace and joy. Choose! Everyday – Choose!
So what can I do to not stand in the way of letting His truth and kindness shine past the underbelly of lies, so that others may come to ask to know His name – for me, it entails and requiers:
* To be set apart, by God’s command that will bind us together as one-people
* From concept to execution – follow faithfully His commandments
* To demostrate distinct difference in our lives, so others will ask who we serve
* Keep the Torah, as a moniker to our idenity, as believers to His covenant
* Strive to know the beauty of His fellowship more than my scholarship – knowing that it is not my ability, but my availability that makes me right with my Father
For this I know that He has asked of me…
“Human being, you have already been told what is good, what Adonai demands of you, no more than to act justly, love grace, and walk in purity with you God.” – Micah 6:8
Dear Papa Chuck,
I think this is the first time I have seen you blog. I appreciate what you have attempted to communicate. I am sure it is heart felt. Just a few minor points. You might want to reconsider the idea of sinful nature and its consequences for action. And I am quite sure that Micah didn’t quite say what you have quoted. The Hebrew is a bit stronger. But welcome to the dialogue and the direction. Read what has already been written about these things and join in whenever you wish.