Devotions

This is the first of a planned 5 studies on the use of hesed in Hosea. However, before turning to Hosea, it will help if we have an understanding of what the Bible means by ḥesed. The word appears more than two hundred times across the Old Testament. Most often it is used in covenant contexts where God’s loyalty sustains a people who cannot sustain themselves.

God’s “rest” is not the easing of fatigue but the expression of divine completeness. To “bless” and “sanctify” the seventh day means that He consecrated time itself as a meeting place between Creator and creature. Before any temple stood, time became the first sanctuary. God wrote communion into the calendar.