It’s BIBLE STUDY DAY! Today we’re looking at a specific word in Scripture that’s very important to Kethin in Romance’s Rest–and to us also. In fact, this concept can be found on every page of the Bible.
“In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.”
Zephaniah 3:16-17
God is love.
It’s the most basic, foundational principle given to us in Scripture.
There is no love apart from Him. He IS love within Himself – pure, unfeigned, uninhibited love. However, God does not merely communicate His love within Himself; He communicates it to humankind.
The method by which God has chosen to communicate His love to humans is through covenant. From eternity, God’s covenant with His people has been based upon His steadfast love, which might be called covenant love. He expressed His covenant love in four ways: through creation, through Christ, through the cross, and through daily blessings.
By first understanding how His love is communicated through the covenant and then how that covenant love is expressed in history, we can not only appreciate the grandeur of His love for us but live within it—and let it flow through us to others.
The essence of covenant is encompassed in the descriptive Hebrew word hesed. Translated mercy, lovingkindness, steadfast love, and similar terms in Scripture, hesed refers to the unchanging, strong, loyal, faithful, deep covenant love of God.
Hesed is the Hebrew word used to describe the ongoing relationship of the parties in covenant who worked out the commitment made in covenant, the keeping of its promises and responsibilities
The Power of the Blood Covenant, Malcolm Smith, p. 22
The Hebrew conception of covenant is an unbreakable, binding agreement between two parties.
Often, a covenant was initiated by a superior, such as a king or sheik, to a lesser person. Typically, the covenant parties would arrange the covenant through a mediator, establish the covenant with an oath and shedding of blood, and celebrate the covenant through a shared meal. After a covenant, the two parties were friends—friends in a far deeper way than in the modern use of the term. Such friends were obligated to protect each other, stand by each other, and love each other intimately.
That is the type of covenant that God made with His people.
Examples of covenant are found throughout Scripture—God and Abraham, David and Jonathan, Joshua and the Gibeonites, and so on. The covenant is relationship: a love relationship with committed trust far beyond anything in modern human experience. Hesed love is the foundation of this covenant: a love that gives its all for its covenant partner and delights to do so because of the covenant between them.
A beautiful picture of the covenant love of God for man is expressed in Zephaniah 3:17. He does not communicate His love like human imagination might think that He would; instead, His communication is much richer and deeper than that.
In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
Zephaniah 3:16-17
Hebrew is an extremely descriptive language, and the word pictures hidden within the Hebrew terms in this passage give valuable insight into the covenant love of God.
“The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty.”
This refers to Yahweh Himself – the covenant partner. “In the midst,” in Hebrew, refers to the very center, the “nearest part,” to be “within.” It stems from a word that means “to bring near” (Strong’s Concordance). Literally, God could not be any nearer to His people than that—and yet He is constantly drawing them yet nearer to Himself.
“He will save.”
Yasha, the Hebrew term for “save,” means “to be open, wide, or free; to make safe” (Strong’s). Based on this definition, God opens Himself wide to His people, making them free and safe. The entire being of God is used for His people.
“He will rejoice over thee with joy.”
To “rejoice” is to be bright and cheerful; “joy” speaks of blithesomeness and glee. The LORD God Himself brightens up to see His people—that is how much He loves them!
“He will rest in His love.”
In the midst of His joy, Father rests in the great love that He has for His people. Sometimes His joy is too deep for words; He silently enjoys being with His children. His covenant love is the basis of perfect, eternal rest.
“He will joy over thee with singing.”
The word translated “joy” is a different word than the one used in the previous portion of the verse. Gul means, “to spin around (under the influence of any violent emotion), that is, rejoice” (Strong). “Singing” is “a creaking or shrill sound, that is, shout” (Strong).
If we believed that His love for us is so strong that He spins around, leaping, dancing, skipping, singing, and shouting for joy `all around, through, and in us for the sheer delight of His love for us, how much of a difference that realization would make in our lives!
That is the love of God undisguised.
That is the deep delight of God for each one of His children. God is thrilled and excited about each of us. He is crazily in love with you and with me. Such covenant love is unimaginable. It is infinite. It is who He is. That is the communication of His covenant love to us.
We have two other excellent posts today.
Vanessa Hall at Vanessa Hall posted a book review of Romance’s Rest!
Autumn Lehman at Bursting Through the Darkness posted a book spotlight and exclusive excerpt!
Come back tomorrow for LAUNCH DAY!
