[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: "Love" in the DSS
>The Comunity Rule's real name is the Covenant of Love (Brit Hesed) by
the covenanteers.<
Precisely so. And anyone who wants to research "love" in DSS ought to beq
looking at Xesed rather than Ahavah.
Note, however, that even in HB/OT the *berit* IS the *Xesed*), the medium
IS the message. See for instance, Deut 7:9, *shomer ha-brit we-ha-Xesed*
(words put also into the mouth of Solomon in 1 Kings 8:23).
In other words, "D" and the Deuteronomist (whether these are one and the same
or two like-minded writers) see God as loving Israel and expressing that loveqb
by making Israel the people of the covenant. Does it make sense to say that
in this particular Israelite or Jewish theology (depending on your view of
the date of these texts) God loves Israel but Israel is not expected to love
God back? Hardly (except for those whose wish is father to the thought -- but
one doesn't expect to find such on this list).
For a connection between *Xesed* and *ahavah*, see Deut. 7:9.
The full quote from Deut., for those who'd like to save themselves a trip, is:
"Know therefore that only YHWH your God is God, the steadfast God who *shomer
ha-berit we-ha-Xesed* to the thousandth generation of those who love Him
(*ohavayw*) and keep his commandments. In other words, God distributes
*Xesed*in the form of his faithfulness to the Covenant, in return for *ahavah*
loyalty.
When I said that the *berit* IS the *Xesed* I was translating the phrase
idiomatically, i.e. this is an instance of appositional hendiadys -- it means
"the covenant WHICH IS the love" -- they are not too separate things. This
kind of hendiadys is quite common in Deut. and elsewhere.
Judith Romney Wegner, Providence