Invasive Love

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

His love endures forever . . . .

Psalm 136:1

Psalm 136 notably includes the refrain, “His love endures forever” in every alternating line.  The Hebrew verb translated “love” is hesed.  Some translations focus on the “forever,” making use of a linking verb (e.g., “His love is everlasting”).  Speaking as a non-scholar of Hebrew, I’m sure that’s grammatically correct, but might not be the best interpretation.  God’s hesed (often translated “steadfast love,” “lovingkindness,” “unfailing kindness,” “mercy,” etc.) endures.  More than that, it actively endures.  It’s not a feeling extended toward us, but a tool (or weapon) continually wielded on our behalf.

Suppose Psalm 136 read something like this:

His thoughts dwell longingly on us.

His love is everlasting.

He rehearses our many excellent qualities.

His love is everlasting.

He’s already picked out the ring.

His love is everlasting.

Tomorrow he intends to pop the question.

His love is everlasting.

Though human-like emotions are attributed to God (our emotional nature comes from him, not the other way around), they are not manifested in ways especially human, like a besotted young man contemplating the girl who’s captured his heart.  Almost all the non-refrain lines in Psalm 136 are active.  Even violent: He struck down, brought out, divided, overthrew, led out, killed, gave, remembered, rescued.  “Mighty wonders” are the tokens of his love.  Steadfast love is not a generalized benevolence, but a frightfully specific, focused, burning, overpowering force.

In English, love is both a noun and a verb.  In Hebrew, hesed implies action—a reaching, searching, interfering kindness that speaks more of the lover than the object.  It invades our space and shakes us awake, bundles us up and pulls us out of destruction.  It outlasts time, and endures.  Endures conflict, indifference, disobedience, rebellion . . .

Most of all, it endures us.