In the Hebrew Bible, hesed (steadfast love, loyalty, devotion) denotes an important concept that is relevant to interpersonal relationships in every generation. In this book, Karen Nelson investigates New Testament engagement with that concept and the exegetical value of recognizing such engagement.

This investigation employs an original hybrid of two methodological approaches: intertextuality, used to consider how New Testament authors appropriate texts that evoke hesed or hasid, and categorization, used to analyze and compare instances of the categories hsd and hsyd within the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. Nelson's work challenges assertions that the New Testament equivalent of hesed is agape (love) or charis (grace). Rather, she contends that hesed and hasid are more likely to be evoked by the terms with which they are most often rendered in the Septuagint: eleos and hosios, respectively. Nelson rereads selected New Testament pericopes in light of hesed, highlighting points about ongoing devotion to kinship and covenantal relationships often overlooked in those contexts and showing how New Testament authors and figures utilize the hesed tradition to critique the contemporary socioreligious situation and encourage belief, enduring commitment, and appropriately changed lifestyles.

Addressing a topic that spans the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, this study will be of value to biblical scholars, especially those who are interested in semantics.

An enlightening and rigorous intertextual analysis of the Hebrew term for devotion and steadfast love in the New Testament.

About the Author

Karen Nelson is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Book Information
ISBN 9781646022410
Author Karen Nelson
Format Hardback
Page Count 298
Imprint Eisenbrauns
Publisher Pennsylvania State University Press
Weight(grams) 540g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 27mm