Hesed, the Seed of the Biblical Story
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A01=Jennifer M. Matheny
Author_Jennifer M. Matheny
biblical story
canon
Category=QRMF12
Category=QRVC
Category=QRVG
complex
core
diverse
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_new_release
eq_nobargain
exegesis
faithfulness
foundational
God
Hebrew
hesed
love
lovingkindness
Old Testament theology
Prophets
Psalms
relational
Scripture
seed
theme
theological
Torah
Writings
Product details
- ISBN 9781540966681
- Weight: 298g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 26 May 2026
- Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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The Hebrew word hesed is often translated as love, faithfulness, loyalty, or steadfastness of God, but it means so much more. Could hesed be the seed from which the diverse biblical story grows and expands?
Traditionally, Old Testament theology has focused on key themes or a "center" around which to organize the Old Testament. These approaches may help unify the Old Testament, but they also ignore important material and simplify the Old Testament's complexity and diversity. As an alternative to a gravitational center that reduces, Jennifer M. Matheny's argument emphasizes possibilities as she posits that hesed is the relational seed from which the complex and diverse biblical story grows.
In her accessibly written analysis, Matheny engages theologically with the Torah, Prophets, and Writings to trace hesed's relational impact through the Old Testament. Through stories, poems, and songs of broken covenants, war, and exile, Matheny also shows how violence and injustice reign when humanity fails to be keepers and doers of Yhwh's hesed, while justice and hope prevail when humanity chooses courageous acts of hesed.
This fresh, introductory-level approach emphasizes the importance of story, complexity, and diversity--and how we do hesed to others and back to Yhwh.
Traditionally, Old Testament theology has focused on key themes or a "center" around which to organize the Old Testament. These approaches may help unify the Old Testament, but they also ignore important material and simplify the Old Testament's complexity and diversity. As an alternative to a gravitational center that reduces, Jennifer M. Matheny's argument emphasizes possibilities as she posits that hesed is the relational seed from which the complex and diverse biblical story grows.
In her accessibly written analysis, Matheny engages theologically with the Torah, Prophets, and Writings to trace hesed's relational impact through the Old Testament. Through stories, poems, and songs of broken covenants, war, and exile, Matheny also shows how violence and injustice reign when humanity fails to be keepers and doers of Yhwh's hesed, while justice and hope prevail when humanity chooses courageous acts of hesed.
This fresh, introductory-level approach emphasizes the importance of story, complexity, and diversity--and how we do hesed to others and back to Yhwh.
Jennifer M. Matheny (PhD, University of Kent) is associate professor of Christian Scriptures at George W. Truett Seminary, Baylor University, in Waco, Texas. She serves as cochair of the biblical studies unit for the Wesleyan Theological Society. Matheny is the author of Illustrated Joshua in Hebrew in the GlossaHouse Illustrated Biblical Texts series, Judges 19-21 and Ruth: Canon as a Voice of Answerability, and Clothing, Dress, and Nudity in the Five Scrolls (forthcoming).
