| Today we will look at the third verb associated with God's love.
The third term, set one's heart (hashaq), is used only twice, again in Deuteronomy, in texts I have Just cited: "It is not because you were more numerous than any other people that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you - for you were the fewest of all peoples" (Deuteronomy 7:7); "yet the Lord set his heart in love on your ancestors alone and chose you" (Deut. 10:15). the first of these texts concerns the community of Moses; the second, the ancestral community. But what is most important is that the verb hashaq has strong, passionate emotional overtones (cf. Genesis 34:8; Deut. 21:11). the term bespeaks a lover who is powerfully in pursuit of the partner, perhaps in lustful ways. Thus YHWH's commitment to Israel is not simply a formal, political designation, but it is a personal commitment that has a dimension of affection and in which YHWH is emotionally extended for the sake of Israel. The love keeps getting stronger and stronger. Now it is love as all of us know and love that drives us more deeply into the relationship than once may have been thought. This is a God who desires us -and you might say- cannot stop from being in pursuit. That quite an image. And yet, in its note of lustfulness, we are able to see how deep and maybe even how irrational this love is. God will go to any lengths to be with us. It may not always make sense - but God will be alongside in and through all things. I find that quite amazing and inspiring.
Connection: In hot pursuit of us - wow.
O God, whose love become the power to shape us, you remind us of how deep your love is for all of your children. It is a risky love that is not push back by boundaries that would keep you away. You, O God, keep coming for us and we pray that we will be utterly available. Amen.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment