Sources and reading notes

Biblical translations in the main text are brief renderings prepared for this book. Explanations distinguish the contextual meaning of a passage, a later Jewish interpretation, and a contemporary Godward application. The latter is a philosophical proposal, rather than a claim that biblical Hebrew already contains the complete modern framework.

[1] First Samuel 15. Read especially verses 3, 6, 13–24, and 30. The chapter supplies the relationship between command, sacrificial justification, competing allegiance, and remembered chesed. The violent setting remains part of its meaning. Hebrew and English with Rashi

[2] Hosea 6. Read verses 3–10 together. The passing devotion of verse 4, the parallelism of verse 6, and the covenant accusation of verse 7 belong to one argument. The Adam comparison admits different interpretations. Hebrew and English text

[3] Robin Routledge on Chesed. Robin Routledge, Hesed as Obligation: A Re-examination, Tyndale Bulletin 46.1, 1995, pages 179–196. Pages 193–195 are particularly relevant to chesed as a human response toward God. The article also reviews the debate over obligation and kindness. Read the research article

[4] Maimonides on generous kindness. Guide for the Perplexed III.53 distinguishes chesed, mishpat, and tzedakah. Its treatment of chesed includes benefits beyond what the recipient can claim. Maimonides is used here as a philosophical Jewish voice, not as a representative of Kabbalah. Read chapter 53

[5] Greek and Latin Hosea. The Greek and Latin witnesses establish the eleos and misericordia translation tradition. They do not establish that Hebrew chesed excludes compassion. Greek text and translation comparison and Latin Vulgate

[6] The King James translators. The translators’ preface describes their use of Hebrew and Greek sources. The history of English wording should therefore not be described as a simple sequence of translations from translations. Read the preface

[7] Hosea 4. Verses 1–2 connect the absence of chesed and knowledge of God with concrete wrongdoing. Verse 6 also connects knowledge with God’s instruction. Read the chapter

[8] Jeremiah 22. Verses 15–17 connect knowledge of God with justice for the poor and needy. This is an ancient theological association, independent of the adoption of modern ethical terminology. Read the chapter

[9] Ibn Ezra on Hosea 6. The comments on verses 3, 4, and 6 link intellectual pursuit, return toward God, and devotion that endures. They qualify the claim that biblical knowing must exclude intellectual understanding. Read the commentary

[10] Radak on Hosea 6. The comments on verses 3 and 6 connect knowing God with justice and righteousness and preserve additional intellectual interpretations. The comment on verse 7 records alternative understandings of the Adam comparison. Read the commentary

[11] Targum Jonathan on Hosea 6. The Aramaic rendering of verse 6 links doing kindness and carrying out God’s Torah. This is an interpretive paraphrase rather than the Hebrew wording of Hosea itself. Read the Aramaic text

[12] Avot deRabbi Natan 4. The teaching about Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai and Rabbi Yehoshua appears at 4:5 in the Sefaria arrangement. It invokes Hosea in discussing kindness as an avenue of atonement after the Temple’s destruction. Read the teaching

[13] Moses Cordovero on Chesed. Tomer Devorah chapter 5 opens with love of God and connects kindness below with intention toward divine repair above. Paragraph numbering varies among presentations. Its comparison with Godward practice should retain both the human deed and its sacred orientation. Read chapter 5

[14] Tanya chapter 40. The comparison of love and awe with wings explains their role in elevating Torah and mitzvot. The chapter also discusses the relation between chesed and gevurah. Read the chapter

[15] Tanya chapter 41. The chapter treats submission, intention, surrender of the soul, and the aim of bringing gratification to God. Its account includes the individual’s relation to the community of Israel. Read the chapter

[16] Tanya chapter 4. The chapter holds divine incomprehensibility together with the accessibility of divine wisdom and will through Torah and commandments. This is the basis of the distinction made in chapter 7 of this book. Read the chapter

[17] Pirkei Avot on the will. Pirkei Avot 2:4 concerns aligning personal will with God’s will and setting it aside before divine authority. The linked Hasidic discussion develops its application to prayer and daily service. Read the teaching and interpretation

[18] Psalm 50. Verses 8–15 reject an understanding of sacrifice as feeding God, while verses 16–21 criticize covenantal language joined to wrongful conduct. Read the psalm

[19] Psalm 51. In Hebrew numbering, verses 18–21 place the broken spirit beside the later expectation of acceptable sacrifice. Many English editions number these verses 16–19. Read the psalm

[20] Micah 6. Verses 6–8 connect the criticism of escalating offerings with justice, love of chesed, and humble walking with God. Read the chapter

[21] Deuteronomy 13. The opening discussion of a prophet or dreamer distinguishes a fulfilled sign from the authority of an invitation to serve other gods. Hebrew and common English chapter numbering differ at the opening. Read the chapter