The Goodness of Wrath

If you follow my blog regularly, you know that recently I confessed to some waywardness in my daily Bible reading due to an overwhelming sense of the wrath of God as expressed in the Old Testament. (See “Daily BibleReading” and “Not Our Fathers’ God.”) I came to the somewhat snarky conclusion at one point saying, “He’s a God of wrath; get over it.” In my procession through the Old Testament, I am now at Jeremiah, the weeping prophet as he is sometimes called. I note that the God of Israel is also said to weep over the condition of His wayward children. This opened my eyes to something I had forgotten.

Jeremiah 9:24 says, “Let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.” While it is true that “justice” which can be translated “judgment” is prominent, and I note that it is executed in “righteousness,” both words are preceded by another, softer phrase.

The phrase “steadfast love” as in the ESV or “lovingkindness” in the KJV is where I want to focus. Neither translation fully captures the essence of the Hebrew word “hesed.” The King James Bible Word Book has this to say about it: “Hesed is a covenant word. Its original use was to denote that attitude of loyalty and faithfulness which both parties to a covenant should maintain toward each other…. When the word came to be used predominantly of the Covenant between Jehovah and Israel, it was realized by the prophets that such a covenant could be maintained only by that persistent, determined, steadfast love of God, which transcends every other love by its nature and depth.… The most important of all the distinctive ideas of the Old Testament is God’s steady and extraordinary persistence in continuing to love wayward Israel in spite of Israel’s insistent waywardness.”

God chose to love His children in spite of their “insistent waywardness.” The Hebrew word, hesed, is frequently translated “mercy” in recognition of the fact that because of His love, God does not give Israel everything she deserves, but chooses mercy over complete annihilation. The theme of a remnant to be saved appears throughout the prophets. So while the God of Israel does exercise righteous judgment, He also commends His merciful love to His people.

This is a comfort to me also. God does not give me what I deserve, but shows mercy in the gift of righteousness purchased by the precious blood of His only-begotten Son. I deserve wrath; I receive mercy. Someone has said that we only appreciate light because we know darkness. If God did not pour out His wrath against sin, His merciful love would be meaningless. Because He does judge the wicked, His love of the redeemed is more significant.

I am going to retract my snarky comment; I don’t think we should “get over” the wrath of God. I think we should revel in its significance. There but for the grace of God go I. God emptied His wrath on Calvary’s Savior so that I could enjoy eternity basking in His merciful love. The Old Testament is still bloody awful, but I am prepared to make the defense that it was bloody necessary.