Hebrew Roots · letter 8 of 22
The enclosure, and the letter of a word English has never managed to translate.
How sure we are of this ancient picture
Picture unclearOriginal sign
A courtyard wall, drawn as a run of fencing.
Paleo-Hebrew
The fence reduced to two posts and two rails.
Modern square
The letter as every printed Hebrew Bible sets it.
On the picture: Minority reading: twisted thread or cord.
Stage 1 has no Unicode encoding, so it stays a drawing, simplified from the copies published by the scholars who studied the inscriptions themselves: Gardiner, Cross, Naveh, Hamilton. Ancient scribes varied, and no two carvings cut a letter exactly alike. Stages 2 and 3 are real Unicode text.
Sounds like
A rasping h made far back in the throat: the sound at the end of Bach, or in the Jewish toast l'chaim. English has nothing quite like it, which is why the same Hebrew letter gets spelled ch, kh, or plain h in different books.
Written ḥ in scholarly books.
Its number
8
letters carried number values from the Hellenistic era on
Its name means
courtyard
Final form
none
this letter does not change at the end of a word
Het is the eighth letter, and it starts a word that English translators have argued over for four hundred years. That word is chesed. The King James calls it lovingkindness, and mercy, and goodness, and favour, depending on the verse. Later versions try steadfast love, loyal love, unfailing love. None of them are wrong, and none of them are enough.
Chesed is what you do for someone you have bound yourself to, when you did not have to and they could not make you. It is covenant faithfulness with warmth in it. Psalm 136 says it twenty-six times, once in every verse: "for his chesed endureth for ever."
The letter also begins chayyim, "life" — the word in the toast l'chaim, "to life" — and chen, "grace," the word used when Noah found favour in the eyes of the LORD. The sign behind the letter is probably a fenced courtyard, though that is a reconstruction and not a certainty, and it explains where the shape came from rather than anything about these words.
Psalm 136 has twenty-six verses, and every single one ends with the same line: "for his mercy endureth for ever." The word behind "mercy" is chesed. It was almost certainly sung as a response, the congregation answering the leader line by line, the same load-bearing word, twenty-six times, until nobody could forget it.
When God passes by Moses on the mountain and says who he is, chesed is in the sentence twice: "merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth, keeping lovingkindness for thousands." This is the Old Testament's most quoted self-description of God (later writers come back to it again and again), and this letter's word sits at the centre of it.
“Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out: “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness,”
Exodus 34:6→
“The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion.”
Psalm 145:8 — the alphabet poem quotes it→
Verses 57 through 64 are het's block, and it opens with a settled, quiet claim: "The LORD is my portion." A portion is what you were allotted, your share of the inheritance, and the poet says his share is God himself. Eight verses later the stanza closes with chesed: "The earth is filled with Your loving devotion, O LORD."
In Psalm 34 the het verse is one of the most quoted in the psalter: "The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him." The verb, chonneh, to camp or pitch a tent, starts with this letter, and so does the word for the camp itself.
“The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, and he delivers them.”
Psalm 34:7 — "The angel of the LORD encamps"→
“Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my rebellious acts; remember me according to Your loving devotion, because of Your goodness, O LORD.”
Psalm 25:7→
“She girds herself with strength and shows that her arms are strong.”
Proverbs 31:17→
“Jerusalem has sinned greatly; therefore she has become an object of scorn. All who honored her now despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns away.”
Lamentations 1:8→
חֶסֶד
chesed — covenant love, lovingkindness, mercy
Loyal love that keeps its word when it no longer has to: the single hardest word in the Hebrew Bible to render in English.
Open the word→
חַיִּים
chayyim — life
Hebrew says life in the plural, as though one word could not hold it: the word in the toast l'chaim.
חֵן
chen — grace, favour
"Noah, however, found favor in the eyes of the LORD" — the first time the Bible uses the word, rendered grace in the older English.
Open the word→
חַג
chag — feast, pilgrimage festival
The word for the three feasts Israel travelled to keep: Passover, Weeks, and Tabernacles.
Open the word→
Psalm 119 is the alphabet walking down the longest chapter in the Bible. Every letter gets eight verses, and every one of those eight verses begins with it. Verses 57–64 are the Het stanza — eight lines that all open on ח. Every line stands open below, with one preacher’s comment on it directly underneath.
“The LORD is my portion; I have promised to keep Your words.”
Psalm 119:57→
“The possession of God is owed to such as these, as Isaiah says: "This is the inheritance of those who believe in the Lord." Very aptly does he say, "This is the inheritance," for that alone is the inheritance; there is no other. The inheritance is not a treasure that people stumble on blindly, and passing things have not the quality of an inheritance. The only inheritance is that in which God is the portion, as the Lord's holy one says: "God is my inheritance," and again: "I have become an heir of your precepts."”
Ambrose of MilanLetter 82 (397)on Psalm 119:57→
“I have sought Your face with all my heart; be gracious to me according to Your promise.”
Psalm 119:58→
“"I intreated thy favour with my whole heart." A fully assured possession of God does not set aside prayer, but rather urges us to it; he who knows God to be his God will seek his face, longing for his presence. Seeking God's presence is the idea conveyed by the marginal reading, "thy face, "and this is true to the Hebrew. The presence of God is the highest form of his favour, and therefore it is the most urgent desire of gracious souls: the light of his countenance gives us an antepast of heaven. O that we always enjoyed it! The good man entreated God's smile as one who begged for his life, and the entire strength of his desire went with the entreaty. Such eager pleadings are sure of success; that which comes from our heart will certainly go to God's heart. The whole of God's favours are ready for those who seek them with their whole hearts. "Be merciful unto me according to thy word." He has entreated favour, and the form in which he most needs it is that of mercy, for he is more a sinner than anything else. He asks nothing beyond the promise, he only begs for such mercy as the word reveals. And what more could he want or wish for? God has revealed such an infinity of mercy in his word that it would be impossible to conceive of more. See how the Psalmist dwells upon favour and mercy, he never dreams of merit. He does not demand, but entreat; for he feels his own unworthiness. Note how he remains a suppliant, though he knows that he has all things in his God. God is his portion, and yet he begs for a look at his face. The idea of any other standing before God than that of an undeserving but favoured one never entered his head. Here we have his "Be merciful unto me" rising with as much intensity of humble pleading as if he still remained among the most trembling of penitents.”
Charles SpurgeonThe Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)on Psalm 119:58→
“I considered my ways and turned my steps to Your testimonies.”
Psalm 119:59→
“"I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies." While studying the word he was led to study his own life, and this caused a mighty revolution. He came to the word, and then he came to himself, and this made him arise and go to his Father. Consideration is the commencement of conversion: first we think and then we turn. When the mind repents of ill ways the feet are soon led into good ways; but there will be no repenting until there is deep, earnest thought.”
Charles SpurgeonThe Treasury of David, Vol. 6 (1882)on Psalm 119:59→
“I hurried without hesitating to keep Your commandments.”
Psalm 119:60→
“Let each of these considerations find entrance into your mind and check the swollen growth of wrath. By such preparations and by acquiring such dispositions, we quiet the leaping and throbbing of the heart and restore it to tranquil steadiness. This, indeed, is the implication in the words of David: "I am ready and am not troubled." You must, therefore, repress the violent and frenzied movement of the soul by recalling the example of saintly people. How gently, for instance, the mighty David bore the fury of Shimei.”
Basil of CaesareaHOMILY AGAINST THOSE PROVE TO ANGER (379)on Psalm 119:60→
“Though the ropes of the wicked bind me, I do not forget Your law.”
Psalm 119:61→
“The bands of the wicked have robbed me,.... Very probably Saul and his ministers seized on his effects, when he fled from him; and the Amalekites plundered him of all his substance, when they took Ziklag; and Absalom and the conspirators with him robbed him, when he was obliged, because of them, to flee from his palace and court, which they entered and took possession of.”
John GillExposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)on Psalm 119:61→
“At midnight I rise to give You thanks for Your righteous judgments.”
Psalm 119:62→
“In petition one asks for mercy for one's sins, in thanksgiving you give thanks to your Father who is in heaven, while in praise you praise him for his works. At a time when you are in trouble, offer up petition, and when you are well supplied with good things, you should give thanks to the Giver, and when your mind rejoices, offer up praise. Make all these prayers of yours with discernment to God. See how David was always saying, "I have risen to give thanks to you for your judgments, O just One."”
Aphrahat the Persian SageDEMONSTRATIONS 4:17 (345)on Psalm 119:62→
“I am a friend to all who fear You, and to those who keep Your precepts.”
Psalm 119:63→
“The earth is filled with Your loving devotion, O LORD; teach me Your statutes.”
Psalm 119:64→
“The earth, O Lord, is full of thy mercy,.... "Goodness" or "grace" (o); both of the providential mercy and goodness of God, which extends to all his creatures; and of his special grace and goodness to his own people, held forth in his word and ordinances; see Psa 33:5; teach me thy statutes: as an instance of mercy, grace, and goodness; see Psa 119:12. (o) חסדך "gratia tua", Cocceius, Gejerus.”
John GillExposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)on Psalm 119:64→
“, CHETH.--The Eighth Part. CHETH. Thou art my portion, O Lord,.... Which he chose and preferred to all others; to the riches, honours, and profits of this world; the grant of which was made to him in the covenant of grace; the first discovery of it was from the Lord himself; and the choice and claim were made under the influence of his grace; and a great act of faith it is to assert this, and a wonderful blessing to enjoy it.”
John GillExposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)on Psalm 119:57→
“I thought on my ways,.... What they were, whether right or wrong; whither they led, what would be the consequences of walking in them: the Septuagint and Arabic versions read, "thy ways"; no doubt the psalmist thought of both; of his own ways, in which he had walked; and of God's ways, which he directed him to walk in: and, considering the superior pleasure and profit of the latter, he preferred them to the former. The Targum is, "I thought to mend my ways", or "make them good".”
John GillExposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)on Psalm 119:59→
“So the prodigal son, when reduced to straits of misery (Lu 15:17, 18). This the more, if opposition of enemies, or love of ease is overcome in thus honoring God's law. have robbed me--better, surrounded me, either as forcible constraints like fetters, or as the cords of their nets. HENGSTENBERG translates, "snares."”
Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)on Psalm 119:59→
“I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments. As soon as he was sensible of his duty, he immediately complied with it; he consulted not with flesh and blood, but at once yielded a cheerful obedience to the commands of God. Instances of evangelical obedience of this kind we have in the three thousand converts, in Saul, and in the jailer and his house, Act 2:41.”
John GillExposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)on Psalm 119:60→
“At midnight--HENGSTENBERG supposes a reference to the time when the Lord went forth to slay the Egyptian first-born (Ex 11:4; 12:29; compare Job 34:20). But it rather refers to the Psalmist's own praises and prayers in the night time.”
Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)on Psalm 119:62→
Readers in the devotional tradition have taken the enclosure sign as a picture of a protected place: the sheepfold, the courtyard of the tabernacle, the covenant as a fence around a people. It sits naturally beside Psalm 34's picture of the angel of the LORD camping around those who fear him. Hold it as a meditation on a sign whose identification is itself uncertain, and remember that the Bible pictures God's protection directly and often, without needing a letter to do it.
Read this way by: Devotional tradition, Jewish and Christian; offered as meditation, not exegesis
Het's number is eight, and Jewish and Christian writers alike have made much of the eighth day: circumcision on the eighth day, the eighth day of the feast, the day after the sabbath on which the resurrection is found. That is a reflection on the number, and it comes with the honest caveat that governs every number in this corridor: using Hebrew letters as numerals is a later Jewish practice, first securely attested on coins struck in 78 BC, applied afterward to a much older text.
Read this way by: Jewish and Christian devotional tradition on the eighth day; the dating caveat follows Frank Moore Cross and the Encyclopaedia Judaica
