Deuteronomy 7:9: “Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he [is] God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;”
There are so many redundancies in our modern Bible translators that I believe it would do well for a translation committee to hire a professional writer, like a novelist or poet to consult with. I mean, come on, really? “The Lord thy God he (is) God.” I mean in English that sounds redundant to me. There must be a reason, I haven’t found it yet, why translators ignore the Hei in front of the word Elohim. For me that little Hei resolves any redundancies. I found only the NET and God’s Word Translation so far as the only translations that honor that Hei. You see the Hei is a definite article. Thus, you would translate is the Lord your God is the God. Donald Trump’s first wife used to call him The Donald. That definite article indicates that the Donald she was talking about was a one and only Donald. A lot of Donalds in the word but only one Donald Trump, the Billionaire and presidential candidate. I was talking with someone on the bus recently about the presidential elections and someone trying to listen in on the conversation but unable to make it out due to the noise of the bus. She just over heard me say Donald. She asked who Donald was. I simply said: “I’m talking about The Donald.” She nodded her head in understanding.
So this verse is saying the Lord your God is The God. In other words, there are a lot of god’s out there but our God is The God the true God, the one and only God. The only one who gets a capital “G”.
Not only is He The God but He is also The Faithful God or the Amen God. At least that is the word in Hebrew for faithful, amen. Actually it is ha’amen amen with the definite article Hei or The. The faithful God. Amen carries a lot of meanings. Do you really know what you are saying when you end a prayer with Amen? How about when you say Amen after a pastor says something profound? You are basically saying: “I agree.” But to use amen at the end of your prayer are you saying “I agree with my prayer?” That sounds a little redundant to me. You would not pray it if you did not agree with it. The word amen can also mean to confirm, to support, to uphold and to nourish. In its Semitic origin it is a word used for a caregiver or caretaker. Do you ever stop to think that when you say Amen at the end of your prayer you are saying: “I am putting all these requests into the care of God.” How many times have you prayed: “Lord I really have a problem here, I am giving it to you.” You say your Amen and then walk away dragging that problem with you like it was attached to a string. That Amen at the end of your prayer is a pair of scissors used to cut that string or attachment to that problem you just gave to God. I believe half the reason God seems to never resolve your problem is that you just don’t leave it with Him, you just don’t amen it to Him. He is The Faithful God, the God who takes your problems so long as you leave it with Him. You can’t expect him to solve your problem with you give it to him and then snatch it right out of his hand and walk away with it.
We also learn that He keeps his covenant or berith which really means promises and He keeps His mercy which is chasad and I have said a lot about chasad. Oops, we can’t stop there for we learn that he keeps these promises and mercy only for those that love Him. I struggled with the syntax here. I believe we could correctly say he will keep his promises and mercy because we love Him. Either way you say it, with them that love Him or because we love Him it still comes out that these promises are kept with only those who love Him. People do things for others because they love them. Wives do things for their husbands, husbands for their wives, parents for their children, children for their parents, friends for friends because they love. But here we have a God who loves the world, but few love Him in return. I think it is only fair that there should be some perks to loving God in return like promises and mercy. If I don’t love someone, I don’t expect them to do anything for me unless, of course, they are obligated to me because I made some payment or business relationship or even a contractual relationship.
But as a God of love does he not keep His promise and give mercy whether we love Him or not? True, but I believe what this verse is teaching us is that if you don’t love Him he will keep his promises and give mercy but only because he is obligated. But if we love Him he will keep His promises and give mercy whether He is obligated or not. In other words a person who does not love God will get his promises and mercy but he has no relationship with the giver. If we love God we not only get his promises and mercy but we get it because we are in a love relationship with Him.
I don’t have to tell you a gift means much more when it is given to someone you love and loves you in return. In fact that gift itself could be just a cheap little childish drawing but will mean more than a winning lottery ticket if given in love.
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