HEBREW WORD STUDIES – TOTALLY DEVOTED – CHASED   חסדו Cheth Samek Daleth Vav

II Chronicles 20:21; “And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth for ever.”

“His mercies endure forever” ki le’oelm chasedo is such an endearing phrase. It is found thirty seven times in the Old Testament, twenty six times in Psalms 136 alone. In II Chronicles 20:21 it is used as a battle cry by Jehoshaphat against the three kings who were marching against him. Jehoshaphat was a Godly king in Judah. He ended prostitution (II Kings 22:43), destroyed the idols of Baal and sent out levitical teams throughout the nation to teach the law to the people and admonish them to obey God’s commandments.  The nation enjoyed a period of unprecedented peace and prosperity. In II Chronicles 20 we learn that three kings for Moab and Ammon formed a strong confederacy and started to march against Judah. Things look pretty hopeless and Jehoshaphat did the right thing. He gathered the people together and sought the face of God.  He cried out to God admitting that they faced impossible odds and that only God could deliver and God heard their cry.   Through a Levite named Jahaziel, God gave a prophetic word. It is interesting that God would use Jahaziel because he was a direct descendant of Asaph who was the chief musician in the temple during the time of David.  You see the natural means by which the Lord would use to defeat the three kings would not be an army but a choir.   Jahaziel, under the anointing of God, predicted that God would destroy the armies of the three kings without a sword being raised by Judah.

I like what happened next. Rather than declare Jahaziel to be absolutely wacko to make such an outlandish and impossible prediction, Jehoshaphat fell to his face before God, praising and thinking him the deliverance.  Either Jahaziel had a real proven track record for prophecy, a solid reputation for not being some fruitcake who just fell off the turnip truck, or he bore witness to the spirit within Jehoshaphat and only confirmed what Jehoshaphat already knew in his own spirit. What I read of Jehoshaphat, I believe it to be the latter. 

Nonetheless we learn in II Chronicles 20:21 that Jehoshaphat consulted the people and appointed singers. The word “consult” is ya’ts which has the idea of deliberating or taking counsel. The word is in a Niphal form which makes this reflexive. Hence, what Jehoshaphat did was to take the counsel of the people unto himself. He did not just listen to the people he took their words to his heart and then appointed singers Can you dig this? Here Jehoshaphat has 24 hours to prepare to go to war against an overwhelming army and how does he prepare, he sets up an audition and organizes a choir. This choir is taught one song and one song only: “Praise the Lord, His mercies endureth forever.”

It is interesting to note that the word endure is not found in the text. It is merely “because His mercies are forever.”  True we may praise the Lord because His mercies are forever. But note the word for “praise” here is hodu which comes form the root word yadah which means a praise of thanksgiving. But, soft, note that in its Semitic root yadah comes from the word yad which means hand. They are praising and thanking God with uplifted hands. Some rabbis dispute the vowel pointing of the Masoretes and would declare that the sureq at the end of hodu should really be a holem creating the root hod which means beauty or brilliance. Translators say the word ki is for which is ok but you should really use lo’ if you want to say for.  Ki means because, thus you could say: “The Lord is beautiful or bright because His mercies will endure forever.”

Consider for a moment what this means.  Mercies is the word chasad which means, according the Rabbis Samson Hirsch a 19^th century linguist and Hebrew master, ‘to devote oneself entirely for the benefit of another.”  How do we know God is beautiful because He is devoting Himself entirely to you, personally.  He does not live in time so He can devote Himself, full attention to you entirely for eternity.  Why does an 80 years old man who has been married to his wife for 60 years still see her as beautiful?  Because she has devoted herself to Him for 60 years and the more she devotes herself to him the more beautiful she becomes.  God is beautiful because He has devoted Himself for eternity to us.