The Law of Kindness
Proverbs 31:26
“She opens her mouth with wisdom,
And on her tongue is the law of kindness.”
So, what is the law of kindness? This peculiar phrase has been the point of some contention among biblical scholars for a while. The trouble comes when attempting to translate the original Hebrew word for kindness used in the passage, which is: “chesed”. In other popular translations of the bible, you might find this verse translated as “She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue” or “Her mouth speaks wisdom, and loving instruction is on her tongue”. So, which one is it? According to Strong’s concordance (a trusted resource for providing definitions of the original Hebrew words used in passages of scripture), it’s all of them.
While kindness may be the most widely accepted rendering of the word “chesed” when translated into English, the word can also be translated as: “goodness”, “faithfulness”, “lovingkindness”, “mercy”, “steadfast love” and “compassion”, to name a few. This is because unlike our modern English language, ancient Hebrew words and phrases were often multi-layered in meaning, combining various ideas and concepts into just one word. I say all of this to say that kindness, at least the type of kindness being indicated in the scriptures, is so much deeper than we can even begin to grasp.
For example, let’s take a look at a scene from the story of King David in the bible. In 2nd Samuel Chapter 9 verse 7, King David says to Mephibosheth, the disabled son of his dead best friend: “for I will surely show you kindness (“chesed”) for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.” Now, Saul was the first king of Israel, and he ruled before David. He also hated David to the point of attempting to take his life multiple times in cold blood, pursuing him for years. He chased David all over the country before finally taking his own life in battle against the Philistines. David’s best friend and the son of Saul, Jonathan, also died in battle that day.
However, before his death, in 1st Samuel chapter 20 verse 14 to 17 we see the two form a covenant; in which Jonathan asks David to promise not to ever cut off his kindness from Jonathan’s family, even when the Lord has cut off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth. Little did Jonathan know at the time, that his own father, Saul was already one of David’s greatest enemies. It’s this promise David recalls several years later. After escaping the wrath of Saul and his armies, who made David’s life hell on earth for years, King David seeks out Saul’s only living descendant, and fulfils his promise.
It's a story that challenges our contemporary notions of kindness and prompts us to ponder the weight and depth of true “chesed”. To simply label this act of deep love and loyalty spanning generations “kindness”, feels almost trivial. Today, we may describe someone paying us a compliment, offering encouragement or holding a door open for us, as being kind. While these are certainly nice gestures, they do not compare with the act of effectively adopting the disabled orphan of your dead best friend, after his grandfather who tried to kill you multiple times, leads the entire family, and many others to their deaths. I’m sure we can all agree then that this act would be deserving of a label which held much more weight than mere “kindness”. So, we see that the biblical standard of kindness set before us, this “chesed”, which means goodness, mercy, faithfulness, compassion and steadfast love; differs significantly from kindness as we have come to understand it today.
Now, having understood the deeper meaning of kindness as described in scripture, the question still remains, what does the law of kindness look like? In practical terms, how can we live out this law? And what does it mean to have the law of kindness on our tongues, as mentioned in Proverbs 31? In Matthew Chapter 7 verse 12, I believe Jesus himself describes it. In one of his most simple yet profound teachings, he states: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” Therefore, if we want to be treated with love, we must treat others with love; if we want to be treated with respect, we must treat others with respect and if we want to be treated with kindness, we must treat others with kindness. In essence, this is the sum of all the Law and the Prophets, according to Jesus Christ himself.
2 Peter 1:5-8
“But also, for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.