Hermann Spieckermann, «God's Steadfast Love Towards a New Conception of Old Testament Theology», Vol. 81 (2000) 305-327

This article argues in favour of a conception of Old Testament theology that is aware of the different hermeneutical presuppositions due to the different canonical shapes of the Jewish and the Christian Bible, respectively. An Old Testament Theology based on the canon of the Christian Bible has to do equal justice to the Hebrew and to the Greek version of the Old Testament, acknowledging that the Greek version, the Septuagint, is a dominant factor for the emergence of Christian faith. Perceiving the Old Testament from a Christian point of view sheds new light on a central theological issue thus far underestimated in scholarly research: God's steadfast love. The contribution tries to show how this characteristic insight into God's true being is reflected and interpreted in the different parts of the Old Testament.

        Steadfast love and faithfulness are qualities of God himself which, passed on the king, ensure the stability of the land and the safety of every Israelite threatened by powers of the world and the underworld. The king on David’s throne is God’s mandatary in Jerusalem and the mediator of his blessing. He transmits the divine gifts to his people. This can be achieved by righteous government, as one may gather from the similar expression in Prov 20,28¹³. tm)w dsx in Ps 89,15 have a similar function. They are forces in God’s presence paralleled by +p#mw qdc "righteousness and justice" that build up the foundation of God’s throne¹⁴. All these notions together show that they belong to the theology of God’s kingship focussing on God’s granting the welfare of his king and his people. dsx plays an important part among the divine gifts guaranteeing God’s order in the world for Israel’s benefit.

        Turning to the later phases of the Psalter’s theology we have to recall that in the meantime God’s self-determination towards faithful love was included in the composition of the Pentateuch. This may explain why God’s dsx likewise developed into a theological keyword of the Psalter. Finally, it has been regarded as the most important theological term there is to describe God’s being and acting in the realm of the Psalter’s theology. This is the case in Ps 136. The refrain declares 26 times ‘for his dsx (steadfast love) endures for ever’. The psalm describes God as the creator, the governor and preserver of the universe (136,2-9.25). It encloses the presentation of the master of salvation history who acted in support of his people on the occasion of the exodus, in leading them through the wilderness, giving the land and rescuing them from any humiliation. Each single divine deed proves God’s eternal nature inherent in the term dsx. God’s steadfast love is present in creation and in history more than abundantly. The universal claim is once more stressed in the exterior frame of the psalm