In a world that prizes noise and exposure, Joseph’s quiet mercy reveals the deeper meaning of Christmas. Plus, discover how God’s ancient light from creation, to Jesus, still shines into our chaos and how hesed can bring creation’s peace into your own life.

Christmas celebrates the moment when divine light entered the deep—when chesed, God’s steadfast covenant love, took human form. Two ancient insights from the world of the Bible open our hearts to the wonder of that moment and ready us for the coming Old Testament study year.

Matthew quietly describes Joseph as a “just man” who, upon discovering Mary’s pregnancy, “was minded to put her away privily” (Matthew 1:19). In ancient Israel, Joseph had every legal right to denounce her publicly. Yet the Hebrew concept of justice (tsedeq) is never merely legal because it is primarily relational, rooted in hesed, covenant mercy that seeks restoration, not ruin. By choosing silence over shame, Joseph mirrored the very love of God, whose mercy covers rather than exposes. His decision foreshadowed the atoning work of Christ, who would bear disgrace to spare others.

Joseph’s hesed shows that covenant faithfulness is not loud or performative; it is quiet, costly, and protective. In an age of public exposure and self-justification, Joseph’s restraint models divine strength.

His Christmas act reminds us that righteousness is not only doing what is right but doing it mercifully.

The Gospel of John opens with a deliberate echo of Genesis 1: “In the beginning… the light shineth in darkness.” In Hebrew, the “deep” (tehom) refers to the primeval waters of chaos, that formless void (tohu va-bohu) over which God’s Spirit hovered. Ancient hearers knew this this cosmic imagery and they knew it signaled covenant hope. God brings order, meaning, and light out of what seems hopelessly dark.

At Bethlehem, creation’s first dawn met humanity’s deepest night. The same Word who once spoke light into the abyss now entered the world’s moral and spiritual tehom. Every candle lit, every star noticed, every act of goodness this season re-enacts that first Genesis moment: God saying again, “Let there be light.”

When you bring hesed into another’s chaos, when you protect instead of expose, bless instead of blame, you participate in God’s ongoing creation. You become part of the light that pushes back the tohu va-bohu of our age.

This Christmas, as we look toward a year immersed in the Old Testament, we are invited to see its stories from the history as living patterns of present and future redemption. The same God who shaped order from the deep and mercy from silence still speaks light into human hearts.

Let your Christmas be filled with Joseph’s mercy and Genesis’ light. Hesed in action and creation renewed.

—Taylor Halverson, Ph.D.
Learn Deeply. Live Meaningfully. Spread Light and Goodness!

PS: I didn’t know the Church would update it’s English Bible Translation policy on Dec 16, 2025, only days after I published this new translation! So as you prepare for the New Year of Old Testament study, this new PDF ebook downloadable translation helps you read like an ancient Israelite.