Choice Word: “Hesed” (Mercy)

Choice Word: “Hesed” (Mercy).

CAUTION: SKIM AT YOUR OWN RISK. In this era of amazing advances in technology, there are sometimes unexpected consequences that turn out to be harmful to our Christian faith. One of these harmful improvements is the flood of believers who read scripture online, on the smart phone, on the computer screen. I’m convinced there should be a warning label on every one of the online Bibles… CAUTION: SKIM AT YOUR OWN RISK. So many of us now read the Word like we would read our emails or social media or the daily news. We skim the material hurriedly, superficially, carelessly. We skim the Scripture. Skim-reading the Bible doesn’t really bury the seed very deeply, of course. And in our skimming, we would be more likely to just skip over an important word or phrase without thinking, a word that could be vital to the whole passage. The fact is, the Bible is full of single words or short phrases that are too important to simply gloss over as if it wasn’t there. There are times in the Word when single words are intended to feed us, nourish our faith, stimulate us to think at a deeper level about the biblical text.

There are single words in Scripture that are like stop signs asking us to stop and consider carefully, to pause before moving forward in the reading. This series on my blog will try to unpack some of these power-packed words or phrases in Scripture… Words like: Behold; Rejoice; Truly; Woe; Blessed; Beware; Come; If. And I will attempt to also explore the meanings of some short phrases that are single words in the original biblical language, such as “Himeni” (Here I am); “Shema” (Listen and Do’); “Splagchnizonai” (deeply moved with compassion); “pistence” (believe), and “kal-v’chomer” (How much more).  If it is poetically possible to “see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wildflower, and hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour,” as William Blake once imagined, then certainly we readers of Scripture can find a world of meaning in a single word, we can grasp something profound in a simple phrase.

“Hesed” = the Hebrew word for mercy that is often translated as lovingkindness, indicating a steadfast love, a compassionate faithfulness and loyalty to covenant love, an eager desire to demonstrate love-in-action. It is used 26 times in the classic Psalm 136 in order to focus on God’s continued and unwavering forbearance and patience because of His faithful lovingkindness, His remaining true to his promises out of sheer love. “Hesed” is used over 120 times in the book of Psalms alone, but here are a few passages:  107:1 and 43; Ps. 108:4; Ps. 98:3.

“You may expend your whole life in search of the Will of God, His “perfect will,” but you will not find any other perfect will of God than that which God has revealed in Christ Jesus. And that will is mercy, a mercy which involves giving your life for others as an offering to God.” (Brother Rex Andrews, from his book, What the Bible Teaches About Mercy).

MERCY: God’s will to satisfy all mankind with His goodness; to strongly desire what is best for someone, especially for those in need; to graciously treat someone in distress with compassion, especially when one could ignore that needy person if he wanted; to have a readiness to show practical love to someone in any type of trouble or need; to have an eagerness to put  love into action; to personally relieve the suffering of someone; to demonstrate an act of good will towards someone who needs it; to show a lovingkindness that is way beyond the call of duty; to demonstrate to a complete stranger the same type of compassion one would reveal to a friend or family member;  the quality of God that needs to be understood in the search for wisdom. “Who is wise and will guard these things and will understand the mercy of the Lord?” (Ps.107:43).

Mercy is the most active aspect of Love, which also includes Grace and Compassion.  These three aspects of Love are distinctive, but each is a part of the other. Grace is full of compassion and mercy; compassion is full of grace and mercy; mercy is full of grace and compassion. Grace: God’s welcoming face of God’s favor and acceptance to the undeserving; Compassion: the willingness to reach out and suffer with another and bear that person’s burdens; Mercy: the actual doing of the love that grace and compassion has started; Love-in-Action.

The Mercy Seat. It is telling that God instructed Moses to make the gold lid on the Ark of the Covenant to be called the Mercy Seat, the “Kaporet,” situated between two cherubim in the Holy of Holies (Numbers 7:89). Yahweh demanded that the cloud and fire of His Presence be identified with His mercy. The weight of God’s glory rested on the Mercy Seat, where it always rests. The kaporet was the gold lid, also called the atonement cover, over the Ark of the Covenant, God’s Testimony. The Mercy Seat was in the center of the Holiest Place, which was in the center of their camp, and so the Mercy Seat was literally the center of everything in the wilderness journey. The Mercy Seat was the center of everyone’s attention, and mercy was the very pinpoint of the center. When God revealed His mercy, whether through manna, quail, permanent clothing, or during Yom-Kippur, it is like the king in all His glory. “Once a year on Yom-Kippur, in the Tabernacle’s most sacred place, the Holy of Holies, the high priest would enter and drench the Mercy Seat with the blood of the animal sacrificed to make atonement for the people. This is the physical place where Yahweh met the high priest and where He forgave the sins of the people of Israel. The Mercy Seat prefigures the eternal mercy, grace and hope that alone came through Jesus the Messiah, through His shed blood, making atonement once and for all, placing the weight of humanity’s sins on Him.” (notes from the Complete Jewish Bible, Dr. David Stern). Directly above the Mercy Seat, God chose to present Himself, letting His voice be heard by Moses or the high priest. Yahweh identified Himself with mercy by His choice of resting place, sitting on His royal throne of Mercy. The kaporet was not an impressive royal throne of power. Yahweh’s power was exercised in His mercy. God’s mercy was what His power looked like, and His glory is reflected in His will of mercy. In so many ways, the Mercy Seat was a foreshadowing of the Cross, drenched in the blood of the sacrifice of Jesus to cover over, to conceal, to atone for the sins of the people. On His Cross, we see Jesus on our Day of Atonement. The Mercy Seat and the Cross revealed a judgment of mercy. St. Paul brought this together in his letter to the Romans, “God put Yeshua (Jesus) forward as the kapparah (atonement) for sin through His faithfulness in respect to His bloody sacrificial death…” (Romans 3:25-26).

In Other Words: We can rest assured in peace as we dwell over the Mercy Seat, between the wings of the Most High God. In the shadow of the Almighty and Merciful One, our sins have been forgiven, and we can find eternal shelter within God’s acceptance. We find a true spiritual refuge as we stand beneath the wings that overshadow the Mercy Seat. The wings of the cherubim remind us that the Cross is our fortress and shield against judgment. We can stand forgiven between the wings that keep us safe in His merciful presence.

Mercy is the Centerpiece of God’s Self-Identity. When at the base of Mt. Sinai, Moses asked God if he could see God’s glory. (Exodus 33:19). The Lord Yahweh responded by saying that He would pass before Moses, but he would not be allowed to see His “face,” only His backside. The Glory is too overwhelming for humans who are not equipped to experience a consuming fire quite yet. Yahweh told Moses that He will cause all His “goodness” to pass before Moses, and that in Moses’ presence He will pronounce His holy Name. Goodness is usually a synonym for mercy, because God’s goodness is revealed through His mercy. So Moses ascended Mt. Sinai to meet God at the top, and Yahweh descended in a cloud and stood there with Moses. Only God can accurately name Himself, and here we see the Lord pronouncing His sacred Name… “God passed before Moses and proclaimed, “I AM Yahweh! I AM Yahweh! A God who is compassionate (rachem) and gracious, longsuffering and slow to anger, abounding in mercy (hesed) and truth, preserving mercy (hesed) for thousands of generations, forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin, but by no means clearing the guilty or allowing sin to go unpunished.” (Exodus 34:6-7). What a singular moment! The Almighty God, the Great I AM, describes His Name, His identity. He is revealing to Moses how He sees Himself in His Essence. What a turning point in history! The Lord of the universe chooses to reveal Himself in utter transparency to a human being! ‘You want to know what I am made of, Moses, the Lord is saying, then this is how I describe my character, these are my core attributes. Yes, I am the great LORD, and this is Me in a nutshell… rich in mercy, compassion, grace, forgiveness. That is truly who I am, Moses!’ At the very end of this historical self-description, God reminds Moses (and all of us) that He is Lord of a moral universe, that there is such a thing as right and wrong, and He has established an ultimate system of justice. God’s statement about justice and moral accountability, interestingly enough, seems to have been made in the context of mercy and forgiveness, of compassion and grace. So it appears that if God’s will springs out of God’s core character, His will must be mercy.

“I will mercy (hesed), not sacrifice.” (Hosea 6:6, Matthew 9:13 and 12:7). In other words, hear the word of the Lord… I delight in mercy; I vastly prefer mercy; My desire is that you show mercy; My heart takes pleasure when I see mercy in this world; My will is that mercy is demonstrated before religious duties; My will is mercy.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” (Matthew 5:7). In other words: Congratulations! You are so fortunate! God loves it when you graciously show the undeserved favor and acceptance, when you allow God’s grace to then move you with compassion to reach out and be willing to bear another’s burden even if it means personal suffering, and then finally to put that love into action by relieving the misery of someone in need. You are to be envied! You will experience great happiness, because showing God’s lovingkindness towards others puts His love into action for you!

Mercy is the chief attribute of God, and seems to be the main way he shows his power. And so if we were made in his image, mercy is meant to be our main attribute as well. Mercy: Such is God with us, such are we to be with others.

What is so unlikely about mercy? Take a look around you in this world. What do you see a lot of… cruelty, revenge, unforgiveness, injustice, hard hearts. That’s right, the opposite of mercy. And yet, and yet, Scripture says that the whole earth is full of God’s mercy (Psalm 33:5, 119:64). Really? Yes! Creation was motivated by mercy, and is sustained by mercy. There is mercy shown every day by God and by people all around us. On the one hand, the world is filled with violence and hatred. On the other hand, it is saturated with the faithful, unfailing lovingkindness of God. In a rough and tumble world, God demonstrates that tender is the new tough. It may seem unlikely at times, but as light conquers darkness, mercy overcomes unmercy, overshadows it at every turn. Every breath is a mercy, every thought, every joy. In fact, it is God’s mercy that enables us to enjoy anything at all. Let faith open your eyes to see God’s mercy in every step, every sunrise, around every corner. Acknowledge the omnipresence of mercy every day. Mercy abounds. The whole earth is full of His mercy.

A Foundational Truth to Consider. God’s will is based on His character, and so His will shall always reflect His essence and divine identity. His will is always going to be a revelation of His authentic Being, and it will not compromise His nature. To be in the center of God’s will then, we need to live in the center of who God is, what His character is through His Holy Spirit with Jesus. God’s character determines the substance of His will. His ultimate intentions and plans will unfailingly line up with His character. It appears from Scripture that God’s will is mercy. God’s bottom-line will is mercy. What God wants for the world to experience is His mercy and goodness, and His desire is to demonstrate the essence of His character.

“Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy (hesed). You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.”  (Micah 7:18-19).

God’s Will of Mercy for Us. When we live into Christ’s words in Gethsemane, “not my will but yours O Lord,” we may not get specific answers, such as this job or that job, this person or that person, this church or that church, this school or that school. There are times when all the alternatives could just as well be God’s will for that particular situation. Ask God for wisdom and discernment, and prayerfully make your decision, and go in God’s peace. No matter what one chooses, we know that God will be at your side regardless. And we also know the most important aspect of God’s will: Mercy. Whichever choice one makes, we need to remember that in His heart of mercy, God wants what is best for us. He wants us to flourish, to reach the pinnacle of health and well-being, to fulfill the potential of mankind as He invented us at creation. When the Lord says in Scripture what His will is for us, He is saying that out of His mercy He wants to transform us into the likeness of Jesus, who is in fact God’s will of mercy. We do know what His will looks like for us as we read the gospels of Jesus. As we do God’s will, we will continue to grow from glory to glory to look more like Christ. As John said in 1 John 2:17, “Those who do the will of God will abide forever.”

THOUGHTS AND VERSES ON MERCY:

1. “Without the word ‘mercy,’ the Bible is a dead book in which there is no revelation of God at all.”

“Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy (hesed). You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.”  (Micah 7:18-19)

2. “The root of all of God’s activity in this world, beginning even with the world’s creation, is Mercy.”

“The Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world… For a child has been born to us, and authority has settled on his shoulders. He has been named ‘The Mighty God is Planning Grace; The Eternal Father, a Peaceable Ruler.’ O LORD, You are my God; I will extol you, I will praise Your Name. For You planned graciousness of old, counsels of steadfast faithfulness.” (Rev. 13:8; Isaiah 9:5 and 25:1; Tanakh version)

3. “Mercy is the cause and reason of all that God does. God does nothing, absolutely nothing, except as an expression of His Mercy.”

“I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my Name… ‘The LORD! The LORD! A God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness, extending kindness to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin.” (Exodus 33:19, 34:6-7)

4. “His Mercy stretches out to both extremes of infinity. All we will ever discover of God will be the deepening levels of His great, abundant, overflowing, rich, endless Mercy.”

“I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth.” (Psalm 108:3-5)

5. “When we deal with God, everything is Mercy. Everything else that can be said of God is but an aspect of His Mercy.”

“Though he was in the form of God, he did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at. Rather, he emptied himself and took the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men. He was known to be of human estate, and it was thus that he humbled himself, obediently accepting even death, death on a cross! (Philippians 2:6-8)

6. “‘For His Mercy endures forever’ lies under each line of Holy Scripture, and is the eternal song of the saints.”

“Enter His gates with thanksgiving; go into His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and call upon His Name. For the Lord is good; His mercy (hesed) is everlasting; His faithfulness endures from age to age.” (Ps. 100:3-4)

7. “It is better to limit belief in God’s power than to dampen faith in God’s mercy. Between mercy and power, mercy takes precedence – and to the mercy of Heaven there is no limit.”

“The Lord’s mercies (hesed) never cease, His compassions never fail. They are renewed every morning. Great is your faithfulness! The Lord is my portion, He is all I have, therefore I have hope in Him.” (Lamentations 3:21-24)

8. “Mercy is the defining explanation of everything that God has revealed of Himself. Mercy is the explanation of every single thought that God has with respect to us.”

“‘I beseech you, Lord,’ he prayed, ‘is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I fled at first to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and merciful (hesed) God, slow to anger, rich in kindness, loathe to punish.” (Jonah 4:2)

9. “Mercy rather than justice is regarded as the outstanding attribute of God.”

“Rend your hearts rather than your garments, and turn back to the Lord your God. For He is gracious and merciful (hesed), slow to anger, abounding in kindness, and renouncing punishment.” (Joel 2:13)

10. “Beyond all mystery is the mercy of God. It is a love, a mercy that transcends the world, its value and merit. To live by such a love, to reflect it, however numbly, is the test of religious existence.”

“We are only on the outer fringes of Your works! How faint the whisper we hear of You! I am unworthy – How can I reply to You? I put my hand over my mouth. Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.” (Job 26:14, 40:4, 42:36)

11. “The encounter with God’s Mercy, a celebration of God’s sustained and abundant Mercy, is the root of all Christian worship.”

“The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang: ‘He is good; His mercy (hesed) endures forever.’ Then the temple of the Lord was filled with a cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.” (2 Chron. 5:13-14; see also 2 Chron.7:3, and Ezra 3:11)

 Bold Italics: #1 is Brother Rex Andrews from his book What the Bible Teaches About Mercy; #7 (Heavenly Torah), and #9 (A Passion for Truth), and #10 (God in Search of Man) are from Abraham Joshua Heschel; all the remaining quotes are from Rev. Patrick Henry Reardon’s book Christ in the Psalms. Italics: Verses from Holy Scripture, various translations.

“Practice mercy (hesed), justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things do I delight.” (Jeremiah 9:24).