By Kees de Vreugd, translation by Marie-Louise Weissenböck
The Hebrew word Middah (plural Middot) essentially means "measure." Jewish tradition speaks of the 13 Middot of God, which it takes from Exodus 34:6-7. These refer to the "attributes" of God, or more accurately, God's gracious relationships with humanity. In this series, we will examine two more of these 13 relationships with God.
1. Merciful and gracious
The words the Lord proclaims as he passes by Moses appear repeatedly in the Old Testament, especially in the Psalms, but also in the Prophets and other writings. They express a fundamental experience of Israel. In this way, God continually reveals himself in the life of Israel, and Israel trusts in this. What this means in relation to sin and guilt is shown by David in Psalm 103: “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love. He will not always contend or be angry forever.” (Psalm 103:8-9)
Jonah knew this too, although with him it almost sounds like a reproach: “For I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” (Jonah 4:2) The prophet Joel pleads for this in his moving appeal to the people: “Rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from disaster.” (Joel 2:13) And Nehemiah also recalls God’s mercy and grace during the time of Israel’s sojourn in the desert (Nehemiah 9:17).
So what does merciful mean? The word actually means "with a warm heart." The Hebrew word rachum (merciful) is related to the word rechem (womb). It refers to the protection and warmth of the mother. "Merciful" comes from the Hebrew word chen (grace); this encompasses all the meanings known in English, but above all: free and without cost. A Jewish explanation (Adèret Eliahu) states that forgiveness and mercy reside in God's hand. When the Lord passed over Moses, as described in Exodus 34:6, this was also the answer to Israel's prayer for the return of God's presence after the sin of worshiping the golden calf.
God's favor is a free gift, as He Himself says: "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion" (Exodus 33:19). God bestows it freely, without His servants having to earn it. Thus, God is merciful to the guilty, sometimes even mitigating the punishment they actually deserve, and He has compassion on the afflicted. "When the righteous cry out, the Lord hears and delivers them from all their troubles" (Psalm 34:18)
2. Be patient
Older Bible translations use the word "long-suffering" instead of "patient." This contains the word "long": "long in spirit." And this "long" also exists in Hebrew: long in anger. This doesn't mean that God is angry for a long time, but rather that he takes a long time to act on his anger. Moses appeals to the patience of God, who reveals himself as "slow to anger," as if he were asking God: "Retain your anger on the sin of the people, so that mercy may prevail." In the Targum, an ancient Aramaic translation of the Tanakh, it says: God is long-suffering, far from anger, and near in mercy.
God is not only patient with the righteous, but also with the wicked. Therefore, this attribute is counted twice in the Jewish mystical tradition among the 13 Middot, the attributes of God. The rabbinic biblical commentary Midrash recounts that Moses saw God write, “The Lord is patient.” Moses added, “For the righteous.” God then said to him, “And for the wicked.” Moses replied, “May the wicked perish.” God answered, “You will need it when Israel sins.” When Israel sinned in the story of the golden calf and the spies, Moses appealed to God’s patience in his prayer. God said to him, “Did you not say to me, ‘Only for the righteous?’” Moses answered, “But did you not say to me, ‘And for the wicked?’ Yet let the power of the Lord be great in fulfilling your word.”
This article first appeared in our newspaper "Israelaktuell," issue 135. You can order the newspaper here . We would also be happy to send you several copies for distribution.
Part 1 of the series appeared in issue 134 of "Israelaktuell", you can read it here
