Bible Lexicons

Girdlestone's Synonyms of the Old TestamentGirdlestone's OT Synonyms

Mercy

We have now to consider the word Chasad (חסד ), which is used in various forms to designate God's dealings with man, and also to indicate the mode in which men ought to deal with one another. The meaning of this word when used as a substantive (Chesed) is made clear from the fact that the LXX has rendered it ἔλεος, mercy, in 135 passages. The nature of the quality may be illustrated by the conduct of the Good Samaritan, 'who shewed the mercy' (ὁ ποιήσας τὸ ἔλεος) on him that was attacked by robbers (Luke 10:37); it is a practical exhibition of lovingkindness towards our fellow-man, whose only claim may be misfortune, and whom it is in our power to help, though perhaps at the expense of time, money, convenience, and even religious or national prejudice.

The general English renderings for the word in the A. V. are: kindness, mercy, pity, favour, goodness, and lovingkindness. It is often found united with righteousness, faithfulness, truth, compassion, and other divine qualities.

A few instances may be cited to illustrate its usage: Genesis 24:12, 'O Lord God, shew kindness unto my master Abraham;' Genesis 24:27, 'Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not left my master destitute of his mercy (LXX δικαιοσύνη) and truth;' Genesis 24:49, 'If ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me;' Genesis 39:21, 'The Lord was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy;' Genesis 40:14, 'Shew kindness unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh;' Exodus 20:6, 'Strewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments;' Numbers 14:19, 'Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy;' Joshua 2:12, 'Swear unto me by the Lord, since I have shewed you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father's house;' Job 6:14, 'To him that is afflicted pity (should be shewed) from his friend;' Job 10:12, 'Thou hast granted me life and favour;' Psalms 6:7, 'I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy;' Psalms 6:4, 'Oh save me for thy mercies' sake;' Psalms 13:5, 'I have trusted in thy mercy;' Psalms 32:10, 'He that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about;' Psalms 33:6, 'The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord;' Psalms 89:33, 'My lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him ;' Psalms 89:49, 'Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses?' Psalms 119:88; Psalms 119:169, 'Quicken me, O Lord, according to thy lovingkindness;' Hosea 4:1, 'There is no truth nor mercy;' Hosea 6:4, 'Your goodness is as a morning dew;' (the A. V. obscures the connection between this verse and the sixth, where the same word is found - 'I desired mercy and not sacrifice;' see R. V. margin); Hosea 10:12, 'Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy;' Hosea 12:6, 'Keep mercy and judgment;' Micah 6:8, 'What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?' Micah 7:18, 'He delighteth in mercy;' Zechariah 7:9, 'Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother.'

These passages put the general signification of the word Chesed beyond the shadow of a doubt. We now have to examine whether this meaning is to be enlarged or modified. The LXX adopts the rendering δικαιοσύνη, 'righteousness,' in Genesis 19:16, and some other places. We also find ἐλεημοσύνη and ἔλπις in a few passages in Isaiah 40:6, where the word Chesed is applied to the grace or goodliness of man which so so on fades away, the LXX δόξα, glory; and the passage is quoted by St. Peter in his First Epistle (1:24) according to this interpretation.

In the passages which remain to be considered, the adjectival form Chasid is found. this word must signify not only the reception but also the exercise of Chesed, just as Tsadik, righteous, signifies the reception and exercise of Tsedek, righteousness. If Chesed, then, means mercy, Chasid must mean merciful; and accordingly it is so translated in the A.V in 2 Samuel 22:26, and Psalms 18:25, 'With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful.' The LXX, however, both in these passages and wherever the word Chasid is found, has adopted ὅσιος, holy, as a rendering. this course has had a great influence up on other languages, as it has led translators to confound Chasid and Kadosh, ὅσιος and ἅγιος, forgetting that to a Jew the meaning of the Greek word ὅσιοςwould be ruled by the fact that it was to be taken as an interpretation of the Hebrew Chasid, merciful in the two passages just cited, the A.V. retains the right rendering, but the Latin has cum sancto, and the German Bei dem Heiligen. The Portuguese translator, D'Almeida, both here and in almost all other places adopts the good word Benigno, but he is quite an exception to the general rule.

Our translators have followed the multitude in a large number of instances. Thus in Psalms 145:17, we read, 'The Lord is holy in all his works;' here the margin properly corrects the text by suggesting merciful or bountiful in Psalms 86:2 we read, 'I am holy;' where the margin reads, 'One whom thou favourest,' but it would be better to read, 'I am merciful.' The rendering godly has been adopted in Psalms 4:3, al.; and saint in 2 Chronicles 6:41, Psalms 30:4, al. this last rendering must be regarded as unfortunate, because it serves to obliterate the real meaning of the word, and to confound it with another.

It has been held by distinguished scholars that Chasid primarily signifies a recipient of mercy, but this meaning is not always applicable, e.g in Jeremiah 3:12, where God says of Himself, 'I am Chasid.' Here it cannot mean, 'I am a recipient of mercy;' our translators have rightly rendered the words, 'I am merciful.' Nevertheless, the two aspects of mercy, its reception and its exercise, are wonderfully blended in Scripture. the right and wholesome effect of the enjoyment of God's lovingkindness is the exhibition of the same spirit towards our fellows. God is everywhere described as delighting in mercy - 'his mercy endureth forever' - but He requires that those to whom He shows it should, in their turn and according to their opportunities, 'love mercy;' compare Micah 7:18 with 6:8.

It is a remarkable fact that the word Chasid, when applied to man, has usually a possessive pronoun affixed to it, so as to indicate that the persons who are exercising this disposition belong in a special sense to God. They are 'h is merciful ones' (A. V. 'h is saints'). Merciful men may be very scarce (Psalms 12:1; Micah 7:2), but wherever they are found they are regarded as God's own. 'He hath set apart him that is merciful for himself' (Psalms 4:3), and He gives his special protection to those that are worthy of the name Chasid (Psalms 32:6; Psalms 37:28). They show their love to the Lord by hating evil (i.e. evil dealings against their neighbour), and the Lord, in his turn, preserves their souls (Psalms 97:10). When He comes to judgment He will gather to Himself those who are his merciful ones, and who have made a covenant with Him by sacrifice (Psalms 50:5), and they shall not only 'rejoice in glory' (Psalms 149:5), but also shall have the honour of executing judgment on the nations (Psalms 149:9) in a word, mercy is the main characteristic of God's dealings with man, and hence it is to be looked for as the distinguishing mark of every child of God. 'He that loveThis born of God.' The 'godly' are those who, having received mercy from Him, are exercising it for Him and as his representatives. It is owing to the fact, no doubt, that the word Chasid has been rendered ὅσιος in the LXX, that we find it represented by sanctus in the Latin, and by saint or godly in the English; yet it is a serious evil that the primary meaning of the Hebrew word should almost have disappeared from the face of modern translations. The practical nature of godliness is there by to some extent obscured, and the moral dem and made up on man by his having become the object of Divine lovingkindness is thrown into the background.

It only remains to notice the application of the above remarks to one or two passages of importance in the O.T., and to observe their bearing on the interpretation of this word ὅσιος in the N.T.

In Deuteronomy 33:8, Moses says, 'Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy Chasid (ἀνδρὶ ὁσίῳ, A. V. Holy One) whom thou didst prove at Massah.' The old Portuguese translator, D'Almeida, here has amado, with a note referring the word to Aaron. The same word is used of Aar on in Psalms 106:16, where he is called the Chasid of the Lord (A. V. 'the saint of the Lord'). The context in Deuteronomy 33:1-29. shows that reference is made to the slaughter of the Israelites by the House of Levi in the matter of Moab; and the lesson we learn with regard to the word Chasid is that it does not betoken the weak 'good-nature' which some call 'mercy,' but rather that devotion to God which produces the exercise of true lovingkindness towards man, and which sometimes involves the taking extreme and apparently harsh measures so as to prevent the spread of evil in this respect man's mercy is to be like God's.

There are several passages relating to David and his seed in which the words Chesed and Chasid occur, and which need to be taken together in order that their whole force may be seen in 2 Samuel 7:14-15, the Lord promises to David with respect to his son, 'I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: but my mercy shall not depart away from him;' compare the parallel passage, 1 Chronicles 17:13. this promise is referred to by Solom on at Gibe on in 1 Kings 3:6 and 2 Chronicles 1:8; and at the dedication of the Temple he closed the service by the words, 'O Lord God, turn not away the face of thine anointed; remember the mercies of David thy servant,' i.e. the mercies which thou hast promised to show unto David (2 Chronicles 6:42). on turning to the eighty-ninth Psalm, we find several references to these 'mercies.' The Psalmist opens by saying 'The mercies of Jehovah will I sing for ever;' 'mercy,' he continues in the second verse, 'shall be built up for ever;' he then proceeds to speak of God's covenant and oath, which is faithful and sure and true, that David's seed should be established on the throne for evermore. After extolling the greatness of God, he continues (verse 14), 'Righteousness and judgment are the establishment of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.' Returning to the covenant with David, the Psalmist sketches out its details, saying in verse 24, 'My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him ;' and in verse 28, 'My mercy will I keep for him for evermore;' and in verse 33, 'Nevertheless my mercy (A.V. 'my lovingkindness') will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.' Then the Psalmist breaks out into a lamentation on the troubles into which Israel was plunged, and cries out (verse 49), 'Lord, where are thine original mercies (A. V. 'thy old lovingkindnesses') which thou swarest unto David in thy truth?' The Psalm concludes, as usual, with a note of thanksgiving.

We see here, first, that the word mercy seems to be used with peculiar significance in relation to God's promise to David and his seed; and secondly, that it is constantly introduced in connection with God's faithfulness or truth in accordance with these passages we read in Isaiah 55:3, 'Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the mercies of David, which are sure (or faithful). Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, for a leader and law-giver to the people.'

St. Paul, when addressing the Jews at Antioch, takes up these words as follows (Acts 13:32, &c.): 'We declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus (again). [The R V. rightly omits the word 'again,' and thus distinguishes the two 'railings up' of Jesus - first, on his entrance into the world; and secondly, on his resurrection.] or it is written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. and as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the mercies of David which are faithful. Wherefore he saith also in another place, Thou shalt not suffer thy merciful [The R. V. has strangely missed the point here.] one (A. V. and R. V. 'Thine Holy One') to see corruption. .: Be it known unto you therefore that through this (risen Jesus) there is announced unto you forgiveness of sins.'

With regard to the rendering of Psalms 16:10, we are so used to the expression 'Thy Holy One,' that it is not easy to make such a substitution as the sense requires. It may be noticed, however, that D'Almeida has 'o teu Bem,' thy good or kind one; the old Judae-Spanish version of the Hebrew Scriptures published at Ferrara has 'tu Bueno,' which has the same meaning; the Spanish translator De Reyna, and also his reviser Valera, had 'tu Misericordioso,' 'thy merciful one,' although this excellent rendering has slipped out of modern editions.

The meaning of the word Chasid as representing mercy ought to be borne in mind in other passages where its representative όσιος; occurs in the N.T. Thus in Hebrews 7:26, the Lord should be described as 'merciful and without malice,' instead of 'holy and harmless;' so in Revelation 15:4; Revelation 16:5, the Lord's mercy, not his holiness, is specially referred to. The word ὅσιος is used of the Christian in 1 Timothy 2:8, where he is told to lift up 'merciful hands, without wrath and contention;' and in Titus 1:8 it is said that God's steward should be merciful as well as righteous.