by Archbishop Georges Khawam
Melkite Metropolitan of Latakia and Tartus

Note: the “ch” in the Hebrew and Greek words needs to be pronounced like the “j” in castellan Spanish not Latin American Spanish.

The topic of divine mercy unveils one of the facets by which God is partially known, adding to it a significant pillar in sacred revelation. Just as attributes like sovereignty, dominance, knowledge, and wisdom illuminate the path for the worshipers to approach God, so does mercy. It bestows upon worship a dimension that unites humanity as a whole – “every individual, and the entirety of humanity” – as they stand before the Almighty.

1. Vocabulary of Mercy

We can enumerate 164 instances of the word « mercy » in the Bible, divided into its two parts: the Torah and the Gospel. This number is, of course, distributed across various derivational forms attached to the word, including the noun « mercy, » the verb « to have mercy, » and the adjective « merciful. »

The term appears 116 times in the Torah alone, distributed among the five books (Torah of Moses), the historical books (early prophets), the prophetic books (minor prophets), and the wisdom books (the writings). Its usage is highlighted particularly in the Book of Psalms, where it occurs 51 times, which is approximately a third of its total appearances. In the Gospel, the term is used 48 times, with the majority occurring in the Letter to the Romans, where it’s repeated 12 times. However, it can be found throughout the other books except for the Gospels of Mark and John, as well as the Book of Revelation.

On the other hand, the inspired authors of the Bible used three Hebrew terms to express « mercy »: « chen, » « chesed, » and « racham. » However, they employed other expressions to convey related concepts, such as « tsedakah » and « yashaa ». Through these words, they aimed to signify various aspects of God’s disposition toward weak creatures in His Nature (the root meaning of « chen »), or to denote God’s “jealousy” and “fervent” love for the creature (the root meaning of « chesed »). Lastly, they sought to highlight the creation’s position in relation to God, who embraces it within His very being (the root meaning of « racham »). These three terms each carry, from their own distinct perspectives, the meaning of compassion and tenderness, attributes that the Almighty frequently assumes when dealing with humanity.

When the Jews of Alexandria translated their sacred scriptures into Greek, in the early part of the 3rd century BCE, they found no better term than « eleos » to express divine « mercy ». However, they also employed other terms, such as « charis » (grace, favor) and « diakiosyne » (righteousness, kindness). In doing so, they enriched the original familial connotation with a societal implication, wherein divine mercy became a model for mercy among humans.

Finally, in ancient Latin, the word « misericordia » was used. The distinction of this term is that it emphasizes, especially, on the existential state of humanity: a wretched being deserving of compassion from the Creator.

2. The Historical Frame

It is rare to come across the term in the books of the prophets who were sent after the construction of Solomon’s Temple and before the people experienced the calamity of the Babylonian exile. If the term appears in the Torah, the reason lies in the influence of the priestly environment that reinterpreted these texts after the return from exile.

The people lost their kingdom and the temple when they were exiled to Babylon. It was deeply distressing to see the tribes opposing one another amid intense animosity. Lessons from such historical events became teaching tools that the prominent scholars endeavored to teach to their congregations.

We find echoes of these teachings in the wisdom literature: Sirach, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Psalms (Zabur). The theme of mercy became an integral part of social education, where the meaning of mercy came to signify open-heartedness, forgiveness, overlooking wrongdoing, benevolence toward others, and acts of charity.

1-1 The Theological Frame

The wise leaders of the people considered the exile as the worst catastrophe in their history: there was no freedom, no monarchy, no future, no heritage, no worship, and no language. As they pondered their situation, they realized that sin, in its various forms, lay at the heart of their calamity. It was only natural for them to link the state of confusion in their adversities to their failure to please God. If not for sin, the Babylonians wouldn’t have subjected them to slavery and exile. Now that they found themselves trapped in this cycle, and disaster had befallen them, the only way out was through repentance.

The mercy of God descends upon the repentant, those who turn back to Him. On one hand, there is self-criticism, and on the other hand, there is remorse and asking for mercy. Through these two means, the soul finds the initial connection it had with God. Because the soul which sees itself as being right, how can it ask God for mercy?!