The NRSV often translates the Hebrew word raham (and its cognates) with “compassion,” “to have compassion,” etc. The translators sometimes render the same Hebrew word group by the “mercy” family. When we see the word “mercy” in the First Testament (FT), we can often substitute “compassion.”

Raham comes from the word rehem, meaning “womb.” To have compassion or mercy is to feel the life of another person similarly to a mother’s feeling for a child in the womb. Compassion is feeling the suffering of another and responding to minimize suffering and to optimize blessing, as evident in passages such as 1 Ki. 3:26; 2 Chr. 30:9; Pss. 103:1; 145:9; Is. 27:11; esp. Is. 49:15 and 54:7, and implied in other occurrences of “compassion” and “mercy” in the FT. God manifests compassion by feeling the situation of the people and by keeping covenant, i.e., by fulfilling promises of omnipresence, liberation, provision, restoration, and blessing.

Most direct references to compassion in the FT refer to God’s feeling and faithfulness for people who are in distress. An influential passage, Ex. 34:6, indicates that compassion, or mercy, is a key quality of God’s own being and actions. The FT expects community members to show similar compassion. Judgment falls on people who fail to be compassionate toward others who suffer.

The Septuagint (the translation of the Hebrew FT into Greek) uses a word family for “mercy” (Greek: eleos) to render not only raham but also the famous Hebrew term hesed (“covenant loyalty” or “steadfast love”), thus making even more explicit the fact that acting compassionately is keeping covenant.

The Second Testament (ST) adds another word for “compassion”— splagxnon and its cognates. This word family also indicates feeling with persons and responding covenantally . A Jewish writer of this period summarizes: “Have mercy in your inner being, my children, because whatever anyone does to [the] neighbor, [God] will do to [that person.].” Again, “In the last days, God will send . . . compassion on the earth, and whenever [God] finds compassion, in that person [God] will dwell.” (Testament of Zebulon, 5:4, 8:1, 7:1-4; cf. 2 Macc. 9:5; Sir. 18:13-14; 30:7; 4 Macc. 14:13, 15:29.).

These ideas come alive in direct references to compassion in the ST. Through Jesus and the church, God manifests the same qualities of compassion as through Israel. In league with the similar call to the people of Israel in the FT, the ST repeatedly calls those who serve God through Jesus to relate to other people with compassion.

We can dramatically see the connection among compassion, God, Jesus, Israel, and the early church in the Markan and Matthean stories of the feeding of the thousands. These synoptic writers record that Jesus had compassion on the hungry crowd (much as God had compassion on the Israelites in the wilderness) (Mt. 14:14; 15:32; Mk. 6:34; 8:2). Matthew and Mark regard the miracles more broadly as instances of divine compassion (Mt. 9:6; 20:34; Mk. 1:41, 9:22). Luke, too, evokes the First Testament background (7:13, 10:33; 15:20).

Paul and the Pauline school echo the FT concern for compassion, often in more general language of feeling and heart (e.g., 2 Cor. 6:12; 7:15; Phil. 1:8; 2:1), perhaps most movingly in Paul’s identification with the slave Onesimus (Phlm 7, 12, 20). These communities are to live compassionately (Col. 3:12).

When encountering words related to the “mercy” (eleos) family in the ST, per the background above, we hear resonance with compassion and covenant, e.g., Mt. 9:13, 12:7, 23:23,18:27; Lk. 1:50, 54, 58, 72, 78, 6:36; Rom. 9:15-18, 11:30-31 and esp. 15:9; Eph. 2:4; Phil. 2:27; Heb. 8:12; Js. 5:11; Wis. 11:23; Sir. 2:11, 48:20. “Almsgiving” (eleemosyne) is an expression of compassion (e.g., Mt. 6:2-4; Lk. 11:41, 12:33; Ac. 10:2,4, 31; Tobit 4:7, 16, 12:8-9, 14:2, 8-9; Sir. 7:10; 29:8; 35:4).

The rabbis, writing shortly after the time of the ST, magnify these themes. Compassion and mercy are essential to the divine identity. The rabbis repeatedly point to Ex. 34:6 as the core of the divine identity. The compassionate character of God shapes the world. Indeed, the world was created by ten things, the last being loving kindness and compassion (Hag. 12a). Those who act with compassion are in harmony with the structure of existence.

The compassionate character of God and of the world calls for the exercise of compassion among people. Considering the phrase “to walk in all [God’s] ways,” a rabbinic commentary on Deuteronomy says, “As God is called merciful, so you should be merciful” (Sifre Deut. 49). As God clothes the naked, visits the sick, and comforts mourners, the people should do the same.

The story of Nahum of Gamzu illustrates the consequences of failing to relate compassionately to others. Nahum was on a trip with three donkeys laden with food, drink, and dainties. A poor person requested food. Rather than immediately give the hungry person food, Nahum began to unload a donkey. The poor one died. Nahum laid on the dead body crying, “May my eyes which had no pity on your eyes become blind . . . my hands be cut off . . . my legs be amputated . . . my whole body be covered with boils.” These very things happened to Nahum, which led the rabbis to conclude that eyes that lack compassion will become blind and hands that do not feed will be cut off (Talmud, Tan. 21a).

Compassion is much more than the name of a col-lection or even a theme in the Bible. The notion of compassion is at the very heart of what we believe about who God is and what God does, and consequently, about who we are and what we are to do.

— Ron Allen

Ron Allen teaches preaching and Second Testament at Christian Theological Seminary. His most recent book is Wholly Scripture: Preaching Biblical Themes (Chalice Press, 2003) from www.chalicepress.com.