The God of Moses

Answer me, LORD, for Your kindness is good, in Your great compassion turn to me.  Psalm 69:17 [Hebrew Bible]  Robert Alter

Great compassion – God cares.  If we learn nothing else from Scripture, this is enough.  We might not know how He demonstrates that care.  We may think He has forgotten all about us.  We might never see the completion of His supervision.  We might not hear His messengers or encounter His emissaries.  But if we know this, it’s enough.  Why? Because a God who cares will act.  He will show compassion.  He will redeem.

Israel is the historical demonstration of rōb raḥămê’ka (great compassion).  The people of the Land learned this fact during forty years in the wilderness.  Time after time God acted with raḥămîm (tender mercy) despite their rebellion and obstinance.  Why did He do this?  Why not start over with Moses and destroy the ingrates?  Why?  Because He made a promise to a man and He cared about keeping that promise.  In fact, tenderness and compassion are so much a part of God’s character that He lists it first for Moses (Exodus 34:6).  יְהֹוָ֔ה אֵ֥ל רַח֖וּם  “the LORD God compassionate.”  David must have known that there was no greater appeal than to ask God to be Himself.  ḥesed might be the basis for the relationship, but raḥûm is the foundation of divine involvement.  In a world without YHVH, death and taxes may be the only certain things, but in the Hebraic world, the only real certainty is divine raḥûm.  Thank God!

In a lengthy article in TDOT, Simian-Yofre makes the crucial point that “rḥm is an essential constituent of the relationship between God and humanity, exercised by Yahweh with absolute freedom.”[1]

“Because compassion is inherent to Yahweh’s nature, its disappearance is conceivable only if the order of human nature and the universe could be overthrown . . . even overthrown of the natural order would be easier to understand than alteration of Yahweh’s faithfulness to his covenant.”[2]

Simian-Yofre makes it clear that David does not presume on God’s good nature when he elicits a plea for compassion.  Compassion is the grease in the wheels of creation, and without it, the universe would collapse.  It is based entirely on God’s free choice, a choice which He has anchored in the covenant promise.  Despite David’s situation—perhaps because of it—he knows God will come to his aid.  It is only a matter of when.

This is a lesson to take to heart.  We are born to trouble as the sparks fly upward, to paraphrase Job.  Life is difficult.  Enemies–physical, psychological, and spiritual—abound.  Powerlessness is a common human experience.  But then there’s God.  Faithful.  Resolute.  And, most importantly, rōb raḥămê’ka.  What else could we really desire?

Topical Index: rōb raḥămê’ka, great Your compassion, raḥûm, Exodus 34:6, Psalm 69:17

[1] H. Simian-Yofre, rḥm, TDOT, Vol XIII, p. 441.

[2] Ibid.