Biblical Compassion- a Hebraic
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Pastor Ellen Mumper, Canada
An experience I had
as a very young child is with me to this day. It was night and we were riding home
from somewhere in our family's green,1950 Cadillac
Fleetwood car. We passed a supermarket where we usually shopped, Star Market,
and behind the supermarket the sky was lit up by a raging house-fire. Someone's
home was burning. I may have been 8 or so at the time. I lived it. I could see
the family trying to escape. I could smell the smoke for days. But that was not
the worst of it. My mother could not figure out why I cried and cried for 2 or
3 days. Every time she would ask me I would cry out "But what about the
family? What will they do? Where will they go? What about all their
things?" My parents could not understand why it impacted me so much.
Compassion, in
Hebrew, is "racham". The Jewish
Encyclopedia has this partial definition- "Sorrow and pity for one in
distress, creating a desire to relieve, a feeling ascribed alike to man and
God." The word racham is very close to the word
in Hebrew for womb, "rechem" and is in fact
from the same word root. It is far more than a feeling of pity or sorrow for
someone hurting. It is the exact feeling that a mother would have for her child
to the point of even giving her own life if it need be. That is the compassion
God has for us and the compassion He wants us to have for our fellow man. Words
that in English are abstract such as "love, mercy, faith, compassion"
are not abstact in Hebrew- they are concrete
pictures. And so the concept of compassion, racham in Hebrew, connotates a
feeling in action. If we have God's "racham"-
compassion- in our hearts as in loving our neighbour
as ourselves, we would have His heart in their welfare.
I truly believe that
a person who is unsaved can have compassion but not Godly
compassion. We who have the Ruach haKodesh,
Holy Spirit, in our lives and beings can actually live His compassion as He
does. The unsaved world, the lost world, is watching us. Remember that they
will measure us by what Yeshua said- if we have love
one toward another. Here are some examples of true
Biblical compassion.
In Exodus 32:31 and
32 Moshe (Moses) showed the most extreme self-giving compassion when he prayed
for erring children of Israel. " And Moses
returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and
have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if You will only
forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray You, out of Your book which
You have written." He was sorrowful knowing the eternal repercussions of
their sin of idolatry to the point of being willing to give up his own position
in God. This is the same kind of compassion Sha'ul
(the apostle Paul) had in Romans 9. In verse 3 he says "
For I could wish that myself were accursed from Messiah for my brethren,
my kinsmen according to the flesh." Listen to his heart there! Do we as
believers today have that kind of compassion for those who are lost, to the
point of getting out of our comfort zone? In 1 Corinthians 9: 19- 22 Sha'ul goes on to say that he would do anything to bring
someone to the Gospel. He became a servant not only to God but to his fellow
man. Having God's heart of compassion involves being a servant.
Another example is
Nehemiah. Nehemiah 1:3 and 4 says "And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the
province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is
broken down, and the gates of it are burned with fire. And it came to pass,
when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days,
and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven... "
When was the last time we fasted and wept for the lost state of some
individual or our nation? When was the last time we wept and fasted for 'broken
down walls' of injustices in our nation? Fasting is so much more than going
without food. It is intent, or kavanah in Hebrew-
where we absolutely have to get HIS attention on a matter and are on our faces
until He hears us. Do we really have compassion?
David showed this
same kind of heart "racham" when he wept
and prayed in Psalm 35. Listen to his words! Psalms 35:13 "But as for me,
when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting;
and my prayer returned into my own bosom. Psalms 35:14 I behaved myself as
though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down heavily, as one that
mourns for his mother." When our friends, loved ones, fellow
congregational members are sick do we show this kind of compassion? I am
fascinated that David would fast regarding someone's illness. I have a beloved
great-niece with neuroblastoma at age 8. I have wept
and prayed for her much but I have not fasted. Maybe I need to.
In Jeremiah 13, The
LORD speaks to this prophet about the result of their pride and remaining in
idolatry and a backslidden condition. Jeremiah hears this judgment and his
heart cries out in verse 17 "But if you will not hear it, my soul shall
weep in secret places for your pride; and my eye shall weep sore, and run down
with tears, because the LORD's flock is carried away captive." Jeremiah
certainly did much of this weeping and earned his nickname "the weeping
prophet" because of it. He was no wimp! always
mourning. He was powerful in warning and warning. We live in nations largely
steeped in idolatry. Even Christian believers are unwittingly (nor not) tied up
in the world's idolatry. Compassion is more than caring when someone is hungry and
feeding him, more than weeping when somoene is in
pain or their house burns down, more than caring enough even to give them a
Gospel tract with the plan of salvation. Compassion is WARNING them. No one
likes the thought of being "pushy". But I for one would be grateful
if you would be pushy when I am in danger of stepping off a precipice. With
today's "information highway", the internet, believers are especially
prone to every kind of false doctrine there is. Along with witnessing to those
outside of Messiah's love and salvation we need to witness to them also with
Truth- not arguments, but the pure Word of God. Therefore we have to KNOW it
intimately.
And we have to be on
our knees and maybe even fast and weep.
Jude 22 and 23 are
verses which address the matter of compassion. " And
of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear,
pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the
flesh." There's the thing- having the wisdom of the Ruach,
the Holy Spirit, in dealing with people. There is a soft side AND a hard side
in compassion. How can we know the difference? We can't go preach hellfire and
damnation to some folks- it won't work. Neither can we preach all "God is
love and would never send you to hell" as that is not Scriptural either.
We need to have a sensitivity to the heart condition
of others to know when we need to preach in soothing words that draw the heart,
as a mother to her children, or in warning words that provoke a fear of God.
I love the compassion
of our Holy and Righteous God! As a Father (and He has a mother aspect too!) He
cares for even His errant children. As a Bridegroom, Yeshua sees only His
Beloved and not our flaws. I love the verses from Lamentations 3: In the midst
of being reprimanded and warned, Jeremiah cries out his faith. Lamentations
3:20- 23- "My soul has them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. I
recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD's mercies that we
are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning:
great is thy faithfulness!"
To be like Him- a
heart of compassion!
