Compassion
We just finished reading Exodus 22 and here is something that has be said to our culture:
כד אִם-כֶּסֶף תַּלְוֶה אֶת-עַמִּי, אֶת-הֶעָנִי עִמָּךְ, לֹא-תִהְיֶה לוֹ כְּנֹשֶׁה; לֹא-תְשִׂימוּן עָלָיו נֶשֶׁךְ. כה אִם-חָבֹל תַּחְבֹּל שַׂלְמַת רֵעֶךָ, עַד-בֹּא הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ, תְּשִׁיבֶנּוּ לוֹ. כו כִּי הִוא כְסוּתֹה לְבַדָּהּ, הִוא שִׂמְלָתוֹ לְעֹרוֹ; בַּמֶּה יִשְׁכָּב, וְהָיָה כִּי-יִצְעַק אֵלַי, וְשָׁמַעְתִּי כִּי-חַנּוּן אָנִי
24 If you lend money to any of My people, even to the poor with you, you shall not be to him as a creditor; neither shall you lay upon him interest. 25 If you at all take your neighbor's garment to pledge, you shall restore it unto him by sun down; 26 for that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin; wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he cries unto Me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.
The Torah is warning us that it is not only forbidden to abuse the weak, but that it is also the way of righteousness that if someone owes us we do not harass them. By law we may take action to be paid, but we are not to do so in an aggressive manner. We are to show generosity and wait until they can pay us.
We also see here a message which is probably one of the most important messages in the Torah. This is the message that God cares for every person individually and does not ignore anyone. This is an important concept that in the ancient world was not a commonality. The gods were more involved in their own issues and did not care about mankind, but here The God of Israel says: I know all and see all and judge all! The same attitude is found in laws where there is almost no compassion to weaker people, and death was a common sentence for simple things such as stealing.
To this I will add Deuteronomy 10:12 where God said:
יב וְעַתָּה, יִשְׂרָאֵל מָה יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, שֹׁאֵל מֵעִמָּךְ: כִּי אִם-לְיִרְאָה אֶת-יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לָלֶכֶת בְּכָל-דְּרָכָיו, וּלְאַהֲבָה אֹתוֹ, וְלַעֲבֹד אֶת-יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, בְּכָל-לְבָבְךָ וּבְכָל-נַפְשֶׁךָ. יג לִשְׁמֹר אֶת-מִצְוֹת יְהוָה, וְאֶת-חֻקֹּתָיו, אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם, לְטוֹב לָךְ
And now Israel, what does YHWH your God require of you, but to fear YHWH your God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve YHWH your God with all your heart and with all your soul. To keep the commandments of YHWH, and his laws, which I command you today.
God said to "walk in all his ways", does that not mean that we are to be compassionate as he is? I think it does. We need to change our attitude to one another as a positive commandment of Torah, and not only as a good thing to do. It is not a suggestion or a recommendation, but the way The Creator wants as to be.
