We are in chapter 43 of Genesis with our word for today used for the first time in the Bible in our chapter. רַחֲמִים compassion, mercy, feeling of love, loving sensation, very tender affection, natural affection, pity, grace, favor. It is used 39 times in the Old Testament. A good example of our word is seen in a mother’s compassion for her son when King Solomon set up circumstances so that the truth would come out as to who the real mother of the living son was. 1 Kings 3:25-27 And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart רַחֲמֶיהָ֮ yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.” Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.” God is identified as having this characteristic. 2 Samuel 24:14 Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for hisרַחֲמוֹ mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.” Nehemiah 9:18-19 Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed great blasphemies, you in your great בְּרַחֲמֶ֣יךָ mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. Psalm 51:1 Have רַ֝חֲמֶ֗יךָ mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
We also see our word used in the sense of favor before a human ruler. A great example is when Nehemiah prays for God to give him mercy before King Artaxerxes who he served. Nehemiah 1:11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him לְרַחֲמִ֔ים mercy in the sight of this man.” Now I was cupbearer to the king. This is also the sense our word is used in our chapter today. Genesis 43:13-14 Take also your brother, and arise, go again to the man. May God Almighty grant you רַחֲמִים֙ mercy before the man, and may he send back your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.” What is great about our God is that even if we stand before a human power of authority over us we can always appeal to God who is the ultimate authority over every earthly power. I’ll close with Jesus parable about this exact situation as he gives us a valuable reminder of one of the benefits of prayer. Luke 18:1-8 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
