The Spiritual Tautology

A merciful person does himself good, but the cruel person does himself harm.  Proverbs 11:17  NASB

Merciful – It should come as no surprise that the word translated “mercy” is really ḥesed.  The translation relies on the way ḥesed is treated in the LXX, but as you know, even there we find eight different Greek words for this single Hebrew term.  The most popular of the Greek translations is eleos (in Latin it becomes misericordia) so we end up with English translations that use words like “mercy,” or “lovingkindness.”  None are actually correct.  ḥesed is a uniquely Hebrew idea, involving but not limited to “an ethically binding relationship of relatives, hosts, allies, friends and rulers. It is fidelity to covenantal obligations real or implied.”^[1]  With this correction, we avoid the redundant spiritual tautology so often printed as the fifth Beatitude (“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy”  Matthew 5:7).  What the author of this proverb and what Yeshua reiterate is certainly not a quid pro quo.  ḥesed is not mercy.  The person who displays ḥesed is not necessarily displaying mercy (which is actually a different word in Hebrew).  He is displaying covenantal commitment.  He is rendering God’s purposes and, as a result, becoming a representative of the Most High.  That’s what makes this action an identification mark.  In fact, it is more than a symbol, a sign, of his commitment.  It is the practical reality of altering his identity.  ḥesed changes him.  He becomes like His creator who is uniquely the full expression of ḥesed.

As we discovered in the first part of the verse, “good” isn’t good.  We discovered that “The reason that this relationship is self-rewarding is not because doing good brings us good but rather because being merciful strengths our own identity.”  Now we can clarify.  The reason that this relationship is self-rewarding is not because doing good brings us good but rather because displaying ḥesed models the character of the Creator and becomes our own identity.  The person of ḥeseddoes do himself good, but not in the way we might have originally thought.  His life might not appear better at all.  He might not become healthy, wealthy, or wise.  But he will become God-like.  What more could he want?

Topical Index:  ḥesed, mercy, character, Proverbs 11:17

^[1] Harris, R. L. (1999). 698 חסד. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 305). Chicago: Moody Press.