Thirteen Attributes of Mercy

Thirteen Attributes of Mercy
 

The Thirteen Attributes of Mercy or Shelosh-'Esreh Middot Rachamim enumerated in Exodus 34:6-7 are the attributes with which, according to Jewish tradition, God governs the world.
 

According to the explanation of Maimonides these attributes must not be regarded as qualities inherent in God i.e. they should not be understood to be characteristics of who G-d is. Rather, these 13 attributes are the means or method of His activity by which HaShem exercises His divine governance in the world. In the Sifre, these attributes are not called "middot," which may mean "quality" as well as "rule" and "measure"; rather, they are rendered "derakim" (ways), since they are the ways of God which Moses prayed to know and by means of which HaShem revealed Himself to Moshe and through him, to mankind!
One of the main features of the prayers of the High Holy Days is the recitation of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy. These play a particularly prominent role in the daily Selichos (penitent prayers) recited at this time and in the Yom Kippur prayers. The Thirteen Attributes of Mercy were first revealed to Moses by God in the aftermath of the sin of the golden calf, when God forgave the Jewish people. (Exodus 34:6-7) The Talmud (Rosh Hashana 17b) tells us that God established a covenant that the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy never go unanswered and that God instructed Moses, “Whenever the Jewish people sin, let them perform this ‘order’ and their sins will be forgiven.”
 

There are, unsurprisingly, a vast number of commentaries on the exact meaning of these Thirteen Attributes and there is even some dispute about exactly how the words in these two verses should be divided into thirteen. For the ordinary person who wishes to recite the Thirteen Attributes with proper kavanah (intent),  however, there is a need for a basic, straightforward, interpretation of the attributes that one can actually have in mind during prayer.
Moreover, as should be obvious, the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy are not a magical incantation of forgiveness. The Reishis Chochma (R’ Eliyahu di Vidas d.1592) writes that the Gaonim point out that the Talmud does not say that the Jewish people should “recite this order” for their sins to be forgiven, but that they should “perform this order.” This means that we must emulate these middos (attributes) in our own lives, and through this we will gain forgiveness. It is therefore important that when we recite these attributes, we have a clear idea of what they mean, not only as descriptions of God’s mercy, but also as practical guides for our own behaviour.
 

They are studied in this season of teshuva because such study can arouse a person’s love and appreciation for HaShem, and serve to remind a person of their true potential as G-d-fearers.
 

The ultimate goal is for a person to become so familiar with the 13 Attributes’ meanings and applications that they can be consciously and regularly applied in one’s life in the context of our relationships.
 

To this, we can consider Sha’ul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 11: 23: “for what I received from the Lord, I passed on to you”. We, who have been the recipients of each of the Father’s 13 attributes of mercy, are commanded to extend the like to others. We who have received so much mercy, so much grace, so much forgiveness, so much compassion, so much acceptance … are commanded to unconditionally extend the same to others.
Exod 34:5-8
5 Now the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and  proclaimed the name of the LORD.
6 And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed,                                                                                                                                      "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth,                                         7  "keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the                  iniquity of the fathers  upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth  generation."

8 So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and  worshiped.

"The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, "keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,

There is a complementary verse from Micah that is included in the study of the The Thirteen Attributes of Mercy or Shelosh-'Esreh Middot Rachamim

Micah 7:18-20
18  Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the  transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not             retain His  anger forever, because He delights in mercy.
19  He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You  will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
20  You will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, which You have  sworn to our fathers from days of old.

What are the 13 Attributes of Mercy?

According to the generally accepted opinions of Rabbenu Tam and Abudraham, the 13 Attributes of Mercy are:

1. “Hashem” – God is merciful before we sin.

He gave us free-will choice to rebel and disobey Hismitzvot and even though He knows that we will sin, He is still merciful. Even when we transgress – whether deliberately or inadvertently, He never withholds Zoë life from us!

This is known as HaShem’s “bearing disgrace”. No matter how disgracefully we treat HaShem by using the gifts He gives us to violate his will, he continues to bestow us with the gift of life.

How much more then, did Yeshua ‘bear our disgrace’ as He willingly took our sins upon Himself!
Heb 13:11-14
11 Under the system of sacrificial laws, the high priest brought the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, but the bodies of the animals were burned outside the camp.
12 So also Yeshua suffered and died outside the city gates in order to make his people holy by shedding his own blood.
13 So let us go out to him outside the camp and bear the disgrace he bore.

If others treat us unkindly and disrespectfully, we should bear their disgrace and continue to treat them with kindness.

2. “Hashem” – He is merciful after we sin when we repent.

1 John 1:9-10
9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

It is because HaShem is mercifully and so patient with us when we transgress His commandments, that we should be in awe that he allows us time to repent and come to our senses. So too, if others transgress against us, we should not seek immediate “justice” against them, but, being mindful of the grace extended to us from above, we choose rather to refrain from seeking revenge or uttering harsh judgments. We give that person the opportunity to repent for the wrong they did.

3. “God” – His power saves us from our sins after we repent.

HaShem does not cleanse us through another human being. Instead, He does it Himself. The Father Himself, in and through the Messiah, pours water on us and cleanses away the “foul stench” of our transgressions. He provided this means in and through Yeshua!
1 John 1:7
7  But if we are walking in the light of God's presence, just as Messiah is the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Yeshua, his Son, cleanses us from every sin .

Because it is HaShem who cleansed the transgressor the first time, a person should be ashamed and reluctant to transgress again because in doing so, he is forcing HaShem to do it again.

Heb 6:4-6
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit,
5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

4. “Merciful” – His mercy is active even before we repent.

Ps 33:18-19
18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, On those who hope in His mercy ,
19 To deliver their soul from death, And to keep them alive in famine.

Luke 1:49-50
49  For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name.
50 And His mercy is on those who fear Him From generation to generation.

Titus 3:4-7
4  But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Messiah Yeshua our Savior,
7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
And therefore, if someone wounds us through deed or word, we should not respond with anger and rejection, but with love and kindness, showing that way to forgiveness is still open.

5. “And Gracious” – He is kind to us even when we have not earned it.

In Romans 11:6, Sha’ul teaches that the Father’s lovingkindness towards us is free and underseved! He sent His Son to die on our behalf and in our place, because He loves us and desires that no should perish but that all should come to repentance and to the knowledge of the truth (2 Peter 3:9; 1 Tim 2:4 )!

HaShem sent Messiah to die on our behalf while we were yet dead in our trespasses (Eph 2:4 – 7)

6. “Slow to Anger” – He waits patiently for us to repent.

Instead of punishing us immediately for our sins, as would be justified, God gives us time to repent on our own and avoid punishment.
Ps 103:8-10
8  The LORD is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger , and abounding in mercy.
9 He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities.

Therefore, if someone wrongs us, we should give the person time to make amends. We should also be slow to anger and slow to demand revenge.

7. “And Abundant in Kindness” – He is biased to judge us favorably. Whenever there is room for “doubt”, God’s kindness inclines Him to judge us favourably. Similarly, whenever there is room for doubt, we should judge others favourably.

When a person feels like pronouncing a harsh judgment against another, they should seek a redeeming feature in that other person. Perhaps they learn Torah, give charity, or perform some other good deed. A person should say to themselves, “It’s enough for me that this one does such and such a mitzvah.”
Mic 6:8
8  He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

8.  “And Truth” – He keeps His promises of good even if we are not deserving. Not a promise made or a word spoken will return to G-d void without having accomplished its sent forth purpose (Isa 55:11). Therefore, if we promised to do a good thing for another person, we should keep our word even if the person no longer deserves it.)

9. “He Keeps Kindness for Thousands [of generations]”

He rewards the righteous for two thousand generations.

If we owe a debt of gratitude to someone, we should continue to express that gratitude even to that person’s descendants. This is what King David did as recorded in 2 Sam 9:1: “Now David said, "Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?"

   10.  “He Lifts Up Sin” – When we repent, God “lifts up” our sins [of temptation]…
HaShem is not like flesh and blood. When a person gets angry with his fellow and is then appeased, the love does not return as before, but is diminished. This is not so for HaShem.

In fact, HaShem loves the repentant sinner more than before. This is the secret of “In the place where the baalei t’shuva (the one who repents or turns) stand the complete tzaddikim cannot stand.” HaShem allows our mitzvot to ascend before him, but He suppresses and prevents our averot (sin) from ascending before him to prosecute; HaShem, so to speak, turns his eyes from them. So too, a person should elevate another person’s good deeds before them, and turn his eyes from that person’s evil deeds as much as they possibly can.

So when a person seeks forgiveness from us, we should love them more, and treat them more mercifully, than we did before they hurt us.
Luke 17:3-5
3  " Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 
4 "And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' forgive him." 
5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"

11. “And Rebellion” – And our sins of rebellion…

Isa 59:15
12 Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities:
13 rebellion and treachery against the LORD, turning our backs on our God,
fermenting oppression and revolt, uttering lies our hearts have conceived.
14 So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance;
truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter.
15  Truth is nowhere to be found,

If HaShem forgives us our rebellious acts, how much more then should we be merciful toward others!

12. “And Error” – And our unintentional sins, and transforms them into merits.

When a person sincerely wishes to make amends for hurting us, we should use this as an opportunity to develop an even closer friendship with the person.

13.  “And He cleans” – Even when we need to be judged (i.e. cleansed) because of sin, HaShem does so gradually, rather than overwhelmingly at once.

Joel 2:13-14
13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.
14 Who knows ? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing —

Even with repentance, the spiritual damage caused by the more severe sins may still require suffering to fully be rectified. And, if the judgment would be beyond our capacity to handle at once, then God in His mercy spreads it out over time. So too, even in those cases where we must demand that someone make reparations for the harm that they have caused us, we should still be merciful and not demand that they do so in a way that is too difficult for them to handle. We do whatever is in our power to assist them in the process of making teshuva.

The reality is that all have fallen short of G-d’s standard of righteousness, even as believers! We all miss the mark. 

Once a year, on Yom Kippur, HaShem provides us with the mitzvah of confessing and placing our sins on the ‘azazel’ - “The Goat for Sending Away”. This depiction was of course, fulfilled in Messiah’s atoning sacrifice, burial, resurrection and ascension. Because of His obedience to the point of death on an execution stakes, we are thus cleansed of our transgressions.

However, although this is wonderfully true, we are nevertheless commanded to confess our sins one to another:
James 5:13-16
13 Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.
14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.
15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

1 John 1:8-2:1
8  If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

Simultaneously, HaShem renders judgment and rescues us, destroying the negative spiritual forces that entice us to sin and seek to do us harm. So too, even if a person sees a rasha suffering for his evil, we should bring this person close and rescue him from those punishing agents who seek to do him harm. We should not feel superior when we see another wrestling with sin; our motivation should be to do everything that we can to lead that person back to the safety of the narrow way!
Luke 15:3-7
3  Then Yeshua told them this parable:
4  Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders
6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.'
7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

We are a community and we should guard and care for one another.