THE Apostle Paul speaks of the Jew, as having “the form of knowledge and of the truth in the Law.” (Rom. 2:2020An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. (Romans 2:20).) The Law gave, as it were, an outline of the knowledge of God; but the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, is the only One who has fully declared Him. Still there are traits of the Divine character incidentally brought out in the civil and social law, which it pleased the Lord to give to Israel, very distinct from the stern manifestation of righteousness in the awe-striking words they heard from Sinai. Many of the laws given to Israel have the solemn sanction, “I am the Lord,” or “I am the Lord your God.” (See Lev. 19) But when God showed His tender regard for human feeling and misery, He gave the sanction for the judgment or law, in these words, “for I am gracious.” “If thou at all take thy neighbor’s raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it to him by that the sun goeth down; for that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin; wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass when he crieth unto Me, that I will hear; for I am gracious.” God considers the feelings of the poor, and He would not have those feelings needlessly wounded. There may be a sense of degradation in poverty sufficiently trying of itself, without others attempting to force it on the poor. God has shown that the poor need sympathy, and they can appreciate it; not only is it written, “He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker,” but also, “Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker.” (Prov. 14:31; 17:531He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoreth him hath mercy on the poor. (Proverbs 14:31)
5Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished. (Proverbs 17:5).) The sympathy of Jesus with human necessities anticipated the expression of them. “I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with Me now three days, and have nothing to eat, and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.” (Matt. 15:3232Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way. (Matthew 15:32).) “Love vaunteth not itself.” It was not the display of miraculous power in satisfying the need of the multitude which moved Jesus, but compassion for their necessities. “For I am gracious.” He considers, human feelings. There was no murmuring or complaining among the multitude, but He knew what they needed, and graciously provided it. Man in the progress of civilization is met by a gigantic mass of human misery and necessity, which seems to contradict his lofty aspirations. He uses the various appliances at hand to relieve this misery; but man is not gracious, for in relieving the misery of his fellow man, he makes him keenly to feel his inferiority. We can often trace up misery and poverty to its source; and if we can do this, how much more can God, the moral Governor of the world, link together cause and effect, and show the necessary connection between sin and misery. But God “upbraideth not,” for He is gracious, and this He shows where the case is most desperate. “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in Me is thine help. I will be thy King.” (Hos. 13:9, 109O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help. 10I will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes? (Hosea 13:9‑10).) But human efforts, right as they are, want, for the most part, the blessed element of graciousness, and, therefore, they fail to reach the heart. God who knows sin to be the source of all misery, regards the actual misery in fullness of compassion. Even in forgiving sin He does it so graciously as to win the heart of the sinner unto Himself. Do we not read the heart of God Himself in giving such a law as that of the pledge of raiment. Man must regard such a principle as an inroad on all security; for man is not gracious; he thinks of himself. God is gracious, and thinks of human misery, and regards human feelings.
There is sometimes an intrusiveness into the private concerns of the poor on the part of those who desire to do them good, which is not only repugnant to their feelings, but offensive to Him who is “gracious.” Mark the graciousness of this law: “When thou dost lend thy brother anything, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge. Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee.” (Deut. 24:10, 1110When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge. 11Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee. (Deuteronomy 24:10‑11).) The poor brother might be sufficiently pressed down by a sense of his own misery, without having that misery increased by the discovery to another of his nakedness and poverty. When grace has won confidence, all will be laid bare; but rigid inquiry will often lead to concealment and deception. It is a lesson to be learned from Him who is gracious, to do a kind act in a kind manner. “The Lord loveth a cheerful giver;” for He Himself is the cheerful giver of the unspeakable gift of His own Son.
“Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ;” the stern Reprover of sin, and the One who pitied the sinner, met together in Him. Look at forgiveness with man. The forgiver makes the forgiven to have a keen sense of his inferiority. Not so forgiveness with Him who is gracious. He forgives in such a gracious way, as not only not to make the forgiven conscious of disgrace, but so as to establish perfect confidence with Himself. The poor prodigal was disgraced in his own eyes, and thought at best of only a degraded position in his father’s house. He knew not that his father was gracious. His father welcomes him as his son to his bosom, and instead of degrading him in the eyes of the household, killed the fatted calf on his account. “For I am gracious.” May we not only know His graciousness, but in our measure reflect it, according to the word of the Apostle, “Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. Be ye therefore imitators of God, as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved, us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.”
When Moses sought to see the glory of the Lord, how marvelous the answer. “I will make all My goodness pass before thee; and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” Grace and mercy necessarily go together; but how many apprehend that God is merciful, who know not that He is gracious? How many have acknowledged a merciful deliverance or escape, and with grateful emotions of heart too, who have never, as it were, got an insight into the heart of God. His mercy is indeed over all His works. But when He proclaims His name to Moses safely hidden in the cleft rock, it is, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty.” Men must see the mercy of God in His providential ordering of the things of this world; for our Father is “kind to the unthankful and to the evil.” “He is the Saviour (that is, the Sustainer and Preserver) of all men, but specially of them that believe.” But it is in redemption that we see so conspicuously the grace of God. All comes to us on the ground of mercy, for we can prefer no claim on God, but the very mercy which reaches us, exhibits the character of God in a way to win our hearts unto Him. We can “joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation.” For He is gracious. The depth of our misery has brought out the depth of His love. Safe in Christ and Him crucified, the true cleft Rock, the joy of our hearth is always to hear Him proclaiming His name, “For I am gracious.” God is not man. His ways are not the ways of man. Man, in doing even a kind act, shows that he is man; and God, in exhibiting His kindness, shows that He is God. “How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? Mine heart is turned within Me, My repenting’s are kindled together. I will not execute the fierceness of Mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim; for I am God, and not man.” (Hos. 11:8, 98How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. 9I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of thee: and I will not enter into the city. (Hosea 11:8‑9).) “Therefore will the Lord wait that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you.” (Isa. 30:1818And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him. (Isaiah 30:18).)