What does the Bible say about compassion?

"A Father of the fatherless,�is God in His holy habitation" (Ps. 68:5). He cares for and protects those who have no natural protector. On this His people can count. Pity, too, for His children He feels, and as is needed will give proof of it, for "like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust" (Ps. 103:13-14). What consideration on His part thus to speak, calling attention to that earthly tie, which is of Himself, and to the feelings towards the offspring which are implanted in the breast of an earthly parent. What should we think of that parent who had no pity for his children? An unnatural father, all would call him. Alas! amongst men such a character is not unknown; yet it is but natural and right for an earthly father to feel compassion for his children. The relationship in which he is towards them should call it forth spontaneously, as circumstances require it. Now all that such an one should feel for his own, that God our Father really feels for His children, only, of course, with an intensity and depth beyond the capability of the creature to exhaust, or even to fathom. "He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust." Precious, surely, should that word "remembereth" be. An earthly parent may forget it or ignore it; God never will. His compassion can be always counted on by those who fear Him.

Compassion. — But this must be elucidated a little. God can be compassionate we here learn, and in 9:15 have seen that He is sovereign in that: "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." These were His words, as the apostle has given them to us, addressed to Moses in Ex. 33:19 after the people had made the golden calf. He would have mercy (or, be gracious) to whom He would be gracious, and have compassion on whom He would. This, then, did not depend on the people's deserts. It was part of the Divine prerogative. God, because He is God, can act as He will. Now the time chosen by Him for the revelation of this should be marked by the reader. It was when all was lost, as far as Israel were concerned, and lost by their sin, that God first spoke of these feelings of His heart, compassions, which could be displayed towards objects who had shown themselves deserving only of judgment. And in perfect accord with this, in the revelation of His name to Moses in Ex. 34:6, when God proclaimed Himself as the Lord, the Lord God, merciful (or compassionate), the first statement of His character, and that in the closest connection with the assertion of His Godhead as the self-existing and the powerful One, was that of the compassionate One. What an association of thought! God the compassionate One! The self-existing One compassionate to those who have sinned against Him! Yes, it is true, and it can be used as an appeal to such creatures.

Compassion is mercy, and it should come from the heart. If anyone is going through difficult circumstances — difficulty or distress of one kind or another — we should sympathise with them. In this way we put it on like an item of clothing. The perfect example is our Lord Jesus Himself. When He was on earth He was ‘moved with compassion’ (Matt. 9:36). This is exactly what Paul sets before us in our text. Our inner man (our heart) should be moved if we see that our brother or sister is suffering. We cannot be indifferent to their need, but rather we should have right feelings of mercy and express these in a practical way.

The page of inspiration does not present a more touching picture than that which the Master's pen has drawn for us in “The Good Samaritan.” It is perfectly beautiful and beautifully perfect. It is divine. Every expression is filled with exquisite moral loveliness. “He came where he was” — not half-way or nine-tenths of the way, but all the way. “And when he saw him,” what then? Did he turn away in disgust at his appearance and despair of his condition? Ah! no; “He had compassion on him.” His tender heart yearned over him. He cared not what he was or who he was. Jew or Gentile, it mattered not; the streams of tender compassion came gushing up from the deep fountains of a heart that found its own delight in ministering to every form of human need. Was this “compassion” a mere movement of sentimentality — a momentary feeling uttering itself in empty words and then passing away? No; it was a real, living, acting thing, expressing itself in the most unmistakable manner. “He went to him.” For what? To meet his every need and not to leave him until he had placed him in a position of security, rest and blessing.

If now we consider the present service of our blessed Lord as the Great High Priest we shall discover the same principle as its basis. We are told that He is not one that cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities, and the reason given is that He has been tempted in all points like as we are apart from sin. This we understand to mean that, inasmuch as He has made personal experience of our trials - trials resulting from our infirmities - He is able to enter into our feelings and to sympathise with us in them. The meaning of sympathy is to feel with - not for, that is pity, but with - and thus in a very profound sense the Lord still enters into and bears our infirmities. There is not a single sorrow or trouble arising from these which He therefore does not behold, and which does not call out, and that instantly, the loving sympathy of His heart. It is on account of this that, knowing our need, He is able to maintain us in His priestly intercession before God, and to secure for us the needed mercy and grace when we come boldly to the throne of grace. Oh! how blessed it is then to appropriate Christ in His priestly character. He said Himself, "He that eateth Me shall live by Me," and we may thus be encouraged to appropriate Him, for He is before God as our Representative. It will comfort our hearts and lighten our heaviest burdens to do so. Then, instead of sinking down under our circumstances, as Peter was sinking into the sea, we shall find that His strong hand of support is under and around us, lifting us above our trials and filling our lips with thanksgivings and praise.

"Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto Me, I will surely hear their cry; and My wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless. If thou lend money to any of My people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury. If thou at all take thy neighbour's raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto 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." (vv. 21-27.)

The stranger comes first, and the remembrance of what they had been in the land of Egypt was to govern their conduct toward such. They had been in bitterness of soul through hard bondage when under the iron yoke of Pharaoh, and they could therefore enter into the feelings of those who were strangers in a strange land. The helpless are next commended to their hearts; and of all the helpless ones that appeal to our compassion, surely the widow and the fatherless have the first claim. God thus surrounds them here with the powerful defence of His own arm. If any should afflict them, they should be killed and their wives and children should become widows and orphans. Throughout the whole of Scripture these two classes are ever indicated as the special object of God's care, and hence should be objects of our compassionate concern. James accordingly says, "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father, is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." (James 1:27.) The two following directions concern the poor — the first, to save him from extortion as well as to prevent the rich from making gain of his poverty; and the second, to secure him from destitution and nakedness. These laws, spite of the fact that the children of Israel were now governed from Sinai, permit us to see into the depths of the heart of God. What inexpressible tenderness in the provision that a pledged garment should be given up "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." The heart of God must be expressed by His people, and He is touched by the sight of one who has nothing to cover his body when he lies down to sleep!

Though God has borne long with evil doers, patience is not indifference, and patience must eventually give way to awesome judgment, when once the evil is exposed as being altogether incurable. The Great Tribulation will bring clearly to light the determined guilt of mankind, the stubborn rebellion that refuses every advance of kindness. Men will have no regard for the works of the Lord nor the operation of His hands. Since they reject every effort on His part to build them up, the only alternative is to destroy them. Does this mean He is no longer a merciful God? Not at all! Rather, it is mercy on His part to act in judgment against evil: it is mercy that relieves His creation from the tyranny of wicked men — men who despise mercy as though it were weakness.

All this requires spirituality and waiting upon God. This is the truth of the matter. Nothing is more easy than to get into a certain settled plan - very rigid in one way, or lax in the other; whereas the Lord would never have us to be either, but to have an exercised soul, and a conscience informed by the word of God, looking at each case according to its own peculiar features and circumstances. "Of some have compassion, making a difference; and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire." It is remarkable that in both cases it is the activity of divine love seeking the deliverance of that which had got into evil. The Holy Ghost is not telling us here how to deal with a case where there is no hope, but where there is less or more evil. He supposes that these saints were building themselves up on their most holy faith, and that this was not all they were doing. They are thinking of those who are in an evil state, who have gone back; and this is their object - to have them with God, and so thoroughly right. This is not always the case with our souls. Supposing you take a person who, perhaps, has dishonoured the Lord; do we not feel so much the disgrace done to us as to be rather glad to get rid of him? If it be one who has been disagreeable in his manners, and not pleasant in his conversation, perhaps great patience and forbearance have been shewn towards him by the saints, and then something occurs which gives them a ground for dealing with him. The danger is, that the poor soul may be left to himself, and left, perhaps, as far as we are concerned, for ever. That is not what we have here: "Of some have compassion, making a difference; and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire." Here there is much greater anxiety of soul expressed; but still it is always the thought of saving - of tenderness in one case, and earnest effort in the other. The person himself might not thank you for acting towards him with so much vigour, but still it is the way of love, though with it the strongest feeling as to the evil itself - "hating even the garment spotted by the flesh." Love is intolerant of evil, and the clean contrary of indifference.

Christ's heart was moved when He saw sorrow. He would not have us cold and indifferent to it, nor yet, on the other hand, selfishly affected by it, but full of tenderness and compassion towards those who are suffering. "He has set us an example that we should follow his steps."

Accordingly, an entirely different note is struck in v.22, and an exalted strain of joyous confidence is sustained down to v.36. In place of complaining that his woes were greater than he had deserved, he justifies God, and gratefully acknowledges that justice has been tempered with grace. "It is of the Lord's mercies," he owns, "that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness" (v.22-23). How precious the faith that, at such a time, could so speak! And what tried saint can truthfully say otherwise? Only when the soul is out of the presence of God does it seem as if His chastisements were too severe, and in part undeserved. No self-judged believer ever yet failed to own that he was far from receiving the full reward of his deeds. Rather, it seems as though God's grace leads Him to overlook even serious failure, and to correct but in part. "His compassions fail not." The rod is never directed by a cold, indifferent heart. He feels as no other can for the people of His choice, the children He loves. Every morning witnesses fresh evidences of His loving-kindness.