Religion & Spirituality
Chapter 34 5-7 This is the famous "Thirteen Attributes of Mercy", of HaShem, as identified by the sages. The ministry of which I was a former writer, First Fruits of Zion, has this to say about these attributes: "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, 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…" This passage—or ‘The Thirteen Attributes of Mercy’ as the rabbis call these verses—has become one of the central doctrinal expressions in Judaism. The verses have found their way into the Siddur and are recited on fast days and Yom Kippur. According to Hertz, "All schools of Jewish thought agree that these momentous and sublime attributes enshrine some of the most distinctive doctrines of Judaism." What does God’s forgiveness and compassion actually look like in flesh and blood? The answer, of course, is that we should look immediately to Yeshua the Messiah. For, "in Him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form." (Colossians 2:9). By looking for these Thirteen Attributes in the person of the Messiah, we are implying that there is an intimate connection between the Messiah and God. This is not just an imitative connection, but a substantive one—as the Lord is, so is the Messiah. Moreover, Messiah is the walking embodiment of all of these Thirteen Attributes.' (Taken from a commentary to Ki Tissa, March 6, 1999, available at http://www.ffoz.org)