Hashem as Action: On Forgiveness and the Opening of a Future
Four words, four acts
- Chen (חֵן) — not a mood of “favor,” but a moment of being noticed and admitted; a door opens where it was shut.
- Chesed (חֶסֶד) — not vague kindness, but loyalty carried through a breach; continuity after collapse, ordered toward shalom (שָׁלוֹם) as wholeness.
- Rachamim (רַחֲמִים) — from rechem (רֶחֶם, “womb”): re-gestation, the return of life from within, not indulgence.
- Nacham (נָחַם) — not backward-looking regret, but re-entry by a new path; a decided change of course rather than a reversal to the same.
The formula that works
יְהוָה יְהוָה אֵל רַחוּם וְחַנּוּן אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם וְרַב־חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת. נֹצֵר חֶסֶד לָאֲלָפִים, נֹשֵׂא עָוֹן וָפֶשַׁע וְחַטָּאָה…
Read this “Gnadenformel” as an operative bundle: the text names acts that change the situation. Nose avon (נֹשֵׂא עָוֹן) — “bearing iniquity”; notser chesed (נֹצֵר חֶסֶד) — “guarding covenantal loyalty”; erekh appayim (אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם) — “long patience.” Numbers 14:18 makes the use explicit: Moshe invokes the formula as a working warrant for a new beginning.
Justice and mercy together
In the Hebrew Bible, mishpat (מִשְׁפָּט) and tzedek (צֶדֶק) are not the rivals of rachamim (רַחֲמִים). They are often paired — different registers of one fidelity. Later language will call this the tension of midat ha-din (מִדַּת הַדִּין) and midat ha-rachamim (מִדַּת הָרַחֲמִים). The result is neither soft leniency nor hard legalism, but a way to repair life without denying its integrity, from berit (בְּרִית, covenant) to communal practice.
The Goldberg thread
„El ist nicht der Weltschöpfer, sondern der Weltverwirklicher.”
— Oskar Goldberg, Die Wirklichkeit der Hebräer
Goldberg’s line is stark: Hashem is less a distant maker than the power that actualizes a world for a people. In this light, forgiveness (selichah, סְלִיחָה) is not sentiment; it is reintegration into a stream of reality — a return to efficacy and belonging for Israel (יִשְׂרָאֵל). The past is not erased; a derekh chadashah (דֶּרֶךְ חֲדָשָׁה), a new way through, is opened.
How to read it in practice
- Start with genre. Tefillah (תְּפִלָּה, plea), mizmor (מִזְמוֹר, hymn), sipur (סִפּוּר, narrative), viddui (וִדּוּי, confession) — the same word works differently in each.
- Track the formula. Where Exodus 34:6–7 is quoted, what is cited, what is trimmed, and what changes afterward?
- Watch the pairings. When chen (חֵן) or chesed (חֶסֶד) appear with mishpat/tzedek</em), expect coupling, not contrast.
- Keep the communal lens. The primary addressee is Israel; the individual receives through the people’s renewed life.
Conclusion
To say that Hashem is “merciful” (rachum, רַחוּם) is to say that the world can be refounded — that a blocked future can open, not because guilt (avonot, עֲוֹנוֹת) is forgotten, but because a new path becomes available. Forgiveness is not amnesia; it is the craft of beginning again.
Yochanan Schimmelpfennig
Independent Researcher / Possest Institute
