We hear all the time that God is merciful, but what does "mercy" mean to God? I'm not going to pronounce the Tetragrammaton, which is the Name of God that stands for mercy, but I will spell it in Hebrew: Yud-Hei----Vav-Hei. The separation of the halves so as not to even spell the full Name is intentional.
In Shemos (Exodus) 6:3, God tells Moshe (Moses) that the Jewish Forefathers Avraham (Abraham), Yitzchak (Isaac), and Yaacov (Jacob) DID NOT KNOW Yud-Hei----Vav-Hei. How could this be? Yud-Hei----Vav-Hei is found everywhere in God's Hebrew Scriptures, even when God is speaking with the Jewish Forefathers.
"Did not know," does not mean they had no knowledge of the Name. It means they did not understand the full significance of the Name. In Shemos 15:3, we find out this significance. God has just executed the entire Egyptian army, by drowning them in the Yam Suf (Reed Sea/Red Sea). The Jewish Nation goes into song, and Verse 15:3 sings (reads): "Yud-Hei----Vav-Hei is a Man (figurative not literal) of WAR, Yud-Hei----Vav-Hei is His Name."
Is WAR merciful? We are told here that it is...if it is the right kind of war.
What were the Jews doing at the Yam Suf? They were being taken to affirm their commitment to God's bris/covenant with the Jewish Nation. What were the Egyptians doing? They were on a mission to stop this affirmation, by either killing the Jews or bringing them back.
The result: God killed the entire army of Egyptian pursuers...and this to God is MERCY. What matters in this world is our relationship with God, and that relationship is COVENANTAL - NOT RELIGIOUS. Heaven help all those who try to hurt or hinder this relationship.
You will see another example of the Merciful Yud-Hei----Vav-Hei in Shemos 17:14, where God says, "I, Yud-Hei----Vav-Hei, will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the Heavens." God uses a Hebrew word for "blot out" twice: 1) mahcho, 2) emhche. This is God telling us ONE "blot out" for this temporary realm, and ONE "blot out" for the permanent realm which is coming...and this too is MERCY by God's standards.
Who is Amalek to suffer this terrible curse? Our sages teach us that Amalek has a dual meaning: 1) an actual people which attack the Jews, and, 2) ANY people which attack the Jews.
In the next writing, I will discuss the ways in which Jews are attacked. Preview: Execution, Assimilation, Persecution, Intermarriage, and some comments concerning Proselytizing.