In regular language, “mercy” means being caring and compassionate toward those who are in poor states. According to Swedenborg, that’s a position we are all in relative to the Lord, all the time. Without the Lord we would be unable to choose what is good; without the Lord we would be unable to formulate a reasonable thought. Without the Lord, in fact, we would instantly cease to exist; we have life only because he constantly gives us life. So we are, quite literally, at the Lord’s mercy. Fortunately, the Lord is caring and compassionate to a degree we cannot fathom; love is his essence. So his mercy toward us never lessens, never abates, never ends; his whole purpose is to bring each of us, individually, to heaven.
The meaning Sweden borg offers for “mercy” in the Bible is closely tied to this idea: it represents love in a general sense, and the desire for good that comes from love. It can also represent the thoughts and ideas that describe love when those thoughts and desires are inspired by love of the Lord.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 6180
6180. ‘And show me mercy and truth’ means humility. This is clear from the meaning of ‘showing mercy’ as the good of love, and from the meaning of ‘showing truth’ as the truth of faith, both of which meanings are dealt with below. When these words are spoken they are words of entreaty, thus of humility. The reason why ‘showingmercy’ means the good of love is that all mercy is an expression of love, for one who has love or charity also has mercy; and his love and charity become mercy when his neighbour is poor or in misery and he comes to that neighbour’s aid while he is in that condition. This is why ‘mercy’ means the good of love. ‘Showing truth’ means the truth of faith for the reason that all truth is the province of faith, which explains why in the original language the word for truth also means faith.
[2] Since the good of love and the truth of faith exist completely joined together and one does not exist without the other, ‘mercyand truth’ was a phrase in common use among the ancients, for they knew well that the good of love was inseparable from the truth of faith. Since they are inseparable the two are mentioned jointly many times in the Word, as in Exodus,
Jehovah great in mercy and truth. Exod. 34:6.
In the second Book of Samuel,
David said to the men of Jabesh, May Jehovah show you mercyand truth. 2 Sam. 2:5, 6.
In the same book,
David said to Ittai the Gittite, Return and take your brethren back with you with mercy and truth. 2 Sam. 15:20.
In Hosea,
Jehovah’s controversy with the inhabitants of the land because there is no truth and no mercy, and no knowledge of God* in the land. Hosea 4:1.
In David,
All the ways of Jehovah are mercy and truth to those keeping His covenant. Ps. 25:10.
In the same author,
O Jehovah, You will not hold back from me Your mercies; let Your mercy and Your truth continually keep me safe. Ps. 40;11.
In the same author,
I will sing the eternal mercies of Jehovah, to generation after generation [I will make known] Your truth with my mouth. For I have said, For ever will mercy be built, in the very heavens You will make firm Your truth. Righteousness and judgement are the support of Your throne, mercy and truth stand before Your face. Ps. 89:1, 2, 14.
Also other places in David besides these – Ps. 26:3; 76:5; 57:3, 10; 61:7; 85:10; 86:15; 89:24, 33; 92:2.
* The Latin means Jehovah but the Hebrew means God, which Sw. has in another place where he quotes this verse.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 10577
10577. ‘And I will be gracious to whom I am gracious, and I will show mercy to whom I show mercy’ means that Divine Truth and Good will be revealed to those who are receptive. This is clear from the meaning of ‘being gracious’ as endowing with spiritual truth and good, in this instance revealing it, since the subject is the inner substance and the outward form of the Church, worship, and the Word; and from the meaning of ‘showing mercy’ as endowing with celestial truth and good, in this instance revealing it. The reason why among those who are receptive is meant is that the internal things of the Word, the Church, and worship are revealed to none but those who are receptive.
[2] The reason why ‘being gracious’ means endowing with spiritual truth and good, and ‘showing mercy’ endowing with celestial truth and good, is that grace is a term used in reference to faith andmercy is a term used in reference to love; and the good of faith is spiritual good, and the good of love is celestial good. What spiritual good and celestial good are, and what is the difference between them, see in the places referred to in 9277. Those who are in the Lord’s spiritual kingdom speak of grace, whereas those who are in the Lord’s celestial kingdom speak of mercy, 598, 981, 5929. Unless there were such a difference between grace and mercy both expressions – ‘being gracious’ and ‘showing mercy’ – would not have been used. For the same reason Jehovah is called both ‘gracious’ and ‘merciful’ in Exod. 34:6; Joel 2:13; Ps. 103:8; 145:8. And in Isaiah,
Therefore Jehovah will remain to show you grace, and therefore He will exalt Himself to be merciful to you. Isa. 30:18.
[3] Because there are two realities to which all things of the Church belong, namely love and faith, and since mercy belongs to love, and grace as well as truth belongs to faith, the Word uses the terms ‘mercy’ and ‘grace’ when the Lord is being implored; but it uses ‘mercy’ and ‘truth’ when He is being described, as in the following places: In David,
Your mercy is before my eyes, and I walk in Your truth. Ps. 26:3.
In the same author,
O Jehovah, Your mercy is in the heavens, and Your truth reaches to the skies. Ps. 36:5.
In the same author,
God will send from the heavens His mercy and His truth. Great even to heaven is Your mercy, and Your truth even to the skies. Ps. 57:3, 10.
In the same author,
Let mercy and truth meet, and let righteousness and peace kiss each other. Ps. 85:10.
In the same author,
I will sing of the mercy of Jehovah forever, to generation after generation [I will make known] Your truth with my mouth. For I have said, Forever will mercy be built, in the very heavens You will make firm Your truth. Righteousness and judgement are the support of Your throne, mercy and truth will stand before Your face. Ps. 89:1, 2, 14.
‘Mercy’ in these places means love and ‘truth’ faith.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 8307
8307. ‘In Your mercy You have led this people’ means the Divine flowing in among those who have been refraining from evils and consequently receiving good. This is clear from the meaning of ‘inmercy leading’ as receiving the Divine; and since people receive the Divine when they refrain from evils, the Divine flowing in among them is meant. As regards mercy shown by the Lord, the Lord’s mercy remains constantly with every individual person; for the Lord wishes to save all the people there are. But that mercycannot flow into them until evils have been removed; for evils, and falsities arising from them, stand in the way and hinder it. As soon as evils are removed however, mercy flows in, that is, good flowing from the Lord out of His mercy; and that good is charity and faith. From this it becomes clear that the Lord’s mercy is universal, that is, is directed towards all people, and is also particular towards those who refrain from evils.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 5132
5132. ‘And show, I beg you, mercy to me’ means the reception of charity. This is clear from the meaning of ‘mercy’ as love, dealt with in 3063, 3073, 3120, 5042, in this case love towards the neighbour, which is charity, since the reception of faith is spoken of above in 5130; for on the level of the senses, when these are born again, faith and charity must make one. The reason ‘mercy’ means charity is that all who have charity have mercy, that is, all who love their neighbour are merciful towards him. This also explains why the Word describes the practice of charity as acts ofmercy, as in Matthew,
I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to me. Matt. 25:35, 36.
And in other places the practice of charity is described as acts ofmercy done to the poor, the afflicted, widows, and orphans.
[2] Charity consists essentially in desiring the welfare of one’s neighbour, in having an affection for what is good, and in acknowledging that since what is good is one’s neighbour, those who are governed by good are consequently one’s neighbour, but varyingly so, depending on the amount of good that governs the individual person. Therefore since charity consists in having an affection for what is good, it also consists in feelings of mercy for those in distress. The good of charity holds such feelings within it because it comes down from the Lord’s love towards the whole human race, a love which is ‘mercy’ because the whole human race is in distress. Mercy sometimes seems to exist among the evil who have no charity. But this is a case of pain because of their own suffering; for it consists in a concern for friends whom they identify with themselves, and when those friends suffer, they suffer too. This kind of mercy is not the mercy that belongs to charity but that which goes with friendship based on self-interest, which regarded in itself is the opposite of mercy. That kind of person despises and hates everyone else apart from himself, and so everyone else apart from the friends whom he identifies with himself.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 8879
8879. ‘And showing mercy to thousands’ means goodness and truth imparted to them for evermore. This is clear from the meaning of ‘mercy’ as the influx of goodness and truth from the Lord, and therefore spiritual life imparted through regeneration, dealt with in 6180, 8307, for out of mercy the Lord imparts the gifts that belong to eternal life and happiness; and from the meaning of ‘a thousand’ as very much and, when it refers to God’s mercy, as for evermore, dealt with in 2575, 8715.