Now let’s incorporate this information in the words of Yeshua and consider what that would have meant to his Jewish audience:
I did not come to call the righteous.
I am here to call sinners, to repentance.
When we find HESED in a text the first things we need to do are these:
(1) identify the parties involved in the reciprocal relationship;
(2) discover why the relationship exists in the first place;
(3) understand why either party would be required to take a reciprocal action.
In order to understand the point Yeshua is making, we need to use the parallelism model again:
“The righteous” are the people from all nations who did the things above for their fellow humans. The people Yeshua told to “go and learn what this means” were his fellow Jews. Now let's include what we learned about HESED above with the information about the righteous.
(1) The parties involved are people who present sacrifices to Yahweh, which means they are Jews.
(2) The relationship exists because of their covenant with Yahweh.
(3) The covenant requires Jews to take specific actions when they sin and Yahweh has promised to take reciprocal
actions in return.
Since Yeshua used the term “the righteous” above, then the definition of sinners would be "those who did not do acts of righteousness,” like those mentioned above. “The righteous” were the people who did HESED and upheld the responsibilities of their reciprocal relationships with their fellow humans and “sinners” failed to do uphold their responsibilities of doing HESED. Keep in mind that acts of HESED for one’s fellow humans are these:
(1) doing favors and benefits for other people;
(2) doing acts of kindness to the lowly, needy and miserable;
(3) doing acts of affection or love for Israel;
(4) doing acts that are beautiful in appearance to eyes of the Creator (acts of TOV).
There is no doubt that Yeshua was also very familiar with the words of Micah 6:6-8:
When Jesus heard that, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire HESED and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
"Go and Learn" Page 3
With what shall I come before Yahweh, and bow myself before the High God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has shown you, O man, what is TOV;
and what is Yahweh seeking from you except to do justice, to love HESED,
and to walk humbly with your God
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides sheep from the goats. And he will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 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; was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me.’
Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Master, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you. Or when did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?’
And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Amen! I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’ (Matthew 25:31-40)
It is important for us to let Yeshua define his words when possible. “The righteous” is a term he spent a great deal of time on in his teachings:
The Real Yeshua
Micah declared the same message as Hosea, but adds a few more details. Almost everything recorded that Yeshua taught is directly linked to doing acts of TZEDAQAH (righteousness), which includes acts of HESED for others. In the Synoptic Gospels, which are the primary sources of the teachings of Yeshua, there are no teachings about “those who hold correct beliefs will be rewarded by eternity in heaven.” In the quote from Matthew above that defined who "the righteous" were, Yeshua ended it with this -- “the righteous will enter eternal life." According to Yeshua those who do acts of TZEDAQAH and HESED are the ones who will be rewarded with eternal life.
So why do English translation have “mercy” instead of "kindness" in the above verses? Many English translations are based on the decision of translators to use the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures called the Septuagint instead of going directly to the Hebrew text. The Greek translation used the Greek word ELEOS to translate HESED. One of the meanings of ELEOS is "mercy." As a result of their decision, erroneous translations became the “Word of God” for many generations of Christians and also some Jews.