4. Even to dumb beasts God extends His mercy. This Jewish tenderness is an inheritance from the shepherd life of the patriarchs, who were eager to quench the thirst of the animals in their care before they thought of their own comfort.(344) This sense of sympathy appears in the Biblical precepts as to the overburdened beast,(345) the ox treading the corn,(346) and the mother-beast or mother-bird with her young,(347) as well as the Talmudic rule first to feed the domestic animals and then sit down to the meal.(348) This has remained a characteristic trait of Judaism. Thus, in connection with the verse of the Psalm, “His tender mercies are over all His works,”(349) it is related of Rabbi Judah the Saint, the redactor of the Mishnah, that he was afflicted with pain for thirteen years, and gave as reason that he once struck and kicked away a calf which had run to him moaning for protection; he was finally relieved, after he had taught his household to have pity even on the smallest of creatures.(350) In fact, Rabban Gamaliel, his grandfather, had taught before him: “Whosoever has compassion on his fellow-creatures, on him God will have compassion.”(351) The sages often interpret the phrase “To walk in the way of the Lord”—that is, “As the Holy One, blessed be He, is merciful, so be ye also merciful.”(352) 5. Thus the rabbis came to regard _love_ as the innermost part of God’s being. _God loves mankind_, is the highest stage of consciousness of God, but this can be attained only by the closest relation of the human soul to the Most High, after severe trials have softened and humanized the spirit. It is not accidental that Scripture speaks often of God’s goodness, mercy, and grace, but seldom mentions His love. Possibly the term _ahabah_ was used at first for sensuous love and therefore was not employed for God so often as the more spiritual _hesed_, which denotes kind and loyal affection.(353) However, Hosea used this term for his own love for his faithless wife, and did not hesitate to apply it also to God’s love for His faithless people, which he terms “a love of free will.”(354) His example is followed by Jeremiah, most tender of the prophets, who gave the classic expression to the everlasting love of God for Israel, His beloved son.(355) This divine love, spiritually understood, forms the chief topic of the Deuteronomic addresses.(356) In this book God’s love appears as that of a father for his son, who lavishes gifts upon him, but also chastises him for his own good.(357) The mind opened more and more to regard the trials sent by God as means of ennobling the character,(358) and the men of the Talmudic period often speak of the afflictions of the saints as “visitations of the divine love.”(359)