EXOD591 (Continued from [[DEUT619]] Deuteronomy 13:7 friend BLOCH 141). An analysis of the concept of compassion in Judaism is incomplete without a discussion of the areas in which the Bible calls for stern justice. We must also explore such biblical injunctions as the expulsion of the indigenous Canaanites from Palestine and the eradication of the Amalekites, which appear unduly harsh by the standards of enlightened civilized behavior. Why does the Bible tolerate capital punishment and war? How does one explain the law of the blood-avenger (Numbers 35:21) or the so-called lex talionis [this verse]? The answer to these questions rests on two assumptions. (1) Some biblical moral perceptions were not intended to establish a permanent normal ethical behavior. They were merely responses to the temporary exigencies of a particular moment. [2) Biblical ethical values are expressed in terms comprehensible to primitive man, who was heir to long-established, ancient concepts of morality. New ethical concepts, designed to raise the moral level of human behavior, can be effective only if they do no violence to the generally accepted values of society at any given stage of man's development. New standards must be endowed with elasticity that permits them to keep pace with the growth and progress of civilization. This view is correlated to the talmudic maxim: "The Torah adopted language which is understandable to human beings" (Berachot 31b). In its brighter connotation, the teaching of ethics was linked to man's capacity of understanding and acceptance. Each stage of human advancement permits an upgrading of moral perceptions by an evolutionary process.