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The
Four Key Words
Part II
Justice
by Jim Myers
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Note: This is the second part of ‘The Four Key
Words. The first
part explained the meaning of the Hebrew word ‘tzedakah,’ loosely translated
into English
as ‘righteousness.’ Before we could write Part Two, we lost track of the
article. That's because we have hundreds of articles which are not catalogued because,
frankly, we don’t have time.
We assume that God has
many attributes, the characteristics that define Him as Who He is. One of the most
important to us, at least, is that of Justice. We see God as the righteous Creator Who has
established the difference between justice and the lack of it.
As justice is one of
God’s attributes, He also expects his creation to carry it out. Since we are not God,
it is necessary that He supply the information as to what justice is. We find that in our
Bibles. It is thus our obligation to observe those commandments, thereby imitating God.
And since America has been leaning toward the anti-biblical concept of "doing
whatever you wish as long as it hurts no one," it follows that we should strive to
understand the true concept of the Hebrew word mishpat.
The Hebrew word mishpat
is found in the King James Version of the Bible translated as various English words. This
alone should tip you off that there is no exact English equivalent of the Hebrew word. The
five most frequent English ‘equivalents’ there are, are ‘judgment,’
‘manner,’ ‘right,’ ‘cause,’
and ‘ordinance.’
Mishpat is
different from the word tzedakah (in the June article), which is also sometimes
translated as ‘justice.’ Tzedakah came to be recognized by the rabbis as
something like ‘obligatory charity.’ That is, charity is not a
choice. It is an obligation.
On the other hand, mishpat,
‘justice,’ is an obligation to do whatever is necessary to increase the
quality of a person’s welfare. It is synonymous with ‘holiness,’
and is closely related to such concepts as ‘mercy,’ ‘grace,’
‘peace,’ and ‘redemption.’ Obviously, these concepts are not only
expected of God toward people, but of people toward people, as well. Remember, in
following God’s commandments, we are imitating God.
The Hebrew concept of
‘righteousness,’ the one we logically should follow, is different from that of
the Greeks. Our problem is that we here in America have learned the Greek way of thinking.
In the Greek
analytical way of thinking, ‘righteousness’ is considered to be ‘the way to
do things.’ It is retributive (taking from the guilty) and distributive (distributing
to the victim).
In contrast, the
Hebrew concept considers ‘righteousness’ to be ‘what life should be
like.’ It is equivalent to the concept of ‘love’ (not the Greek one) and is
concerned with the full enhancement of social welfare.
We have now covered
the concepts of Righteous and Justice. We are halfway. The remaining concepts are those of
Repentance and Holiness.
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