Justice in the Old Testament by Lynn Jost
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Introduction
“Justice” translates the Hebrew noun mišpaṭ (421 Old Testament uses) and comes from the verb “to judge,” šapaṭ (used 203 times). In contrast to the primarily legal orientation in Western use, Hebrew justice is a relational covenant term. At its root, Hebrew “justice” is a value-free term that details the system of governance (or rule, or authority), and with it the social concept of what is right, important, “just” (Walsh: 3-4).
Divine and Royal Justice
Walsh summarizes the term as “having the say” and analyzes the biblical narrative as a constant struggle between the mišpaṭ of the Lord, Yahweh, and that of the powerful, rulers, especially the king (Walsh: 3). In short, human values are divided between a construct in which the greatest good is the accumulation of power and status and the biblical call to care for the marginalized. Yahweh’s mišpaṭ refers “to the restoration of a situation or environment which promoted equity and harmony (shalom) in a community” (Mafico: 1128). “Royal justice,” a counter-justice system, neglects the marginalized to the advantage of the violent, the wealthy, and the powerful. “Each king had to decide between acting as a just ruler who adjudicated disputes of all kinds (1 Kings 3) and a ruinous tyrant who looted the country for political gain (1 Kings 21; 2 Kings 15:19–20)” (Master: 516).
While royal justice is the system that enslaves Israel in Egypt and divine justice frees them from Pharaoh, one of the clearest delineations of royal justice is found in 1 Samuel 8 where the elders of Israel insist that Samuel give them a king. Though English translations usually obscure the presence of the word mišpaṭ in the Lord’s speech to Samuel, the Lord instructs Samuel to warn the elders of the mišpaṭ of the king (8:9). Though English versions variously render the term as “how a king will treat them,” (CEV), “practice” (NASB 2020), “claim as his rights” (NIV), or “manner” (KJV), a more literal translation would be, “Tell them the king’s justice.” Samuel informs the people of the king’s mišpaṭ, a list of what the king will demand of them in service and the goods of the people (8:11-18).
The Deuteronomic law of the king (Deut 17:14-20) seeks to restrain royal power by limiting the king from accumulating much wealth, weaponry, and royal alliances through marriage with foreign royalty, and by insisting that the king observe the Torah instructions regarding justice. In contrast, Solomon, a central character in the narrative of Israel’s monarchy, accumulates unparalleled wealth, weapons, and wives and disregards the prophet and the law as described in 1 Kings 1–11. In a footnote that may be read ironically, the text asserts that the officials brought enormous stores to Solomon according to their mišpaṭ (1 Kings 4:28 Engl/5:8 Heb, duty in NASB 2020; quotas NIV; charge NRSV). Psalm 72, a psalm attributed to Solomon in the ascription affixed by later scribes, is a prayer for royal justice by Yahweh’s values, a king who will defend the afflicted and care for the needy. Selfish accumulation of wealth and power is the antithesis of biblical justice.
William J. Doorly concludes that the prophetic judgment against Solomon and the loss of the tribes known as Israel (1 Kings 11–12) is an indictment against Solomon’s violations of Yahweh’s justice. He further argues that Solomon’s royal adversary Jeroboam himself follows Solomon’s practice, demanding slave labor of the Israelites, and loses his kingdom because of his own rejection of Yahwistic mišpaṭ; this became known as the characteristic sin of Israel and its kings, the sins of Jeroboam. Doorly rests his case on the summary of the sins of Israel that led to exile as narrated in 2 Kings 17, where the word mišpaṭ appears eight times, frequently translated practices (NIV) or custom(s) (CEV; NASB). Royal mišpaṭ, according to the narrative of 1–2 Samuel and 1–2 Kings, is a systematic breach of covenant relations with humans in the form of accumulated wealth and power and oppressive social practices, including slave labor, overwhelming taxes, military conscription, and exorbitant interest rates that devastated the populace.
Positively, the justice of the Lord (Yahweh) is characterized by an entire system of relationships where righteousness and justice are practiced. The two terms, “righteousness” (ṣedakah) and “justice,” are used as a pair so frequently that they become a sort of hendiadys, a word pair that together conveys one meaning. If they can be distinguished, “righteousness” describes appropriate personal relationships within a covenant made possible by a system of values and laws that “justice” establishes.
In the NT these terms are translated by a single Greek word (dikaiosynē), most frequently translated righteousness; however, when informed by the OT terms, it includes both dimensions of those terms (e.g., Rom 1:17 and 3:21-26, which also contains the verb dikaioō, “to justify or make right”).
The Lord is the God of divine justice, the one who cares for orphans, widows, and “strangers” (immigrants but possibly also natives who are bereft of home and family, according to Mark Glanville: 41, 97, 100, 229, 262). The God of justice calls for humans to practice divine justice, a mandate that is both central to covenant and universal in its scope.
Justice through the Hebrew Bible
A survey of biblical justice is incomplete without illustrations of the practice of justice throughout the Old Testament. The first account of creation demonstrates that the call to practice divine justice is universal, a mandate for all humanity. According to Genesis 1, humans, male and female, are created in the image of God. To be created in God’s image is to be given a mandate to represent God as they rule over the created order with God’s mišpaṭ. Creation in God’s image as “male and female” underlines the corporate or community nature of the mandate to act as God’s delegates or emissaries (Middleton 341). Unlike the royal justice of surrounding nations grounded in their creation myths, to be created in God’s image according to Genesis 1 is to be called as a community to rule as God does, to practice shalom-filled divine justice (355). This is represented in a complementary way in Genesis 2:15, where the vocational instruction bids humanity to “serve” and “protect” the garden. In a soliloquy in Genesis 18:19, the Lord reminds himself (and us, the audience of the biblical text) that God’s purpose for all of Abraham’s household and descendants—that is, for all faithful people—is that they are “to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness (ṣedakah) and justice (mišpaṭ).”
The Exodus story also demonstrates God’s concern for justice. When the enslaved people cry out in their distress, God remembers his covenant, hears their cries (2:23-24), and delivers them from slavery. The Lord recalls that he had delivered Israel from Egypt, made a covenant with them, and given them his mišpaṭ (2 Kings 17:35-39). While the motivation for keeping Sabbath in Exodus 20 is to follow God’s rest on the seventh day, Deuteronomy 5 institutes Sabbath for all people and animals in memory of the slavery that Israel endured in Egypt. To “do justice” and to love God are inseparable acts. Covenant stipulations demand generous treatment of the poor (e.g., Deut 15:1-18; Ps 10:18).
To be sure, biblical justice includes fairness and equity. Importantly, the Covenant Law instructs the people not to pervert justice, to show favoritism, to permit bribery, or to oppress a stranger (Exod 23:2-3, 6-7, 8, 9; Lev 19:15; Deut 1:17). But Western justice principles of equal treatment under the law do not fulfill the call for biblical justice. Social responsibility includes protecting widows and orphans (Exod 22:22-24). Perhaps the most basic human right protected by the Torah is the requirement to offer compassion to the neighbor whose cloak is taken in pledge (Exod 22:25-27). The cloak is understood to be the last piece of valuable personal property of a poor person, the garment necessary to withstand unfavorable winds, cold, or sun. The law requires that even if this item is given as surety for a loan, it is to be returned each evening at nightfall to protect this poor, homeless person’s life.
In a single reference, the administration of righteousness and justice is credited to King David at the beginning of his reign (2 Sam 8:15). When the Lord responds to Solomon’s request for wisdom in a dream, God offers him the capacity to understand and do justice (1 Kings 3:11-12, 28); the queen of Sheba reminds King Solomon that God has placed him on the throne to do justice and righteousness (1 Kings 10:9). As noted above the failure to practice Yahwistic justice leads to Israel’s exile and to continued struggles for the people who occupy their abandoned land (2 Kings 17).
When Job wrestles with God’s justice (or lack thereof), the primary concern is fair treatment but the concern for care of the poor is also mentioned (Job 20:19; 29:11-12; 30:25). As noted above, Psalm 72 pleads for a king who justly cares for the oppressed. Psalm 146 contrasts human princes with the true justice of the Lord whose reign sustains stranger, orphan, and widow (146:9). As elsewhere, in Proverbs justice not only involves fair trade (16:11) and impartiality (18:5), but also concern to care for the poor (14:31, 19:17; 31:8-9).
Isaiah opens with a call to do justice for orphans and widows (1:17). Jeremiah declares that the Lord delights in justice, righteousness, and mercy (9:24). Jeremiah contrasts the justice of Josiah who defended the cause of the poor and needy with the injustice of his son who built palaces with slave labor and shed innocent blood (22:13-17). Ezekiel declares that the sin of Sodom is arrogance and opulence without concern for the poor and needy (16:49) and pronounces judgment on those who oppressed the needy and the stranger without justice (22:29). Amos announces judgment on Israel’s injustice, trampling the poor and denying justice to the oppressed (2:7) while calling for justice and righteousness to flow like a river (5:24). Micah says the righteous are to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God (6:8).
Conclusion
Though the call to offer care for the marginalized is frequent throughout the Torah, both Former Prophets (Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings) and Latter Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the Twelve [minor prophets]), as well as the Writings (especially Psalms and the wisdom literature), the basis for this mandate is in the person and mission of the Lord himself. A primary text that addresses the covenant people is Deuteronomy 10:12-22, which begins with a customary Deuteronomic call to love God, obey God, walk with God, and live in covenant faithfulness. The rhetorical crescendo reaches its high point with a reference to the “God of gods” and the “Lord of lords” who defends the orphan and widow, loves the stranger, and calls on covenant people to imitate God because they themselves were strangers in Egypt.
In sum, humans are called to imitate the Lord who loves the kind of justice that cares for orphans and widows, feeds aliens, and offers relief to the oppressed. The “justice” of the powerful is condemned as injustice. All humans, particularly those who live in covenant with the Lord, practice justice when they, like the Lord, develop structures and practice relationships that sustain shalom and provide for the marginalized.
Bibliography
- Doorly, William J. Obsession with Justice: The Story of the Deuteronomists. New York: Paulist, 1994.
- Glanville, Mark. Adopting the Stranger as Kindred in Deuteronomy. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2018.
- Mafico, Temba L. J. “Just, Justice.” In ABD, 1992, 3:1127–29.
- Master, Daniel M. “Institutions of Trade in 1 and 2 Kings.” In The Books of Kings: Sources, Composition, Historiography and Reception, edited by André Lemaire and Baruch Halpern, 501–16. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2010.
- Middleton, J. Richard, “Created in the Image of a Violent God?: The Ethical Problem of the Conquest of Chaos in Biblical Creation Texts.” Interpretation 58:4 (2004): 341–55.
- Walsh, J. P. M. The Mighty from Their Thrones: Power in the Biblical Tradition. Overtures to Biblical Theology. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987.
