Choice Word: “Tzaddeq” (Righteous Justice)
Choice Word: “Tzaddeq” (Righteous Justice).
CAUTION: SKIM AT YOUR OWN RISK. In this era of amazing advances in technology, there are sometimes unexpected consequences that turn out to be harmful to our Christian faith. One of these harmful improvements is the flood of believers who read scripture online, on the smart phone, on the computer screen. I’m convinced there should be a warning label on every one of the online Bibles… CAUTION: SKIM AT YOUR OWN RISK. So many of us now read the Word like we would read our emails or social media or the daily news. We skim the material hurriedly, superficially, carelessly. We skim the Scripture. Skim-reading the Bible doesn’t really bury the seed very deeply, of course. And in our skimming, we would be more likely to just skip over an important word or phrase without thinking, a word that could be vital to the whole passage. The fact is, the Bible is full of single words or short phrases that are too important to simply gloss over as if it wasn’t there. There are times in the Word when single words are intended to feed us, nourish our faith, stimulate us to think at a deeper level about the biblical text.
There are single words in Scripture that are like stop signs asking us to stop and consider carefully, to pause before moving forward in the reading. This series on my blog will try to unpack some of these power-packed words or phrases in Scripture… Words like: Behold; Rejoice; Truly; Woe; Blessed; Beware; Come; If. And I will attempt to also explore the meanings of some short phrases that are single words in the original biblical language, such as “Himeni” (Here I am); “Shema” (Listen and Do’); “Splagchnizonai” (deeply moved with compassion); “pistence” (believe), and “kal-v’chomer” (How much more). If it is poetically possible to “see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wildflower, and hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour,” as William Blake once imagined, then certainly we readers of Scripture can find a world of meaning in a single word, we can grasp something profound in a simple phrase.
“For the Word of the Lord is upright; And all His work is done in faithfulness. He loves righteousness (tzaddeq) and justice (mishpat); the earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord.” (Psalm 33:4-5).
Righteousness and Justice in the Hebrew Bible. There are two words translated as “justice” in the Hebrew Bible, “mishpat” and “tzaddeq.” One word, mishpat, is usually translated as saving justice. The other word is tzaddeq, and is usually translated as either righteousness or justice. In some translations you will see “justice” for tzaddeq, and other translations will have “righteousness”. These two Hebrew words are often paired together in the Old Testament, because they are considered so similar in meaning. “Thus says the Lord: Preserve justice, and do righteousness, for my salvation is about to come and my righteousness to be revealed. How blessed is the person who does this…” (Isaiah 56:1). In one excellent translation of that verse, instead of righteousness, put it this way, …”my “saving justice” will be revealed.” Another passage says, “To do righteousness (tzaddeq) and justice (mishpat) is desired by the Lord rather than sacrifice.” (Proverbs 21:3). It seems righteousness and justice are each used to accompany the other, and both are often said in the same breath. A righteous person reveals his/her righteousness by practicing justice. A just person is certainly that way because s/he is filled with righteousness. And both qualities together form a central characteristic of God’s character. To be just and righteous is to live in a way that is consistent with the moral demands of God. To do what is right and just is to be in synch with the very Spirit of God. For the only possible Source of justice and righteousness, the only perfect example we have of those qualities, is the Lord Himself. Taken together, justice and righteousness is demonstrating “the perfect rightness of God,” the holiness of the Lord, and is deserving of highest honors and acclaim. Yahweh Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts, is exalted through His justice (mishpa); God the Holy One proves His holiness through His righteousness and justice (tzaddeq).” (Isaiah 5:16).
Mishpat (mish-pawt) = Hebrew word for “saving justice;” treating people equitably and fairly; giving others their human rights in freedom; advocating for what is properly due to others as fellow human beings made in the image of God; wisely defending others who are being treated unfairly, including the powerless, the vulnerable, and those who are unable to defend themselves; exercising the righteous judgments that reflect the character of God. “Dispense true justice, and practice kindness and compassi0n each to one another; and do not oppress the widow or the orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.” (Zechariah 7:9-10).
Tsaddiyq (tsad-deek) = Hebrew word rooted in the word for righteousness; a person who is upright, just, godly, in right standing with God; who lives according to God’s standards; a title in Judaism given to people who are especially outstanding in piety, holiness and righteousness; the “tzaddik” has been described as someone who oozes goodness, who takes joy in justice, who loves to blamelessly puts things right. A righteous person is one who lives a life pleasing to God. “I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” (Isaiah 61:10).
“Behold, the days are coming, says Yahweh, when I will raise up from David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days, Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the Name by which he will be called: Yahweh-tsidkenu, LORD-our-righteousness.” (Jeremiah 23:5-6).
Tsidkenu: this Hebrew word was only used a couple of times, and its root word is directly from tsaddeq. It means much the same thing… righteousness; saving justice; upright; someone who is perfectly what he ought to be; full of truth, integrity and wisdom; unswerving adherence to righteous standards of fairness; blamelessly put things right.
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For this struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm, then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness (dikaios) in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” (Ephesians 6:10-20).
Dikaios = the Greek word in the New Testament sort of combines both of those Hebrew words, and means both justice and righteousness. Dikaios can be translated as righteous, just, fair, blameless, innocent, upright; one who has a heart that is right with God, whose character and behavior squares with God’s standards. “For I tell you that unless your uprightness (dikaios) surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of Torah, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20). The followers of Jesus often referred to Him in “dikaios” terms, some of the translations saying He was “the Just One” and others saying “the Righteous One.” (eg, Acts 3:14, 7:32).
Jesus is our righteousness. In our roles as both priest and soldier, we are holy, set apart, and asked to “put on” something. We are to put on the holy breastplate of righteousness as well as a robe of righteousness, garments of blamelessness, virtue, justice, goodness. In fact, what else is this but simply “putting on the Lord Jesus” (Romans 13:14)! God has graciously provided the Lord’s righteousness as we live into the holy priesthood and the army of God. His breastplate of righteousness means that this not a breastplate of our own construction. One of the names our Father gave to the Messiah in Jeremiah 23:6 is “The Lord Is Our Righteousness.” Jesus Himself is our righteousness, He is our breastplate. When we put on Jesus and His righteousness, we are participating in His perfect righteousness, and not merely depending on our own righteousness to suffice as our ultimate protection. Jesus was strong to resist temptation in the wilderness and throughout His life. Wearing His breastplate will do the same for us. After all, as it is with all other aspects of our Christian life, it’s not about us. It’s about putting on Jesus and living into His righteousness. Because He is holy, we are to be holy: in the way we live, the decisions we make, the behavior we demonstrate. When we put on the holy armor, we are “clothing ourselves in Christ” (Galatians 3:27). We are “putting on the new self which is in the likeness of God and has been created in righteousness and holiness in the truth” (Eph. 4:24). Our breastplate is described well in Colossians 3:12: “And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving each other. And beyond all these things, put on love.” That is what our breastplate of righteousness looks like. These are the holy virtues of Christ, and we put them on when we put on His breastplate.
Hid in Christ. When we put on the holy breastplate of Jesus, we are in a sense hiding behind it. We have found our hiding place. His righteousness is covering over us. We are “hid in Christ” (Colossians 3:3) when we put on the breastplate. We are confidently and faithfully hiding behind God’s declaration that we are now holy and righteous in His eyes. When God looks at us now, He sees Jesus. When God sees us with our spiritual armor on, He sees us wearing the holy, protective gear of Christ Himself. We can not generate our own righteousness and try to put that on. We instead participate in Christ’s righteousness. We do not declare ourselves to be holy warrior priests. We live into God’s calling us to those roles in His strength. “He has brought you into His own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before Him without a single fault.” (Colossians 1:22). In our spiritual warfare, we stand firm and protect our hearts because we have put on the righteousness of Jesus. And we are expected to mature in that righteousness, walking in the holiness that has been declared by God and fleshed out in the Lord.
“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:9-11).