cheenc03a.pdf

RICSHT, RIGHTEOUSNESS
in dim. Biraa from ' cusMm,' ' 03mrvanl of recognired
$~snge,'l tili they stod for absolute justice and the man
of ideal virtue. Similar analogies obviously appear in
the Latin justus, and in our own terms 'right,'
, iighteou.,' etc.
It is doubtful whrther real instances of the mimitive
use-viz., agreement with a physical norm-ntlll survive
a, Development in Hebrew. Lev. 1936 Ezek. 4510,
'exacl balances,' 'exactweights.' etc.,
Of meaning'
are commonly quoted as caws in point.
The parra~er, however, are laie,and us the contiarted
notion of iniuultv . , occur9 in the immediate context, it
is by no mans clear that we should not translate
,righteous balances,' etc. Similarly 'paths of jdde&' in
Ps. 213 may mean 'paths of righteournesr,' not simply
'straight paths.' Still less can Joei 223 be alleged as
an e~aniple of rtdahdh in its original-i.e, physicalsignification,
for the translation gwen by Kautzrch
' earlv rain in full mrasure' is more than doubtful.
we kay perhaps acquiesce in the translation 'early
rain for your justification'-i.r.. in proof that Yahwe
has once more graciously accepted his people (so Wetlh.,
Nowack, and Smend, AT KeI-gesch. .+t9fi).
Fassing from the idea of conformity to a physical
standard, we have to note the use of the plu. jmdi@Ih
(m,??~) in the earliest fragment of Hebrew literatureviz.,
the so-called 'Song of Deborah.' There the poet
describes the valiant deeds of the Hebrews as due to
the help which Yahwk gave, and might as the tribal
God br fai~ly expected to give, his people. This seema
to be his conception of &i@lh. It involves liitk or
no ethical element. Yahw& acted in aceordam with
the natural bond between his worshippers and himelf,
and the olural form indicates the various ocurionr on
which hehrd n.
To the m e c k we may perhapd der DI. .?air, vhete God
is said ro hluo noup rpe ?-&+ah of Y2,hwS hsavle he wrr
the instrtmcnr or t e dtvlne p by re iha~ ths br 4
Israel. I" the nam pm(th.%shg DL. 33.9,
Zchilun calh thi uih. ro ame racred nauntiin t& h y -7
offer 'iacrinfer of '&h,' and this may mean no more than
sacrik onered aceordmg to the r- i d form
ad a3 a ,nuns ior bccer confcned. it chi:
intnpelirion bc som4 the erhiul ehnr h not whoih
absent; but h isslill faint Uld r"dimenl3L~y.S
We h e to daal nexl with the man7 case in which
the legat -. signification predominates. In the 'Book
$, leM or of the Cose~nt' (Ex.ZS7) we read.
'Thou sMt not put to death him who
iorensfc
in innocent and jaddi#; where cl-iy
"nss'
the kg.irb is mr link in^ d virt-r
chwner, bm of inn-ee from the charge bro~ght
before the court This resaicred use always continued
lmg after the deeper end mwc universal -"ing had
become familiar
l=iah, for exarnp~s(~z~rpclkr of TT n?2ri4., the PIof
n man who h- a god cawmd h Prov. 18 us are told
that rhc 6irf comer isright ($W.,., seems to be right in Kin
anywhere in the OT: indeed the use of th~ verb 327: in Gen.
38.6 @he only mcurrence of Kd in ibe Hrxnfeuck) rniy fairly
br accepted u proof that the djcctive had no feminine $2"".
~hir lnry be narurr!lv mounted for on the . that 3-3 . ..
meant ori~inallp 'righr in law,' ad that n woman wu not a
'person' with legal nghtr.
In early literature the ore of theverb is almostwholly
confined to the Hiphil, and the meaning of the verb
correrpbndr to that of the adjective. In other words,
the Hiphil verb means to decide in favour of a litigant,
by declaring him to be in the right. So, for example,
8 I, . "Iw.