1. The unshakable faith of the Jewish people was ever sustained by the
consciousness that its God is a God of justice. The conviction that He
will not suffer wrong to go unpunished was read into all the stories of
the hoary past. The Babylonian form of these legends in common with all
ancient folk-lore ascribes human calamity to blind fate or to the caprice
of the gods, but the Biblical narratives assume that evil does not befall
men undeserved, and therefore always ascribe ruin or death to human
transgression. So the Jewish genius beheld in the destruction of Sodom and
Gomorrah a divine judgment upon the depraved inhabitants, and derived from
it a lesson for the household of Abraham that they should “keep the way of
the Lord to do righteousness and justice.”(303) The fundamental principle
of Judaism throughout the ages has been the teaching of the patriarch that
“the Judge of all the earth cannot act unjustly,”(304) even though the
varying events of history force the problem of justice upon the attention
of Jeremiah,(305) the Psalmists,(306) the author of the book of Job,(307)
and the Talmudical sages.(308) “Righteousness and justice are the
foundations of Thy throne”(309)—this is the sum and substance of the
religious experience of Israel. At the same time man realizes how far from
his grasp is the divine justice: “Thy righteousness is like the mighty
mountains; Thy judgments are like the great deep.”(310)
2. The Master-builder of the moral world made justice the supporting
pillar of the entire creation. “He is The Rock, His work is perfect, for
all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just
and right is He.”(311) There can be no moral world order without a
retributive justice, which leaves no infringement of right unpunished,
just as no social order can exist without laws to protect the weak and to
enforce general respect. The God of Judaism rules over mankind as Guardian
and Vindicator of justice; no wrong escapes His scrutinizing gaze. This
fundamental doctrine invested history, of both the individual and the
nation, with a moral significance beyond that of any other religious or
ethical system.
Whatever practice or sense of justice may exist among the rest of mankind,
it is at best a glimpse of that divine righteousness which leads us on and
becomes a mighty force compelling us, not only to avoid wrongdoing, but to
combat it with all the passion of an indignant soul and eradicate it
wherever possible. Though in our daily experience justice may be sadly
lacking, we still cling to the moral axiom that God will lead the right to
victory and will hurl iniquity into the abyss. As the sages remark in the
Midrash: “How could short-sighted and short-lived man venture to assert,
‘All His ways are just,’ were it not for the divine revelation by which
the eyes of Moses were opened, so that he could gaze into the very depths
of life?”(312) That is, the idea of divine justice is revealed, not in the
world as it is, but in the world as it should be, the ideal cosmos which
lives in the spirit.
3. It cannot be denied that justice is recognized as a binding force even
by peoples on a low cultural plane, and the Deity is generally regarded as
the guardian of justice, exactly as in Judaism. This fact is shown by the
use of the oath in connection with judicial procedure among many nations.
Both Roman jurisprudence and Greek ethics declare justice to be the
foundation of the social life. Nevertheless the Jewish ideal of justice
cannot be identified with that of the law and the courts. The law is part
of the social system of the State, by which the relations of individuals
are determined and upheld. The maintenance of this social order, of the
_status quo_, is considered justice by the law, whatever injustice to
individuals may result. But the Jewish idea of justice is not reactionary;
it owes to the prophets its position as the dominating principle of the
world, the peculiar essence of God, and therefore the ultimate ideal of
human life. They fought for right with an insistence which vindicated its
moral significance forever, and in scathing words of indignation which
still burn in the soul they denounced oppression wherever it appeared. The
crimes of the mighty against the weak, they held, could not be atoned for
by the outward forms of piety. Right and justice are not simply matters
for the State and the social order, but belong to God, who defends the
cause of the helpless and the homeless, “who executes the judgment of the
fatherless and the widow,” “who regardeth not persons, nor taketh
bribes.”(313) Iniquity is hateful to Him; it cannot be covered up by pious
acts, nor be justified by good ends. “Justice is God’s.”(314) Thus every
violation of justice, whether from sordid self-seeking or from tender
compassion, is a violation of God’s cause; and every vindication of
justice, every strengthening of the power of right in society, is a
triumph of God.
4. Accordingly, the highest principle of ethics in Judaism, the cardinal
point in the government of the world, is not love, but _justice_. Love has
the tendency to undermine the right and to effeminize society. Justice, on
the other hand, develops the moral capacity of every man; it aims not
merely to avoid wrong, but to promote and develop the right for the sake
of the perfect state of morality. True justice cannot remain a passive
onlooker when the right or liberty of any human being is curtailed, but
strains every effort to prevent violence and oppression. It battles for
the right, until it has triumphed over every injustice. This practical
conception of right can be traced through all Jewish literature and
doctrine; through the laws of Moses, to whom is ascribed the maxim: “Let
the right have its way, though it bore holes through the rock”,(315)
through the flaming words of the prophets;(316) through the Psalmists, who
spoke such words as these: “Thou art not a God who hath pleasure in
wickedness; evil shall not sojourn with Thee. The arrogant shall not stand
in Thy sight; Thou hatest all workers of iniquity.”(317)
Nor does justice stop with the prohibition of evil. The very arm that
strikes down the presumptuous transgressor turns to lift up the meek and
endow him with strength. Justice becomes a positive power for the right;
it becomes _Zedakah_, righteousness or true benevolence, and aims to
readjust the inequalities of life by kindness and love. It engenders that
deeper sense of justice which claims the right of the weak to protection
by the arm of the strong.
5. Hence comes the truth of Matthew Arnold’s striking summary of Israel’s
Law and Prophets in his “Literature and Dogma,” as “The Power, not
ourselves, that maketh for righteousness.” Still, when we trace the
development of this central thought in the soul of the Jewish people, we
find that it arose from a peculiar mythological conception. The God of
Sinai had manifested Himself in the devastating elements of nature—fire,
storm, and hail; later, the prophetic genius of Israel saw Him as a moral
power who destroyed wickedness by these very phenomena in order that right
should prevail. At first the covenant-God of Israel hurls the plagues of
heaven upon the hostile Egyptians and Canaanites, the oppressors of His
people. Afterward the great prophets speak of the Day of JHVH which would
come at the end of days, when God will execute His judgment upon the
heathen nations by pouring forth all the terrors of nature upon them. The
natural forces of destruction are utilized by the Ruler of heaven as means
of moral purification. “For by fire will the Lord contend.”(318)
In this process the sense of right became progressively refined, so that
God was made the Defender of the cause of the oppressed, and the holiest
of duties became the protection of the forsaken and unfortunate. Justice
and right were thus lifted out of the civil or forensic sphere into that
of divine holiness, and the struggle for the down-trodden became an
imperative duty. Judaism finds its strength in the oft-repeated doctrine
that the moral welfare of the world rests upon justice. “The King’s
strength is that he loveth justice,” says the Psalmist, and commenting
upon this the Midrash says, “Not might, but right forms the foundation of
the world’s peace.”(319)
6. Social life, therefore, must be built upon the firm foundation of
justice, the full recognition of the rights of all individuals and all
classes. It can be based neither upon the formal administration of law nor
upon the elastic principle of love, which too often tolerates, or even
approves certain types of injustice. Judaism has been working through the
centuries to realize the ideal of justice to all mankind; therefore the
Jew has suffered and waited for the ultimate triumph of the God of
justice. God’s kingdom of justice is to be established, not in a world to
come, but in the world that now is, in the life of men and nations. As the
German poet has it, “Die Weltgeschichte ist das Weltgericht” (the history
of the world is the world’s tribunal of justice).
7. The recognition of God as the righteous Ruler implies a dominion of
absolute justice which allows no wrongdoing to remain unpunished and no
meritorious act to remain unrewarded. The moral and intellectual maturity
of the people, however, must determine how they conceive retribution in
the divine judgment. Under the simple conditions of patriarchal life, when
common experience seemed to be in harmony with the demands of divine
justice, when the evil-doer seemed to meet his fate and the worthy man to
enjoy his merited prosperity, reward and punishment could well be
expressed by the Bible in terms of national prosperity and calamity. The
prophets, impressed by the political and moral decline of their era,
announced for both Israel and the other nations a day of judgment to come,
when God will manifest Himself as the righteous Ruler of the world. In
fact, those great preachers of righteousness announced for all time the
truth of a _moral government of the world_, with terror for the
malefactors and the assurance of peace and salvation for the righteous.
“He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity”
becomes a song of joyous confidence and hope on the lips of the
Psalmist.(320) This final triumph of justice does not depend, as Christian
theologians assert, on the mere outward conformity of Israel to the
law.(321) On the contrary, it offers to the innocent sufferer the hope
that “his right shall break forth as light,” while “the wicked shall be
put to silence in darkness.”(322) We must admit, indeed, that the Biblical
idea of retribution still has too much of the earthly flavor, and often
lacks true spirituality. The explanation of this lies in the desire of the
expounders of Judaism that _this_ world should be regarded as the
battle-ground between the good and the bad, that the victory of the good
is to be decided _here_, and that the idea of justice should not assume
the character of other-worldliness.
8. It is true that neither the prophets, such as Jeremiah, nor the sages,
such as the authors of Job and Koheleth, actually solved the great enigma
which has baffled all nations and ages, the adjustment of merit and
destiny by divine righteousness. Yet even a doubter like Job does not
despair of his own sense of justice, and wrestles with his God in the
effort to obtain a deeper insight. Still the great mass of people are not
satisfied with an unfulfilled yearning and seeking. The various religions
have gradually transferred the final adjustment of merit and destiny to
the hereafter; the rewards and punishments awaiting man after death have
been depicted glaringly in colors taken from this earthly life. It is not
surprising that Judaism was influenced by this almost universal view. The
mechanical form of the principle of justice demands that “with the same
measure one metes out, it shall be meted out to him,”(323) and this could
not be found either in human justice or in human destiny. Therefore the
popular mind naturally turned to the world to come, expecting there that
just retribution which is lacking on earth.
Only superior minds could ascend to that higher ethical conception where
compensation is no longer expected, but man seeks the good and happiness
of others and finds therein his highest satisfaction. As Ben Azzai
expresses it, “The reward of virtue is virtue, and the punishment of sin
is sin.”(324) At this point justice merges into divine holiness.
9. The idea of divine justice exerted its uplifting force in one more way
in Judaism. The recognition of God as the righteous Judge of the
world—_Zidduk ha Din_(325)—is to bring consolation and endurance to the
afflicted, and to remove from their hearts the bitter sting of despair and
doubt. The rabbis called God “the Righteous One of the universe,”(326) as
if to indicate that God himself is meant by the Scriptural verse, “The
righteous is an everlasting foundation of the world.”(327)
Far remote from Judaism, however, is the doctrine that God would consign
an otherwise righteous man to eternal doom, because he belongs to another
creed or another race than that of the Jew. Wherever the heathens are
spoken of as condemned at the last judgment, the presumption based upon
centuries of sad experience was that their lives were full of injustice
and wickedness. Indeed, milder teachers, whose view became the accepted
one, maintained that truly righteous men are found among the heathen, who
have therefore as much claim upon eternal salvation as the pious ones of
Israel.(328)