Rethinking Tamar Part 2: Righteousness

The one who was shamed showed the “righteous” its own shame, and in so doing, demonstrates the definition of righteousness. Righteousness is a verb. 

Righteousness is the Mason’s Level

In Isaiah 1:17, the prophet wrote, “learn to do good; seek justice; correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” The prophets were very clear about the importance of justice. Isaiah, in chapter 28, wrote about the “cornerstone”, that is Jesus, being laid in Zion and He — Jesus — is a sure foundation such that the person who believes in Him will be unshakable. Isaiah then wrote in 28:16-17, as a direct message from God, “And I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the mason’s level.”

Righteousness & Justice

Some of the common beliefs held as Christ-followers, are to provide for the needy, protect the weak, and help those who are oppressed. Those principles date back to the patriarchal period, that is, when Tamar was alive, where “justice and righteousness” are first seen as a word pair and the Israelites are charged with doing righteousness and justice. These teachings form the basis for the use of righteousness and justice within the social context, that is, to perform acts of righteousness and justice. The idea of helping the poor, hungry, widowed, and others within the lower spectrum of society was seen earlier in Jewish society; for example, Ezekiel and Isaiah wrote that providing food and clothing to the poor is required.[1] It was to these prophets that the Jews looked when faced with the unrest in their own society.

Righteousness is a “basic ethical demand for humans living together,” a concept central to Jews and Christians.[2] The biblical use of the term “refers broadly to ‘doing, being, declaring, or bringing about what is right.’”[3]

Justice is Ordered Toward Righteousness

The linking of “justice” and “righteousness” and the interchange of the terms throughout Scripture are intentional. In the Old Testament, “what is just is intrinsically bound up with what is good… justice is ordered toward righteousness; in particular, it is directed toward the establishment of right relations between people and God.”[4] Righteousness and justice are concerned with the deliverance and liberation of the oppressed, the poor, the destitute, and indeed of all of humanity. It is redemptive and salvific. 

Righteousness is a Saving Action 

The idea of righteousness and justice is an extension of God’s design to deliver man from sin.[5] When the term righteousness is used outside of the legal concept, it is inherently a term associated with the sense of “right order, a situation that is according to God’s will, design, plan, way and ordination... a righteous action is one that either maintains or restores the right order.”[6] God’s righteousness is salvific; it’s deliverance, a saving action. It is thus, initially, a vertical concept that requires action by God to deliver man. This then transcends to a horizontal concept for man to do what is just and right to his fellow man. Jesus was the embodiment of restoring right order, both vertically and horizontally, of righteousness and justice.

More Action, Less Judging 

The terminology found in the Hebrew Bible further substantiates the expectation of action associated with this phrase. “To do righteous” [deeds, acts, etc.] occurs 24 times; “righteousness and just judgment” occurs 26 times, while “to judge righteously” occurs only 14 times and “righteous judgment” occurs only nine times.[7] This indicates the emphasis on action, on doing, not a mere concept or something abstract. Less judging, more action. 

We can often learn some of the most valuable lessons from the least likely of stories. Tamar, a little-talked about character buried in the Old Testament who makes a brief, but explosive appearance in Matthew, is just such a lesson.

Part 2 was, in large part, an excerpt from my book, Equal Protection Under God: Gender equality and women’s roles in the church.

[1] Weinfeld, Moshe. Social Justice in Ancient Israel and in the Ancient Near East. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995: 222.

[2] Henning Graf Reventlow and Yair Hoffma, eds. Justice and Righteousness: Biblical Themes and their Influence. Sheffield: JSOT Press,1992: 163.

[3] Marshall, Chris. The Little Book of Biblical Justice. Intercourse: Good Books, 2005: 11.

[4] Bell, Daniel M Jr. “Jesus, The Jews, and the Politics of God’s Justice”. Ex Auditu (2006): 87-112, 100.

[5] Bell, 100.

[6] Campbell, John. “The Righteousness of God.” Affirmation (September 2013): 80.

[7] Siefrid, Mark A. “Righteousness Language in the Hebrew Scriptures and Early Judaism.” Justification and variegated nomism Volume 1, The complexities of Second Temple Judaism (2001) Seifrid, 428.