Dcutero-Isainh. — The answer to this question is given bj' the writer of Is 40-55 in a manner which went far to fi.x the sense of righteousness for .all subsequent theology. The prophet looks to his people's restoration from exile as a final disclosure of the righteousness both of Israel and of J", and an event fraught with the most blessed conse- <iuen('es for humanity. That Israel h.is been, and is, in the wrong before God is explicitly acknow- ledged in the ironical challenge of 43'-''' (' that thou maycst be in the right'), and is implied in many passages besides. But its sin has been forgiven, the punishment endured has been adequate (40^), and, in spite of the unprcparedness of the people, J" lirings near His salvation (4U'' 51" .52'"); the hidden riglit of Israel, which exists amidst all its unwortliincss and shortcoming, is about to be made manifest. And here, in accordance with forensic usage, the idea of righteousness is resolved into two perfectly distinct conceptions. On the one hand it denotes the inherent riglit of Israel's cau.se at the liar of the Divine judgment (as in i. (1)); and on the "I her hand the external viii<lication of that right through a judicial intervention of J" (i. (2)). In the latter sense righteousness means justification (54'''- " 45'- "), nnil is jiractically equivalent to salvation, the deliverance of the pcojilc being regarded as the execution of a Divine sentence in its favour.* The idea of the inherent righteousness of Israel, however, is more <liHicult, and several elements appear to enter into it. (a) Israel is in the right, first of all, as having .■suffered UTonr) at the hands of the world-power. The triumph of Babylon has been the triumph of brute
• In 412. where it is staid of Cyrus that ' right meets him at every step,* pix bears tlie sense of rinht vindicated on the field of battle, i.e. 'victor>' ' (see tlie Comni.).
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RIGHTEOUSNESS IN OT
RIGHTEOUSNESS IN OT
force over helpless innocence (47' 52^''), and a viola- tion of the moral order of the world. On this ground alone Israel has a plea before the Judge of all the earth, it has a right (us?.-) which does not escape the notice of J"(4U-''; cf. Mic 7"). (6) Righteousness includes, in the second place, a way of life in accordance with the law of God. Of the better part of the people it is said that they follow after righteousness (51') or know righteousness (51'), just as it is said of another section that they are far from righteousness (46'-).* Similarly, in 53" it is said of J'"s righteous Servant that by his knowledge he shall make many righteous, i.e. bring them to a moral condition conforming to the Divine will, (r) There is, perhaps, yet another element to be taken into account : Israel is in the right in virtue of its being identified with the cause of J", the only true God. Israel is J"'s witness. His client in the gieat controversy be- tween the true religion and idolatry. His ser\-ant and His messenger whom He has sent (43"'- " 44^ 418. 9 42'* etc. ). As the organ of J"'8 self-revelation, the nation represents the cause that must ulti- mately triumph, and is therefore essentially in the right. This vocation of Israel is described as per- fectly realized in the ideal Servant of the Lord (49^), whom J" has called in righteousness (42") and appointed for a light of the Gentiles, that His salvation might be to the ends of the earth (49" ; cf. 42'- ■•). The Servant's confidence that he shall be justified (SO*-* 49'') rests on the conscious- ness of his election, and the unique relation which he holds to the redemptive purpose of J".
The same distinction between inherent and external righteous- ness is met with in chs. 56-66, which are assigrned by some scholars to a later date. Thus in the sense of justification (s.ilv.ition, prosperity, etc.) the nouns occur in bQ^^ 588 Ji99 61^ lyt. 621*. (cf. 4318, possibly an interpolated passage in the earlier part). Of inherent right, the adj. is used in 671 60^ ; the substantives in 66i» 582 64^'. ; the aspect most prominent appears to be obedience to the law. — The idea of civic right- eousness in the sense of the pre-exilic prophets appears in 69" n.
The sense of Israel's right against the nations appears like- wise in other post-exilic writings, particularly in the Psalter, where the antithesis of 'righteous' and 'wicked* sometimes denotes Israel and the heathen respectively ; cf. Ps 710 145 31I8 331 526f- 7510 94-1 97111. 11S15. 20 etc. etc. But here it is no longer possible to separate between the national and individual references of the idea of righteousness : and it is therefore better to deal with the subject after we have considered —
2. The Riobteo usness of tbe L\di vidh-a l.— That individual righteousness was an idea familiar in early times to the Israelites, is sufficiently clear from such passages as 1 S 26=^, 1 K S^-, Is S'"- " (?if genuine), etc.t It may be true that the individual wa.s hardly felt to possess an independ- ent religious status before God. His life and his interests were seen to be merged in those of his family or the community (IS 3" etc.) ; and it was perhaps not expected that his outward fortunes should correspond exactly with his moral condition. At all events, there is no evidence that the inequal- ities of providence in this sphere pressed severely on religious thought till towards the Exile, when a growing sense of jiersonal right begins to assert itself (Dt 24'«, 2 K 14'). In the remarkable pro- plietic experience of Jeremiah, religion appears to resolve itself into a personal relation of the indi- vidual soul to God. And it is noteworthy that immediately he is confronted bj' the gravest pro- blem of Jewish theolooy, — Why is it that the man who is right with Goa has to sulfer alHiction and