It has already been pointed out that in this book the terms for rij,'hleounneefl are employed of being in the riqht in aivu- Dicnl ; cf. 112 27» 322 3;ilJ. 3'J. Note also the occasional use of p-Ti in the sense of external Juetiflcation( = pro8perity),8«2fl" (?) SSWStf'.
Proverhn nvtl Errlr.'iiattf/i. — In the two remain- ing canonical IJohhmah books the conception of righteousness is as distinctly individualistic as in Job or Ezekicl. A very common theme in the Proverbs is the contrast between the ' righteous ' (p"?s— sing, or plu.) and the ' wicked ' (yv'^).* Here the righti'ous do not form a party (as often in the Psalms) ; t hey are a dnss, comprising all who follow the moral ideal taught by the wise men. All men, in short, are divided by the Proverbial ists into good and bad, and 'righteous' is simply one of the coiiinionest designations of the good part of
• Si-e3.'''in;<a»«. (11 times), n"">»'i i2» 7. 10. iiM.so I'js. o. 2a 1410. :-j 150. IB a 2112. is 2-JlO'. 2S26 28>- !>■ » 292- '• !»■ in. There ore man.v other contrast*, as »inn«r l;ya, rril-doeri 21», foiilt Ki'^' eu;. ; and many synonym*, as mum 8» 11™ saw, oood 22", uvriiiU 2iis ct«
mankind. It follows that the idea of righteous- ness presented in the book is essentially ethical, though no doubt w itli a strong dash of utilitarian- ism, the virtues chiefly insisted on being those which experience shows to be necessary for the welfare of society, and therefore most immediately beneficial to the individual who practises them. At the same time the moral system has a religious background. The written Law is the supremo standard of morality or righteousness. Moreover, one of the chief objects of the writers is to incul- cate the doctrine of individual retribution in the ordinary course of Divine providence. However the fact may be explained, the difficulties surround- ing this question are ignored in the Proverbs, and the law of retribution is regarded as fully mani- fested in the present life : ' The righteous shall be requited in the earth, much more the wicked and the sinner' (IP'). Hence the idea of righteous- ness a{)pear8 to have lost the eschatological refer- ence whicli it frequently has in other parts of OT, and (what is more remarkable) it has all but lost the sense of outward justification, such as we meet with occasionally even in the Bk. of Job. Although it is constantly asserted that righteous- ness is the way to honour, weiilth, prosperity, etc., it does not seem ever to be idcntifed with these external tokens of God's approval except in 21-"' 8". In Ecclesiastes the same conception of right- eousness as the supreme moral category prevails ; cf. 3" 7^' S" 9'" ^. The sayings most characteristic of the author are these two : ' Be not righteous overmuch ' (7'"), and ' There is not a righteous man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not' (7-°). The latter is perhaps the only passage in OT where righteousness is treated as equivalent to sinlessness ; the former exhibits a reaction against the casuistries of Pharisaic legalism. The vacilla- tion of the book on the subject of retribution (con- trast 7" S" 9= with 3" 9' etc.) raises diflicult critical questions which need not be considered here.*
The Psalms. — It is very difficult to analyze and classify the varied aspects of human rigliteou.sness presented in the Psalter. For one thing, it is im- possible (as was said above) to draw a sharp line of division between the righteousness of the nation and that of the individual. The point of view most characteristic of the Psalms is intermediate between these two. In a large number of pas- sages the distinction of p"!5 and IV'"; is applied to twopartieswithin the community ; the 'righteous' being the religious party who have regard to the Covenant, and the 'wicked' the godless and wealthy anti-theocratic party who set religion and morality at dolianco.t Here the idea of righteousness is partly national, since the ' right- eous' represent the tnie ideal Israel; partly indi- vidual, inasmuch as the party is formed by those members of the nation who accept the Law as their rule of life. In some cases, indeed, it is difficult to say whether the contrast intended be one within the nation or between the nation and the rest of the world. The ungodly in Israel are animated by the same spirit as the heathen that know not God, and conversely the qualities of the righteous are the same whether the predicate be extended to the people as a whole or restricted to a portion of it.
With regard to the conception of righteousness imiilied by this contrast, tlie following points have to be noted, (a) The conflict of parties is, first of all, a conflict of religious first principles. The righteous are distinguished by their faith in the
• Both in Proverbs and Ecclosiofites there are roforcm-cs to the public administration of Justice, where of course the idia of riBhtcouanera has the ordinary loitnl nppliciktions : cf. Pr 17" 2* 1(3. n 24'-" 2.'.'-». S'O 1012 2r)» 31", Kc 3l» 6».
t Cf. 1' 612 ua- » 82" 8417. •-■0. 22 37 pa4l. f 622 0410 0928 «!• 112« 14013 1416 etc.
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