Dispositional and Ethical
Responses to God/YHWH
. . .
Righteousness/a righteous
person/to be righteous/to demonstrate righteousness/to declare someone
righteous (צדק/צדקה/צדיק/הצדיק) (Gen 15:6; 18:19, 25; cf. 38:26; Deut 6:25;
16:20; 25:1). Of the links between Genesis and D, this may be the most
remarkable of all. The root צדק occurs forty-fix times in the Pentateuch, only
nine of which occur in Exodus-Numbers. These are limited to three contexts, and
each recalls corresponding texts in PN or D. Genesis and D employ the root HEB
with a similar range of meaning and both
use the root as a verb and in at least two forms of the noun. (Daniel I. Block,
“In the Tradition of Moses: The Conceptual and Stylistic Imprint of Deuteronomy
on the Patriarchal Narratives,” in Exploring the Composition of the
Pentateuch, ed. L. S. Baker Jr., Kenneth Bergland, Felipe A. Masotti, and
A. Rahel Wells [Bulletin for Biblical Research Supplement 27; University Park,
Pa.: Eisenbrauns, 2020], 147-48)
The
Characterization of Abraham
. . .
Abraham demonstrated that he was a
righteous man (וַיַּחְשְׁבֶ֥הָ לּ֖וֹ צְדָקָֽה, 15:6; cf. Deut 6:25; 16:20;
25:1). (Ibid., 151)
The watchword of the Torah of
Moses is צדק טדק תרדף, “Righteousness, only righteousness you shall pursue”
(Deut 16:20). As elsewhere in D, here צדקה/צדק denotes the vassal’s loyalty
before the Suzerain, demonstrated in response acceptable to the Suzerain. In
Gen 15:6 Abraham exhibited צדקה by trusting (האמין) in YHWH, and in 22:12 he
demonstrated awed trust in YHWH (ירא אלהים) by radical obedience in the face of
a preposterous divine demand (Sirach 44:20 interprets Abraham’s “fear” in this
instance as “faith” [πιστος]).
Abraham’s conversation with YHWH over the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah in Gen
18:16-33 demonstrated for him “righteousness” was neither theoretical nor
hypothetical, but profoundly ethical, in keeping with YHWH’s expressed goal of
his election: “I have singled him out, that he may instruct his children and
his posterity to keep the way of YHWH by doing what is righteous (צדקה) and
just (משׁפט), in order that YHWH may fulfill for Abraham what he has promised
him” (18:19). Except for the single ordinance of circumcision (Gen 17:10-13) (The
act of circumcision is here cast within divine speech [ויאמר אלהים אל-אברהם],
rather than legislation. Cf. 17:23, which describes Abraham’s obedience in
nonlegal terms: “as God has spoken with him” [כאשׁר דבר אתו אלהים]
), and the general charges to
“walk before me, and be blameless” (התהלך לפני והרה תמים, Gen 17:1) (Also cast
as divine speech [ויאמר אליו] rather than legislation), we have no record of
YHWH revealing to him what “righteousness” and “justice” might entail. Even so,
in Gen 26:5 YHWH explicitly credited Abraham with precisely the response
demanded of Israel by YHWH himself at Sinai, and that Moses had called for the
Plains of Moab: “He has listened to my voice and kept my charge (משׁמרתי), my
commands (מצותי), my ordinances (חקותי), and my instructions (תורתי).” This is
the righteousness of which Moses spoke in Deut 6:25, and this is the wisdom of
which Ben Sira wrote in the second century BC: “Abraham was the great father of
a multitude of nations, and no one has been found like him in glory. He kept
the Torah of the Most High (νομον υψιστου), and entered into a covenant
with him; he certified the covenant in his flesh, and when he was tested he
proved faithful (Sir 44:19-20; NRSV modified) (Although Jacob’s removal of
foreign gods [Gen 35:2-4] recalls Deut 7:2-5, as men of faith/righteousness,
both Isaac and Jacob appear as flatter figures than Abraham. Both the
Deuteronomistic Historian and the Chronicler pick up the collocation הנכר הסיר את-אלהים
[Josh 24:14, 23; Judg. 10:16; 1 Sam 7:3; 2 Chr 33:15]. However, there is no
need here to follow Second Temple Jewish literature that claims that Abraham
actually had access to the laws of the Torah centuries before Moses [cf. Baruch
3:26b-4:4]). (Ibid., 152-53)
