What are Righteousness and Justice?
"This was the primary message of the Biblical prophets; religiosity is not an acceptable alternative to doing the works of righteousness and justice." -- Dr. Marvin McMickle in "Let the Oppressed Go Free". Righteousness and Justice are among the most important Biblical words in the Hebrew Scriptures (what Christian's term the Old Testament). Mishpat , the Hebrew word for "justice" appears in the Hebrew Scriptures over 400 times and Tzedekah , the word for "righteousness" occurs over 300 times. The words are often used together as they are closely related terms. Tzedekah , or righteousness is far more expansive than how it is typically used in contemporary churches. We often speak of righteousness in terms of our "rightness to a standard or set of rules". Yet, the Hebrew word is a relational term. In fact, there is no Hebrew word in the Scriptures for "individual". The promotion of individuality is a relatively modern