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Take a close look at the picture above. What do you see? Do your eyes envision a few people starring at each other? Or do you make out a decorative vase? Look strongly at the picture and you’ll find both images present. Yes, there is both a decorative vase and some faces in the drawing. The images are two in one.
Now use the idea that something can have two identities or meanings at the same time and think for a moment about the concept of “righteousness.” What does it mean to be righteous? Is a believer righteous through faith or works? How is a person truly made righteous? Is righteousness a one-way road?
Duality Exposed In the Bible’s fifth book, Moshe cries out tzedek, tzedek, tirdof – “justice, justice you shall pursue.” Here the prophet repeats himself to reveal the two sides of the Hebrew word “tzedek.” Tzedek or tzedekah is often rendered as “justice” or “righteousness” in English Bibles and carries a connotation of moral behavior and ethics.
Its in Devarim 16:20 that Moshe charges Israel to a high calling by saying, tzedek, tzedek, tirdof. Moshe is clearly saying to practice and pursue the duality of righteousness. To this point, the sages teach that this word was repeated in this context to show that one is to pursue personal righteousness and a righteous court. But, possibly a different meaning can be learned. Maybe Moshe was revealing that righteousness is two sided, much like a coin.
Just flip a penny over in your hand and you’ll see that the coin has two different and distinct sides to it; yet both sides reveal that the item you are holding is a penny. The fact is that the two sides of the money expose different elements of the same item. A penny is two in one much like the true meaning of tzedekah as found in the Scriptures. Biblical tzedekah or righteousness has a pair of separate, yet intertwined meanings that beautifully describe man’s relationship with Yahweh and with fellow mankind.
According to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance the word “tzedek” literally means, “right, moral or legal, just, right in a moral sense, cleanse, justice, turn to, righteous, to give freely.” In Jewish thought today, tzedekah is considered charity or giving as an expression of a right relationship with the Almighty. Modern Judaism teaches that tzedekah has more to do with Israel’s ministry of charity and benevolence to fellow man than a spiritual state of being.
To add to the confusion, mainstream Christianity teaches that righteousness is something that is wholly transferred from the Creator to humankind through the work of Messiah. The definition of the word tzedekah has evolved over time to provide a confusing dilemma when a person sets out to understand righteousness. The root of tzedekah is from the Hebrew tzade-dalet-qof, meaning justice, fairness, and righteousness. Could it be that true biblical righteousness is both something that is received and performed? Is it possible that both mainstream Jewish and Christian teachings hold some truth to them? Just like an optical illusion, is there more than meets the eye when it comes to understanding righteousness?
A Gift The modern Jewish thought that tzedekah is about giving isn’t that far off base. Biblical tzedekah is a gift from Yahweh to man, that man is to share towards other people. Tzedekah is an actual attribute of Yahweh, one of the ten sefirot, that express who Yahweh fully is. “O Yahweh, Elohim of Israel, you are righteous! We are left this day as a remnant,” Ezra 9:15. When Yahweh grants man His righteousness, He is actually giving or revealing part of Himself because Yahweh is righteous. “Yahweh is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him,” Psalm 92:15.
Yahweh gives His righteousness to man as a reward/gift for faith and trust exhibited through Torah obedience. “And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Yahweh our Elohim, as he hath commanded us,” Deuteronomy 6:25. Romans 2:13 makes this point very clearly, “it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.”
The Holman Bible Dictionary, a Baptist publication, says “rather than being a ladder that Israel climbed to get to Yahweh, the Torah was understood to be a divine program of the maintenance of a healthy relationship between Israel and Elohim (Leviticus 16.) Yahweh expected Israel to keep the Torah not to earn merit but to maintain the status Elohim had already given the nation. As Israel kept the covenant, the nation was righteous. Thus human righteousness in relation to Elohim was understood as faithful adherence to the Torah (Leviticus 19.)” – sacred names added
Right standing and fairness with Yahweh is granted as a GIFT when a person walks in accordance with the mitzvah of the Bible, “a righteous man does what is lawful and right,” Ezekiel 18:5. Man cannot and has never merited himself spiritual righteousness. “For there is not a righteous man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not,” Ecclesiastes 7:20. According to the Bible tzedekah simply cannot be earned. Tzedekah must be given by Yahweh to repentful and faithful man, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness,” 1 John 1:9. Because of sin man does not deserve tzedekah but Yahweh gives it when man turns from the path of wickedness and returns to Yah. Romans 5:19, “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” Breaking or not obeying the Torah is sin which leads to unrighteousness. “All unrighteousness is sin,” 1 Yochannan (John) 5:17.
It was because of Avraham’s faithful obedience he was considered a righteous person or a tzadik in Yahweh’s eyes. “Avraham (Abraham) believed Elohim, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, Galatians 3:6. Avraham’s belief and faithful trusting led him to follow the instructions of the Almighty, thus making Avraham a tzadik.
An Action In as much as tzedekah is a gift it is also a deed carried out by faithful man. In today’s Jewish society if you mention the word tzedekah, most Jews will recognize that this is a term used for giving aid, charity, or assistance to the poor. Again, this understanding sheds more light on the true meaning of the word. Tzedekah, or fairness and justice, is a gift from Yahweh that is to be passed on towards fellow mankind. This teaching is based on Proverbs 29:7, “The righteous considereth the cause of the poor: but the wicked regardeth not to know it.”
Moshe and Yahshua were calling the people to chase after and seek tzedekah as a gift from Yahweh AND as a behavior towards man. Notice Yahshua said to “hunger and thirst for righteousness” and not just “have a spiritual understanding and confess.” Tzedekah in Yahweh’s sight is given by trusting obedience to Torah commands while tzedekah in man’s sight is given by how a believer treats other individuals. Torah obedience always leads to life. “The labour of the righteous tendeth to life,” Proverbs 10:16. Biblical righteousness shows others a life of Torah submission. “But the path of the tzedek is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day,” Proverbs 4:18. Or to paraphrase “The works, actions, and words of a tzedek is a shining light to the world, pointing to the day of the full restoration of tzedekah.”
The Ten Words Now take a moment and reflect on the duality of tzedekah and the ten words. The ten words, or the Ten Commandments as they are better known as, were given to Israel from Yahweh as some basic guidelines for living. These mitzvah are divided into rules for man’s two most important relationships – that with individuals and that with the Almighty. Just like the ten words, righteousness has everything to do with how other people are treated. “The righteous man leads a blameless life; blessed are his children after him, Proverbs 20:7. Again, tzedekah is received from Yahweh and is performed towards man. Avi Ben Mordechai said in his book Messiah Volume 3, “Righteousness always begins with trusting faith in the Name. However, trusting faith is not the end of the story. Trusting faith produces actions of righteousness and therefore, the righteous are ultimately defined as those who walk in the covenant of Yahweh of the Torah as found in Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6:25.”
A Balanced Approach It takes both actions and trust for a person to be considered righteous. In other words true tzedekah is not just about faith or works, true tzedekah is a balance of both. When it comes to fully comprehending biblical righteousness, balance is definitely the key. By the way, what happens when something is off balance? It falls over, right. There have been many believers who have gone off course in their spiritual walk because they didn’t have an evenhanded understanding of tzedekah. To this Ya’akov wrote, “And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed Elohim, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called Elohim’s friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead,” Ya’akov (James) 2:23-26
Rebbe Yahshua the Messiah also noticed a lack of balance concerning tzedekah. Yahshua warned his followers and the religious teachers when he said, “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven,” Mattityahu 5:20. It would be hard to believe that Yahshua was saying that His followers had to know and keep Torah better than the spiritual leaders of their day. Conceivably Yahshua was rebuking the teachers NOT because of their tzedekah towards Yahweh, perhaps Yahshua’s rebuke was concerning how they treated the poor and afflicted. Perhaps Yahshua was telling his talmidim that they had to treat people with more love, respect, concern, and compassion than the Pharisees did. Many of Messiah’s parables, like the Great Samaritan, deal with this issue. Yahshua even equated a believer’s love and actions towards fellow man with that of Yahweh Himself. “Yahshua replied: “‘Love the Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments,” Mattitiyahu 22:37-40.
Evidently the early believers understood this duality of tzedekah as several writings in the Ketuvim Netzerim (New Testament) echo these words, “Religion that Elohim our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world,” Ya’akov (James) 1:27. Again notice the duality of tzedekah in this verse – the believers were to minister to the needy and keep themselves set apart from the worldly systems. Rabbi Shaul (Paul) also wrote, “Share with Elohim’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality,” Romans 12:13.
A Tzadik Throughout the Torah, Writings, Prophets, and Ketuvim Netzerim are countless stories of righteous individuals who walked in holiness before Yahweh and man. “This is the account of Noach. Noach was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with Elohim,” Beresheet (Genesis) 6:9. Noach’s righteousness was reflective of the duality of tzedekah. Noach was “blameless among the people of his time and he walked with Elohim.” Noach was a tzadik and Noach had balance!
In the Hebrew language a righteous person is called a “tzadik.” A tzadik is a person totally rooted and grounded in Yahweh and the Torah. The Encyclopedia Judaica clearly and impressively defines exactly what a tzadik is. The encyclopedia says that a genuine tzadik is one who, “carries out his obligation to Elohim and to man by obeying the precepts of the Torah.” And Proverbs 21:15 teaches that acting justly is a tzadik’s greatest reward. This does not mean that a tzadik is perfect or sinless. To the contrary, perhaps the greatest difference between the tzadik and the evildoer is that when the righteous fall down, they get back up again. “Though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity,” Proverbs 24:16.
Other tzadikkim mentioned in the Bible are Avel, Lot, Yochannan the Immerser, Yoseph the earthly father of Yahshua and of course Yahshua HaMoshiach. “Yahshua grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with Elohim and men,” Luke 2:52. Again, Yahshua’s righteousness was in the sight of “Elohim and men” – again stressing the duality of tzedekah. Of Yochannan the Immerser’s parents it is said in Luke 1:6, “And they were both righteous before Elohim, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of Yahweh blameless.”
In Psalm 92:12-14 the tzadik is compared to the cedars of Lebanon. “The righteous tzadik will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of Yahweh, they will flourish in the courts of our Elohim.” The cedar tree is mentioned over 75 times in the Bible each in reference to the life of the tzadik. These trees were tall, stately, and strong – a perfect picture of how a believer’s life is to reflect the righteousness of Yahweh.
The Lifestyle of a Tzadik Like an optical illusion there are two sides to tzedekah. The true meaning of tzedekah has two meanings of that with man and that with Yahweh. And the duality of tzedekah is seen clearly when a believer walks in the Spirit through Torah observance. This holy, set apart, and blessed lifestyle is the goal of all believers and is THE way of life that leads to salvation in the hereafter. “And the wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal,” Mattitiyahu 25:46.
Titus 1:8 say all followers of the Scriptures are to be a “lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, righteous, holy, and temperate.” Don’t be mistaken; the life of a righteous person is not some mystical existence full of only heavenly highs. As Yahshua said, “our Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust,” Mattitiyahu 5:45. The way of life and routine of the tzadik is special because the tzadik functions as the mirror between man and Yahweh, reflecting Yahweh’s character to man.
The restoration of righteousness is prophesied in the scriptures as one of the ways that Yahweh is reuniting His kingdom of Isra’el. ““The days are coming,” declares the Yahweh, “when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: Yahweh Tzdakenu. “So then, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when people will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Yahweh lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’ but they will say, ‘As surely as Yahweh lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ Then they will live in their own land,” Yermi’yahu (Jeremiah) 23:5-8. In Yesha’yahu (Isaiah) 60:21 & 22 it is said said, “Then will all your people be righteous and they will possess the land forever. They are the shoots I have planted, the work of my hands, for the display of my splendor.” Yahweh is reuniting His people by restoring true tzedekah to Israel.
To conclude, understanding biblical tzedekah was never meant to be hard to grasp. Yahweh is righteous and calls all of His people to be the same. According to the Bible a righteous person: · Receives everlasting life, Mattitiyahu 25:46 · Prayers avail much, Ya’akov 5:6 · Has no fellowship with the wicked, 2 Corinthians 6:14 · Live by faith, Hebrews 10:38 · Walks in integrity, Proverbs 20:7 · Is wise and understanding, Hose 14:9 · Has full access to Elohim, Yesha’yahu 12:6 · Is blessed by Yahweh, Proverbs 3:35 · Does what is lawful, Ezekiel 18:5 · Studies the Torah to answer any question, Proverbs 15:28 · Thoughts are based on the Torah and life, Proverbs 12:5
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