The Origins of Social Justice, from "Justice and Righteousness in Israel and the Nations: Equality and Freedom in Ancient Israel in Light of Social Justice in the Ancient Near East," (Hebrew), by Moshe Weinfeld

This Hebrew monograph is an exemplary investigation of the meaning of the idiom "mishpat u'tzedakah," [justice and charity] in the Hebrew Bible and of the practical socio-economic ways in which "justice and righteousness" were implemented in Israel and the rest of the ancient Near East. The expression derives principally not from the judicial world, but from the realm of social policy. As one might suspect from its appearance in parallelism with "hesed v'rahamim" [kindness and mercy], the expression in its various forms denotes the elimination and oppression and therefore corresponds closely with the Akkadian idiom kittam u misaram sakanum. Like the Akkadian expression, "mishpat u'tzedakah" implies the sort of reform known in Akkadian as durarum or andurarum and in Hebrew as deror, and designates some combination of these measures: cancellation of taxes, release of slaves, amnesty for prisoners and captives, return of exiles, apportionment of lands to the needy, rebuilding of ruined cities and temples, establishment of just weights and measures (and the like). As in Mesopotamia, the rest of the ancient Near East, and even the classical world, so in Israel reforms of this sort were incumbent upon kings and helped defined the strong monarch. Indeed, the expectation of such easements constituted a major portion of the messianic expectation not only in Judah, but also in Mesopotamia, as a revealing neo-Babylonian text from Erech demonstrates. But in Israel to do mishpat u'tzedakah and to establish mesarim [tithe] was also a principle role of God, and he fulfilled it mostly on three occasions, in the creation of the world, in the wake of Exodus, and in the future universal redemption.

Time Period: Contemporary (The Yom Kippur War until the present-day)