Justice in the Hebrew Bible: Ideas, Political System and Characteristics                              

Fu Youde

Abstract: Unlike the secular idea of justice in the Western political philosophies, justice in the Hebrew Bible as a religious notion has a two fold meaning: judicial and moral.  The concept of biblical justice is composed of two levels, that is, divine justice and human justice. The latter includes “justification by deeds”, which may be regarded as a general principle of biblical justice, Mosaic laws and certain particular rules like fair trial, fair trade, caring for the weak and kind treatment of foreigners. Compared with ideas of justice in ancient Greek and modern Western philosophies of politics, justice in the Hebrew Bible processes the following basic characteristics: transcendence or divineness, comprehensiveness and legalism. Therefore, the Hebrew notion of justice is referential and supplementary to the non-religious theories of justice in ancient Greece and the modern West.