Texts in Conversation
Deuteronomy describes justice as a divine priority, emphasizing care for orphans, widows, and resident foreigners. The Aramaic translation in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan of Genesis 18 mirrors this emphasis in its interpretation of God’s response to Sodom, describing the city’s sin as a rejection of this duty.
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Deuteronomy 10:18
Hebrew Bible
17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God who is unbiased and takes no bribe, 18 who justly treats the orphan and widow, and who loves resident foreigners, giving them food and clothing. 19 So you must love the resident foreigner because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
Date: 6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Pseudo Jonathan Genesis 18:20
Targum
19 For his piety is manifest before me, so that he will command his children and the members of his household after him to observe ways that are right before the Lord, doing what is just and right, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham the good things he has promised him.” 20 The Lord said to the ministering angels, “The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah—because they oppress the poor and decree that whoever gives a morsel of bread to the needy shall be burned by fire—is indeed great, and their sin has indeed increased greatly. 21 I will now be revealed, and I will see whether they have really done according to the complaint of the maiden Peletith which has come before me. If so, they deserve total destruction, but if they do penance, shall they not be righteous before me as if I did not know, and I will not take revenge.
Date: 300-1200 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
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Notes and References
"... Justice is envisaged as a mighty, surging river, like the River Jordan in full flood. It illustrates that justice is not a static state (like the scales of Justicia) but an intervening power: it strikes and changes, restores and heals. It is dynamic, rushing onwards, bringing life to a parched land. Justice has transformative potential. Against this background, the treatment of the least favoured in society becomes the fundamental criterion for achieving justice. The triumvirate of ‘the alien, the fatherless and the widow’ are the object of God’s special concern (Deuteronomy 10:18). Accordingly, they are to be the people’s focus also ..."
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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