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Allow a moment for two brief definitions for the terms in the title of this reflection. They will be essential for understanding the progression of thought through this two-part series.
The first term, “inheritance,” is the acquisition of a valuable possession or condition from a previous generation, which also has potential to be a common heritage for the next generation (synthesizing multiple definitions from Merriam-Webster). An inheritance, then, can be either material or spiritual, and in either case it can be both received and given. Thus, we will examine the receiving and giving in due turn, with the first half below.
The next term, “righteousness,” is generally associated with moral rectitude established by good qualities and deeds. Yet, in Judeo-Christian understanding, right relationship with God is the foundation and pinnacle of righteousness. By this formula, the upright moral living initially implied by the word happens as a result of right relationship with the Lord. Second things follow from first things; works and actions follow from relationship.
As we seek the inheritance of righteousness that our God has in store for us, we can see a certain pattern play out again and again in the biblical story of salvation history. The characters of the sacred story show us the gift God wants to provide to us, and the way such a gift causes us to act and live. Therefore, if we trace the pattern identified in the Bible, we will come to know the inheritance God intends for each of us, and we will better understand how it unfolds in our lives today.
Near the very beginning of the historical timeline, in the mythical time of pre-history, Job expresses this understanding clearly. While he is suffering deeply, Job cries out that no man could be righteous on his own, but he later acknowledges that “the righteous holds to his way, and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger” (cf. Job 4:17; 17:9). By Job’s logic, something made him righteous, and after that transformative event he could cultivate righteousness, making it grow stronger.
Before the flood in Genesis, Noah is identified as a man who “found favor in the eyes of the Lord,” and thus was called “a righteous man, blameless in his generation.” The grace of God’s favor came before anything else. Later, out of the gift of right relationship with God, Noah “did all that God commanded him,” acting in great trust when all available evidence pointed in a different direction (Gen. 6-9).
Generations after Noah, Abraham (originally called Abram) responded in righteousness to the inheritance God wanted to give him. He “went, as the Lord had told him” (Gen. 12:4), toward a new land that would be a sign of the inheritance. By this act of trust, “he believed the Lord, and [God] counted to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6). God made a gift of grace, which was to allow Abram to hear His divine voice. Hearing that Voice caused Abraham to act in a way that would sustain and foster the covenant relationship with the heavenly Father. Other episodes in Abraham’s life extend this very dynamic, such as the conception of his son, Isaac, and God’s request that Abraham sacrifice his beloved son.
After four hundred years of slavery in Egypt and forty years of wandering in the Sinai desert, Moses spoke this understanding to Israel in a series of sermons recorded in Deuteronomy. There, he explains that God has a land He intends them to enter and keep as an inheritance. He reminds them, however, that this inheritance will only remain with them by walking according to the statutes of righteousness: “And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us” (Dt. 6:25).
Later, in the same lengthy sermon, Moses identifies the blessings God will pour out on Israel, in stark contrast to the curses incurred for disobedience:
And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you… (Dt. 28:1-2, 16ff)
Still, the gift of liberation from slavery and the gift of land came first. Learning to live righteously happened as a response to those gifts.
Nearer the end of the historical narrative, Nehemiah—a leader in post-exilic Israel—recalls Abraham and identifies the reason anyone can act righteously: “You are the Lord, the God who chose…Abraham. You found his heart faithful before you, and made with him the covenant…And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous” (Neh. 9:7-8). Because God is righteous, He shares His righteousness with the people who are in covenant relationship with Him. God’s people inherit His right relationship and thus can act to sustain that communion!
Between Moses and Nehemiah (among many other examples) stands David, the great King of Israel and perhaps the most iconic expression of this inheritance of righteousness. David, of course, would have known his nation’s story, and their disposition toward God. He would have known the Torah, including the Israelite admission that their entrance into the Promised Land was not because of their own righteousness. The Lord had gifted the land, the military victories, and the national security.
After David had been delivered from the threats of King Saul he sang a hymn to the Lord: “The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me. […] And the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in his sight” (2 Sam. 22:21, 25). Later, after he had been delivered from the threats of surrounding nations and had established peace—when the Lord made the covenant with him—David prayed, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far…you have done all this greatness…” (1 Chr. 17:16-19). David expressed the same reality as the others: any righteousness he had, any righteous way he acted, was already in response to the righteousness bestowed first by God.
Because David knew this reality so well, he wrote it into his poetry he used, and Israel used, for worship—that is, the Psalms. Among all the Psalms that identify and explain the inheritance of righteousness, Psalm 112 seems to crystalize it better than any other. This poem sings of the man who fears the Lord and “greatly delights in his commandments.” The psalmist tells us, that “his righteousness endures forever,” for “the righteous will never be moved.” The psalmist continues, describing the disposition and actions of the righteous man. “His heart is steady; he will not be afraid,” “He is not afraid of bad news,” “he is gracious, merciful, and just,” he “deals generously and lends,” and he “conducts his affairs with justice.” Clearly the righteous man of Psalm 112 has received something solid, enduring, and worthy of sharing generously—an inheritance of righteousness.
All this leads us to the waning days of the old covenant-era and the man whom St. Matthew the Evangelist calls “a righteous man” (Mt. 1:19, NAB). St. Joseph must have been described that way because he had appropriated the story of God’s inheritance to Israel; because he had imitated the example of those righteous men of the old covenants; because he exhibited those qualities proclaimed by the Psalmist. This is precisely why Jesus’ earthly father is known as such a powerful witness and intercessor, assisting us in becoming righteous and building up righteousness in the next generation.
Thus, in the age of the Church, we who are followers of Jesus ought to look toward all these examples of righteousness. From the first to the last, each of these men marks out some part of the pattern of righteousness that will keep us in right relationship with God. Taken all together, they show us that the inheritance we receive is bestowed first by God’s grace, mercy, and power; and then we desire and choose to live differently. This, then, will be able the foundation of turning and bestowing this precious inheritance on the next generations.
Image from Wikimedia Commons
