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Δikaioi as a Quasi-Technical Term

David Hill

New Testament Studies / Volume 11 / Issue 03 / April 1965, pp 296 - 302

DOI: 10.1017/S002868850001780X, Published online: 05 February 2009

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S002868850001780X

How to cite this article:

David Hill (1965). Δikaioi as a Quasi-Technical Term. New Testament Studies, 11, pp 296-302
doi:10.1017/S002868850001780X

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 20,6 S. PETREMENT
l'Esprit ou qu'elle est la Sagesse, cela ne fait pas une difference tres profonde.
II nous semble cependant plus naturel de supposer qu'un auteur chretien a
regarde le Christ comme fils de l'Esprit que comme fils de la Sagesse; car
c'est l'Esprit qui a ete mis en rapport avec la conception du Christ des le
Ier siecle. II faut noter que Simone Weil, quoiqu'elle disposat de moins de
moyens, dans ce domaine, que les theologiens de notre temps, a eu l'intuition
que la femme d'Apocalypse xii ne peut etre que le Saint-Esprit.1
S. PETREMENT

New Test. Stud, n , pp. 296-302.

AIKAIOI AS A QUASI-TECHNICAL
TERM
In Matthew's Gospel the terms irpo<pr|Tris and 8{KCCIOS are brought into close
association on three occasions; twice in the plural form, xiii. 17 and xxiii. 29,
once in the singular, x. 41. The purpose of this short study is to suggest the
possibility that in this Matthaean collocation the word 'righteous' possessed
a special significance as a quasi-technical term.
It is noteworthy, and in itself suggestive, that on the only other occasion in
the Gospel when 'prophets' are similarly associated with a class or group,
those mentioned are ' wise men and scribes': ' I send to you [the scribes and
Pharisees] prophets and wise men and scribes (dnroaiiAAw irpos Onas
Trpo<pr)Tas KOCI aocpouj Kcclypauiiorrsis), some of whom you will kill and crucify,
and some you will scourge.. . and persecute.. .' (xxiii. 34). These words,
which in Luke xi. 49 are attributed to 'the wisdom of God', have a forward-
looking reference: Jesus' own envoys are meant. This is confirmed by the
fact that Luke actually says that those who are being sent are 'prophets and
apostles', as well as by the fact that the fate of the emissaries is the same as that
predicted for the disciples in Matt. x. 17, 23. It is therefore likely (as most
commentators suggest) that the terms used of the emissaries reflect conditions
in the early Church. On this view, it is plausible to suggest that we have here a
reference to the two aspects of Christian missionary work, proclamation

Salomon i. 4-7; ix. 17. — Dans la Priere de Joseph, apocryphe peut-etre chr6tien, cite par Origene,
Israel est represents comme un ange qui a exist6 avant toute creature, et qui est descendu et a habits
parmi les hommes, ce qui montre qu'il 6tait identified dans cet ecrit, a la Sagesse. C'est par ce
detour, et parce que la Sagesse pouvait etre aussi l'Esprit, qu'on pourrait regarder la femme
d'Apocalypse xii comme representant aussi Israel.
1
S. Weil, La connaissance sumaturelle (Paris, 1950), p. 268.

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 AIKAIOI AS A QUASI-TECHNICAL TERM 297

(KT)puyna) and teaching (6ISCCXT|, SiSocaKocAicc), the former being the activity
of the TrpocpiJTai, and the latter of the aocpoi and ypocuucn-eis, i.e. the men of
understanding and the 8IS6COKOCAOI of the Jewish-Christian community.1
We now proceed to the discussion of the three Matthaean passages in which
Trpo<pf|TTis (7rpo9fiTai) is conjoined with 6(KOUOS (SIKOUOI). In the same Woe-
saying as that in which the text just discussed appears we find the declaration
that the scribes and Pharisees hypocritically 'build up the tombs of the
prophets (TOUS Tdcpous TCOV Trpoq>r|Tcov) and adorn the monuments of the
righteous (T& uvr|U£la TCOV SIKOCICOV) ', Matt, xxiii. 29. It seems certain that
ol SIKOCIOI here means more than the saintly and obedient servants of God in
old time: the 'righteous' are those who, because of their piety and obedience,
were persecuted, even to the death: they are the martyrs of the Old Testa-
ment who sealed their testimony to righteousness with their blood. Now in
the Biblical understanding of 'martyrs' and 'martyrdom' the emphasis
firmly lies on the idea of witness and witnessing: the martyrs are pre-
eminently those who have faithfully witnessed to God's truth, and the un-
favourable reception accorded to their prophetic message resulted in their
being put to death. This view has been admirably set forth by the late T. W.
Manson in his Rylands lecture 'Martyrs and Martyrdom'. 2

The prophets who are the witnesses par excellence in the Old Testament bear witness
to what they have been admitted to see and hear in the Council of Yahweh. They
are in a real sense eye-witnesses and ministers of the word. Their task is to declare
without fear or favour the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, as it
has been made known to them in God's council chamber.. . . That testimony
concerns the decisions of the Almighty regarding the behaviour of Israel and her
rulers.3
Accordingly, when we interpret SIKOCIOI at Matt, xxiii. 29 to mean 'righteous
martyrs' we should acknowledge that the idea of witness, of teaching or
declaring the will and judgements of God, adheres to the term as well: the
' righteous' are those who faithfully testified and they can be reckoned among
the teachers whom Israel rejected.4
We turn now to Matt. xiii. 17 where Jesus speaks of the privilege which the
disciples have in experiencing the present reality of the Kingdom. What was
for the best men of the past only an object of faith and hope has become for
them a matter of present experience. ' Many prophets and righteous men
1
Cf. G. D. Kilpatrick, The Origins of the Gospel according to St Matthew (Oxford University Press,
1946), pp. uoff., 126; also G. Strecker, Der Weg der Gerechtigkeil (Gottingen, 1962), pp. 37-8.
Matt. xiii. 52 confirms the view that the Christian 'scribe' had a teaching function. Acts xiii. 1 and
Didachi xv. 1 f. link ' teachers' (6I6&JKCCAOI) with ' prophets'.
« B.J.R.L. xxxix (1956-57), 463-84.
3
Ibid. p . 469.
4
The term may have an even more direct reference to 'teachers'. M.-J. Lagrange, Jiuang. selon
St. Mt. (Paris, 1941), p. 449, observes that the only tomb which was an object of popular veneration
was that of Simeon the Just, and it is he (p'TXH ]1S7HB>) who is first named of the great teachers
of the Law in Pirke Aboth 1, 2.

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 298 DAVID HILL
(uoAAoi irpo9fiTai KOC! SIKOCIOI) longed to see what you see and did not see it,
and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.' It is probable that Luke x. 24
has preserved the more original form ('many prophets and kings') and
context (as applied to the disciples and their mission) of this logion;1 Matthew
has taken it and made it refer to the general use of parables and at the same
time has changed the collocation to 'prophets and righteous men'. Who are
these SIKCCIOI ?The Matthaean form and context of the saying suggest that they
are more than simply upright and saintly men who desired the fulfilment of
the Kingdom: they are men who, like the prophets, had eyes open to search
for the purpose of God and who, again like the prophets, sought to disclose
their understanding of God's will to an unheeding audience. The term may
refer obliquely to those who followed the prophets in the post-exilic period,
namely, the scribes or teachers of the law who, when they were faithful, may
be rightly described as having desired to see the Kingdom. The disciples have
the advantage over these in that they now experience that for which the seers
and teachers of old earnestly hoped.
Does the suggestion that SIKCUOS, when found in conjunction with Trpoq>ii|Tr)s,
contains an allusion to a witnessing or teaching function help us in inter-
preting Matt. x. 41 ? At the conclusion of the Mission-charge to the disciples,
Jesus declares:
40. He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him
that sent me. (Q,, or possibly M.) 41. He that receiveth a prophet in the name of
a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward: and he that receiveth a righteous man
(5(KCCIOV) in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. (M.)
Some commentators2 admit that v. 41 (peculiar to Matthew) belongs to the
time of Jewish Christianity, when Christian prophets were a recognized class
distinct from apostles. This seems a correct observation, but no commentator
allows it to affect the interpretation of SfKotios. This word is understood as
referring to followers of Christ who practise the righteousness which exceeds
that of the scribes and Pharisees: they are people who exemplify faithful,
upright living. For example, T. W. Manson comments thus: ' to receive a
righteous man in the name of a righteous man is to receive him as one who
shows the divinely appointed way in his life'.3 However, in view of the
context of the verse and because it belongs to Matthew's special material, it
seems plausible to suggest that Sixmos, like Trpoq>r)Tr|s, may refer to a semi-
distinct class in the early Church. As at xxiii. 34, Matthew may be alluding
to the preaching and teaching functions. If SIKOCIOS is understood as an
archaic way of referring to 'teacher', the passage yields a greater sense. The
person who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet (that is, for his own
sake as a prophet, or, in his capacity as a prophet) will receive the reward
1
Cf. T. W. Manson, Sayings of Jesus (S.C.M., 1949), p. 80.
2
E.g. A. H. McNeile, Commentary on St Matthew (Macmillan, 1915), p. 149; P. A. Micklem,
St Matthew, Westminster Commentary (Methuen, London), p. 108.
8
Manson, op. cit. p. 183; cf. W. C. Allen, St Matthew, ICC (3rd ed. 1912), p. 112.

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 AIKAIOI AS A QUASI-TECHNICAL TERM 299
1
which the prophet gives i he will hear the proclamation of God's message. He
that receives a righteous man (teacher ?) in the name of a righteous man will
receive the reward offered by the righteous man i1 he will be instructed in the
understanding of the message.2
However attractive it may be to suggest that in Matthew's usage 8IKCXIOS/
5{KC<IOI could sometimes be used in a quasi-technical sense to refer to people
who had a witnessing or teaching function, we need further evidence to
support the hypothesis. One such strand may be provided by Matt. xiii. 43:
'then will the righteous (oi SIKOCIOI) shine like the sun in the kingdom of their
father'. This verse, which concludes the interpretation of the parable of the
tares, reflects Dan. xii. 3 which promises that in the Resurrection D
isi D^isV 0*03133 n-'ain "pHxai vptn "inns nmr, Greek KOU O!
V T T : •T - . - T I - - I - - I ' T T - : • :-'

(LXX and Theod.) iKA&uiyoucri (Theod.) d>s <pcocnf)pes TOU oupocvoO

(cos f| AapTTpoTtis TOO crrepecbuaTos Theod.). Here and elsewhere in Dan.
(xi. 33, 35) oi OVVISVTES (for which Matthew has ol Bfcocioi) represents
D<lVl36*fin which is parallel and equivalent to 'those who turn many to
righteousness'.4 The 'wise' or 'people of understanding' are also those 'who
turn many to righteousness', a phrase which is cited at Bab. b. 8b as applying
to the teachers of Israel.5 This is a most reasonable application. The c V ^ a
or ovvETof (for which aocpoi6 could be equivalent) are, in the words of J. A.
Montgomery, ' the Wise who knew and practised the doctrine of the religion
and who, by their instruction and discipline, were able to "set right" or "make
righteous" the mass of the community':' likewise, A. Jeffrey comments: 'by
teaching and example, they will make clear to the common people the path
they should follow'.8 If this is the meaning of the relevant phrase in Dan. xii.
1
Thus •npocpi'iTou and Sixoriou are interpreted as genitives originis, rather than as objective genitives.
The latter construction is more usual, but the genitive of origin is found with moUis in L X X Isa. xl.
10; lxii. 11 and Rev. xxii. 12.
2
The verb 6£x£o6ori in the Greek Bible and in the N.T. can mean ' to receive a person' and ' to
receive a message, teaching, instruction'. Cf. Lagrange, op. cit. p. 215.
8
The parable and its interpretation, as a whole, owe their inspiration to Zeph. i. 3 (cf. McNeile,
op. cit. p. 201; E. Lohmeyer-W. Schmauch, Das Evangelium des Matthews, Gottingen, 1958, p. 224;
and F. V. Filson, Commentary on the Gospel according to St Matthew (A. and C.Black, London, i960),
p. 163). -minmi T& oKdvSocAa Kal TOUS iroioOvTas -ri\v dvoplav in Matthew may be equivalent to niVBJbBfl
D^SJ^inTlS; a Hebrew phrase so difficult that emendation is frequently suggested (the original text
of the Washington papyrus of LXX reads at this point <TK&v5aAa o\iv T0I5 dotptoiv). ol OWISVTES in Dan. xii.
3 represents D'VstoB- Is there an underlying word-play in the original tradition between D"J"?''3i2*B
(Aramaic 'p'TOOB) = BIKOIOI and niVtfSB (Aramaic J^BfaB) = o*<ivSoAo:?
* The word Sixmos appears in Theod.'s rendering of D ^ i r i "lj?*'7SB- This phrase is probably based
on Isa. liii. 11 where it is prophesied that the Suffering Servant will make the many righteous. The
burden of suffering belongs also to the O'|1?"'3toB m Dan. xii: see xi. 33, 35.
8
B.D.B. "?3fe*, sub. 4 records that Ewald, Hitzig and A. A. Bevan interpret D^'p'SfeS (n) in Dan.
xi and xii as 'the teachers'.
8
Cf. the use of o-oq>6s in Matt, xxiii. 34, which we have interpreted above as implying a teaching
function.
7
Montgomery, Daniel, ICC (Edinburgh, 1927), p. 471 (italics mine).
8
Interpreter's Bible, vi, 532, on Dan. xi. 33 (italics mine).

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 300 DAVID HILL

3, then Matthew has drawn together into the one term SiKaioi the two ideas
of wisdom and of the work of instructing towards righteousness. Unlike the
'causes of offence and evil-doers', those to whom eternal bliss is promised
have guided others in the right way: theirs has been a righteousness of life
and also of action and service as teachers.
Further evidence in support of the suggestion that SiKaioi may refer to a
special class of people may be found in Enoch and in the Qumran documents.
The combination 'righteous and elect' (5IKOCIOI KOCI EKAEKTOI) is frequently used
in the Book of Enoch to refer to the company of those who will ultimately be
vindicated in judgement and enjoy the reward of blessing (i. i and often in
the Similitudes section, xxxviii. 2, 3, 4; xxxix. 6, 7; xlviii. 1; lviii. 1, 2;
lx. 13; lxiii. 12, 13, 15; lxx. 3). 1 Are these the oppressed Hasidim and their
successors? Again, in the Book of the Heavenly Luminaries (Enoch lxxii-
lxxxii) which upholds a solar year of 364 days, ' the righteous ones' who are
blessed and ' who sin not in the reckoning of all their days, in which the sun
traverses the heaven entering into and departing from the portals for 30 days.. .
together with the four which are intercalated' (lxxxii. 4) are probably a
sectarian group in Israel opposed to the Pharisaic use of the lunar calendar.
This party or group was identified (probably erroneously) by Leszynsky with
the Sadducees,2 but more recently it has been suggested that the followers of
this ancient calendar of Enoch (which is the same as the one described or
postulated in the Book of Jubilees) are connected in some way with the
members of the Qumran sect who persisted in the use of a calendar which is
akin to, if not identical with that of Jubilees.3 Uncertainty about the identi-
fication may remain, but we are only concerned to point out that the phrase
' the righteous ones (oi 8IKOCIOI) ' is here used to refer to a special or sectarian
group in Israel. Before leaving Enoch it is worth noting that in a passage
which R. H. Charles considered to be addressed to the Sadducees we find
(cii. 10 in the Greek text)—ISETE O5V, 01 SIKOCIOUVTES [IOCUTJOUS, OTTOIO: iytvsTO
CCOTCOV f] i«rraa[Tpo]<pf|. Here the meaning is 'ye who justify yourselves' or
'ye who call yourselves righteous' 4 and if Charles' hypothesis is correct, we
1
The likelihood that the Similitudes section is post-Christian is increased by the fact that only of
this part of Enoch have no fragments appeared at Qumran.
2
Leszynsky, Die Sadduzder (1912), pp. 253 ff.
3
For the discussion of the Jubilees (Enoch) calendar and its possible relation to the documents of
the Qumran sect, see A. Jaubert, ' Le Calendrier des Jubil6s et de la Secte de Qumran: ses origines
bibliques', V.T. HI (1953), 250-64, and 'Le Calendrier des Jubiles et les jours liturgiques de la
semaine', V.T. vn (1957), 35-61; J. Morgenstern, 'The Calendar of the Book ofJubilees: its origin
and its character', V.T. v (1955), 34-76; J. Obermann, 'Calendaric Elements in the Dead Sea
Scrolls', J.B.L. LXXV (1956), 285-97. The last-mentioned study warns against a too ready identifica-
tion of the Jubilees and Qumran calendars.
4
In his Sayings of Jesus, p. 295, T. W. Manson suggested that the group referred to as Opels Jcrre ol
6iKaio0vTES SauroOs Svcbmov &v9. at Luke xvi. 14 f. is wrongly identified by Luke as Pharisees: they are
more probably Sadducees, the people who call themselves Np'HS. More recently M. Black has put
forward the view that the presence of Siraicocraifaur6vat Luke x. 29 (the lawyer who wishes ' to justify
himself) may illuminate the historical situation assumed in the parable of the Good Samaritan, viz.
the feud between Sadducean Jew and Samaritan (see 'The Parables as Allegory', B.J.R.L. XLII
(1959-60), 273-87, esp. p. 287 and note 1).

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 AIKAIOI AS A QUASI-TECHNICAL TERM 3OI
have an instance of the name of a party in Israel being implied in the use of
the 5iKotios-complex of words.1
In the documents of the Qumran sect words and phrases connected with
the root pT2£ are used with reference to groups in a quasi-technical sense. At
1 QS iii. 20, 22 the sectarian community as a whole is designated p"7S "M,
'sons of righteousness'.2 At 1 QS ix. 14 it is recorded that 'the maskil (sage
or instructor) shall weigh the sons of righteousness (reading j?""TXn "'33 =
j?TSn "•la)3 and keep hold of the chosen of time (ns?n T T n ) ' : these designa-
tions also refer to the entire community and they recall the combination ' the
righteous and elect' so common in Enoch. The phrase pVJS ""33 (sons of
Zadok) in the midrashic exposition of Ezek. xliv. 15 at CD iv. 2f. ('The sons
of Zadok are the chosen of Israel, bv."W "HTia') refers to the existing pious
community as a whole.4 It would appear that the Ezekiel passage (xliv. 15)
was important to the religious circles from which this document (and 1 QS)
originated not because it contained the name 'Zadok' and provided the title
for the society, but because it offered to the community scriptural foundation
for its expectations and because the meaning 'sons of righteousness' could be
read into it, by means of the midrashic canons of interpretation (cf. Lev.
Rabbah ch. 1). In short, p i s '33 is the real name or self-designation of the
community: pnx ""la (applied from Ezekiel) is used in order to gain
scriptural support for the sect's hopes and because it could be interpreted as
'sons of righteousness'. Nevertheless, the term pnx ""H in 1 QS v. 2, 9 (and
1 QSa i. 2, 24 and ii. 3) seems to refer to a particular leading group within
the community, namely, the priests of the society as distinct from the rest of
the community, the laity. If this is so (and Wernberg-Moller suggests that it
1
In his discussion of the name Sadducee, T. W. Manson claimed that the explanation from and
connexion with the root pTX was made by the Sadducees themselves (see' Sadducee and Pharisee—
The Origin and Significance of the Names', B.J.R.L. xxn, 1938, p. 153). This popular word-play
probably underlies Ass. Mos. vii. 3—et regnabunt de his homines pestilentiosi et impii, dicentes se
esse iustos: these were most probably Sadducees (R. H. Charles, Apoc. andPseudepig. 11, 419); it was
also well known to the Fathers.
a
This designation is found at Enoch xci. 3 and xciii. 2 and at Jub. x. 6 (MS. A) and it provides
us with one of the most important links between 1 QS and the Pseudepigraphal literature. The pious
circles (Hasidic) behind Enoch called themselves by this name, as did the circles behind the Manual
of Discipline.
3
See P. Wernberg-Moller, 'j?"TX, p'TX and pHX in the Zadokite Fragments, the Manual of
Discipline and the Habakkuk Commentary', V.T. m (1953), 310-15, and The Manual of Discipline,
Studies on the Texts of the Desert ofJudah 1 (Leiden, 1957), 90ff.Burrows' transcription plTX!! ""33
was altered by Brownlee (following H. L. Ginsberg, B.A.S.O.R. Supp. Studies 10-12, p. 37) to
p"72$!7 '33, since an expression descriptive of the community as a whole suits the context best. But an
emendation is hardly necessary when the transcription is corrected to p^TSi! ""33 (= plSfl "tS). In
the LXX (e.g. Ps. lxxii. 7; Prov. xi. 30, xx. 7) p'TS has been understood by the translators as equi-
valent to p i S : this is due to a pronunciation of the segolates differing from that of the Massoretes by
the retention of the original vowel in the second syllable.
4
In his study 'The Patristic Accounts of Jewish Sectarianism' (B.J.R.L. xu (1958-59), 285-303,
reprinted in The Scrolls and Christian Origins (1961),pp.48ff.)M.Black has suggested as 'a possibility
worthy of serious consideration' (p. ago) that the Sadducees mentioned by Justin in his list of
Jewish 'heretics' (Dial. c. Tryph. 80) were the Zadokites, the Bene Zadok or Qumran Essenes. The
identity of name was likely to produce confusion, and something like Justin's error appears in
Rabbinic sources when the Saddoukim are placed among the Minim and equated with the Qaraite Jews.

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 302 DAVID HILL
1
need not be) it implies a discrepancy between i QS v and CD iii-iv (on
which i QS ix depends).2 This issue does not really concern us here: the
point of importance for our argument remains, namely that the p"T2£ complex
of words is used in the Qumran documents in a quasi-technical sense re-
ferring to a sectarian group in Israel and/or to a priestly group within that
sect.
The evidence gathered in the above paragraphs from Daniel, Enoch and
the Qumran literature shows that the Skaios/pTS words could, on occasion,
imply a reference to a special group or groups within Israel (the Hasidim, the
Sadducees perhaps, the Dead Sea sect, and possibly the priesthood of that
sect): it therefore lends support to our suggestion that SIKOCIOI may be so used
occasionally in Matthew's gospel with special reference to those in the com-
munity who witness, instruct and teach.
1
See the Manual of Discipline, p. 92. He suggests that the expressions parallel to p i l S ^13 in
1 Q,S v. 2, 9 are such as may make the apparent reference to two groups merely rhetorical. He
admits, however, that the view which sees a reference to the priesthood alone in pV7S ">12 in the two
passages is more natural. The expression may imply a literal understanding and application of
Ezek. xliv. 15 at this point in the Manual, whereas it is used interpretatively in CD with reference to
the whole community. Wernberg-Moller is certain that on either view the designation 'Sons of
Zadok' is not to be taken in any of the passages as the actual name of the society: the self-designation
of the community was 'sons of righteousness' and this was read out of pnjj 133.
a
So F. Notscher, Zur Theologischen Terminologie der Qumran-Texte (Bonn, 1956), p. 185, note 55.

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