Professor of Old Testament at the University of Notre Dame, Gary A. Anderson:

"Faith & Finance"


[Updated Wednesday, April 15, after checking Sister Nora's NAB Answers Bible late last night, re: Tobit 2:2-3 and 4:7-11 and Daniel 4:24, plus Brother Jeff's King James Bible, re: Daniel 4:27. Folks, I'd guess this Professor Anderson has done his own homework, as we can see in what he tells us in the first two italicized lines posted immediately below yesterday.]


[I]n the Hebrew and Aramaic of Jesus' day, the word for righteousness (tsedaqab) had come to mark the specific act of showing charity toward the poor...


Adapted from First Things magazine, May 2009 issue.

"The problem begins with how to interpret the word righteousness.

'As early as the Greek translation of the Septuagint in the second or first century B.C., the term had been understood as almsgiving.

"This was because, in the Hebrew and Aramaic of Jesus' day, the word for righteousness (tsedaqab) had come to mark the specific act of showing charity toward the poor.

"If the Greek translation is correct, it would appear that forgiveness is not completely an action done by God alone but requires some sort of human participation."

Well....

According to at least one of our Saint Mary Magdalene's more hopelessly muddled American Catholic deacons expounding to us on the story of Jesus and the Good Thief, on Good Friday afternoon , for example, the other thief has to be forgiven, too, never mind his attitude or whether he wanted to be or not in the first place.

In all fairness, as far as this deacon's own attitude is concerned, the poor fellow is entitled to some degree of credit for being the victim of diminished responsibility.

After all, he was literally cursed in his younger days by being shipped off to a so - called Catholic (ha, ha, HA!) university or college, there to studiously pursue such scholarly religious and spiritually uplifting theological classics as Catcher in the Rye.

Or so he's told us, and hearing him these days I'll never doubt it! :)

Meanwhile, back to our story.

"To be redeemed from one's sins requires the good work of showing mercy to the poor.

"Consider the Book of Tobit, the earliest source we have that documents the importance of giving alms to the poor.

"The tale begins with a description of the piety of Tobit while he resided in the land of Israel.

"But then the Assyrians invaded the northern kingdom and took Tobit and many others into exile.

"He could no longer make the requisite journey to Jerusalem in order to offer sacrifices to his God.

"So how was Tobit to fulfill his obligation to serve his creator and redeemer?

"He gave alms [Check out: Tobit 4:7 - 11. He makes this clear, as does Tobit 2:2 + Daniel 4:24 in Nora's Bible & Daniel 4:27 in Brother Jeff's KJ Bible.

"If all we had was the Book of Tobit, we might conclude that the religious value of almsgiving was conditioned by one's distance from the Temple.

"In Israel, Tobit venerates God at the Temple; in the Eastern diaspora, he serves the poor.

"But another Jewish text the time, the Book of Ben Sira, rejects this interpretation.

"Ben Sira was a priest who lived in Israel.

"Yet he contended that almsgiving was an activity that paralleled sacrifice: He who returns a kindness offers fine flour, and he who gives alms sacrifices a thank offering.

"In Tobit and Ben Sira, we witness a dramatic new turn in theology.

"The hand of the poor person is imagined to be a type of altar that can can transmit goods from earth to heaven.

"The altar in Jerusalem turns the flesh of animals into a savor that was pleasing to the Lord, and the act of generosity to the poor allows one to deposit wealth into a heavenly treasury.

"The safety of human vaults could be impugned (in Jesus' words, thieves may break in), but the credit rating of heaven is impregnable..."

Trust me! The original full - length article is well worth reading! :)