- Name 25 of 70The LORD Our Righteousness
- HebrewYHWH Tsidqenu
- In plain wordsThe LORD our righteousness
- Where to find itJeremiah 23:6, a promise of a King from David's line
Jehovah Tsidkenu means "the Lord our righteousness." The prophet Jeremiah announced it as the name of a King God would one day raise up from the family of David, and the King James Bible prints it in capital letters: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS
(Jeremiah 23:6). Righteousness simply means being right with God and doing what is right. This name says that God Himself would supply that rightness for people who had lost it.
A promise spoken while the kingdom fell apart
Jeremiah had one of the hardest jobs in the Bible. God called him in the days of good King Josiah, and he kept preaching through the reigns of several kings until Jerusalem was captured (Jeremiah 1:2 to 3). Most of that time he was warning people who did not want to listen. One summary line says neither the king nor his officials nor the people did hearken unto the words of the LORD
. To hearken is to listen and obey.
The kings of Judah were supposed to be shepherds of God's people, protecting them and ruling fairly. Instead, many of them used their power for themselves. In Jeremiah 22 God judges several of these kings one after another. Then chapter 23 opens with a cry against all of them:
Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.
Jeremiah 23:1
In the King James Bible, "pastors" here means shepherds, the rulers of the nation. God would gather His scattered flock Himself. And then He made a promise that reached far beyond Jeremiah's day:
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Jeremiah 23:5-6
A branch is a new shoot growing out of an old tree. David's royal family tree looked almost dead, but God promised a fresh, righteous shoot from it.
Zedekiah and the name turned around
To feel the punch of this name, you need to meet the king on the throne at the end. His birth name was Mattaniah. When the king of Babylon set him up as a puppet ruler, he gave him a new name: and changed his name to Zedekiah
(2 Kings 24:17).
In Hebrew, Zedekiah is Tsidqiyahu. Strong's dictionary explains it as "right of Jah," built from tsedeq, righteousness, and a short form of God's name. So the king's own name announced the righteousness of the LORD. His life did the opposite. He ignored God's word, rebelled against the king who had made him swear an oath by God (2 Chronicles 36:13), and Jerusalem was besieged and destroyed during his reign (2 Kings 25:1 to 2). When the city fell, the king of Babylon put out Zedekiah's eyes, and bound him with chains, to carry him to Babylon
.
Now look at the name God gives the coming King. It uses the same two building blocks as Zedekiah's name, God's name and the word for righteousness, in the other order, and it adds one small but huge word: "our." Many Bible readers see this as deliberate. A king who wore the name and failed would be replaced by a King who would truly be what the name said, and would share it with His people.
The Hebrew words in plain English
The first part of the name is YHWH, God's covenant name, shown in the King James Bible as LORD in capitals. A covenant is a binding promise, and this name was the one God used when He made promises to Israel.
The second part, tsidkenu, comes from tsedeq. Strong's defines tsedeq as what is right, whether natural, moral or legal, and also as fairness. The King James Bible usually translates it "righteousness," and sometimes "just" or "justice." The ending -enu means "our." Strong's lists the whole phrase as a name of its own and notes that it is used for both the Messiah and for Jerusalem. Messiah means "anointed one," the King God promised to send.
That second use is in Jeremiah 33, which repeats the promise:
In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness.
Jeremiah 33:16
First the King has the name. Then the city of His people is called by it. What belongs to Him is given to them.
More KJV verses on a righteousness that comes from God
The Old Testament had already planted this idea. Long before Jeremiah, Abram trusted God's promise, and he counted it to him for righteousness
(Genesis 15:6). Righteousness was credited to him like a deposit he had not earned.
The prophet Isaiah was honest about how people measure up on their own: all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags
(Isaiah 64:6). But he also sang about being dressed by God:
I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
Isaiah 61:10
The New Testament points to Jesus, the descendant of David, as the one who fits this promise. Paul wrote that Christ of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption
(1 Corinthians 1:30).
Putting down the scoreboard
A lot of people keep a quiet scoreboard with God. They count up the good things they did this week and hope it stays ahead of the bad. Some feel proud when they are winning. Others always feel behind. Both groups end up tired.
Jehovah Tsidkenu takes the scoreboard off the wall. Your standing with God does not rise and fall with your best or worst day. The rightness you need is supplied by God, not manufactured by you. That frees you from shame, and it also cures pride. Nobody can look down on anyone else when everything good in their account came from Someone else.
Think about what happens when someone else pays a debt you could never cover. You do not walk away bragging. You walk away grateful, and that gratitude starts to change how you treat other people who owe you something.
It does not make right living unimportant. The King in Jeremiah 23 is the one who will execute judgment and justice in the earth
. People who belong to Him start to care about what He cares about: fairness, honesty and protecting the weak.
- Read Jeremiah 23:1 to 8 and notice how God replaces bad shepherds with a good King.
- Name one area where you have been trying to earn God's approval, and thank Him that He has made a way you could not make.
- Do one fair, just thing this week for someone who cannot pay you back.
Jehovah Tsidkenu is name 25 in the book. The name that follows comes from another prophet in exile and ends his whole book: Jehovah Shammah, the LORD is there. You can also go back to Jehovah Rohi, the LORD my shepherd, since Jeremiah 23 begins with shepherds too.
