d all
classes. It can be based neither upon the formal administration of law nor
upon the elastic principle of love, which too often tolerates, or even
approves certain types of injustice. Judaism has been working through the
centuries to realize the ideal of justice to all mankind; therefore the
Jew has suffered and waited for the ultimate triumph of the God of
justice. God's kingdom of justice is to be established, not in a world to
come, but in the world that now is, in the life of men and nations. As the
German poet has it, "Die Weltgeschichte ist das Weltgericht" (the history
of the world is the world's tribunal of justice).

7. The recognition of God as the righteous Ruler implies a dominion of
absolute justice which allows no wrongdoing to remain unpunished and no
meritorious act to remain unrewarded. The moral and intellectual maturity
of the people, however, must determine how they conceive retribution in
the divine judgment. Under the simple conditions of patriarchal life, when
common experience seemed to be in harmony with the demands of divine
justice, when the evil-doer seemed to meet his fate and the worthy man to
enjoy his merited prosperity, reward and punishment could well be
expressed by the Bible in terms of national prosperity and calamity. The
prophets, impressed by the political and moral decline of their era,
announced for both Israel and the other nations a day of judgment to come,
when God will manifest Himself as the righteous Ruler of the world. In
fact, those great preachers of righteousness announced for all time the
truth of a _moral government of the world_, with terror for the
malefactors and the assurance of peace and salvation for the righteous.
"He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity"
becomes a song of joyous confidence and hope on the lips of the
Psalmist.(320) This final triumph of justice does not depend, as Christian
theologians assert, on the mere outward conformity of Israel to the
law.(321) On the contrary, it offers to the innocent sufferer the hope
that "his right shall break forth as light," while "the wicked shall be
put to silence in darkness."(322) We must admit, indeed, that the Biblical
idea of retribution still has too much of the earthly flavor, and often
lacks true spirituality. The explanation of this lies in the desire of the
expounders of Judaism that _this_ world should be regarded as the
battle-ground between the good and the bad,