By Roy B. Blizzard
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.
Remembering what we have previously stated (that these are all truisms and are to be seen or understood in the present tense), we should translate this passage as:
Blessed are those who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness, they shall be filled.
This verse in the Beatitudes is a remez, or a hinting back at quite a number of passages in the Biblical text.Before it can make any real sense to us, we need to recall that this word translated into English as righteousness does not mean holiness.It is the Hebrew word Tzedakah, a word pregnant with meaning.In this context it can mean salvation.It can mean redemption.
Remember our passage from last week – Psalms 37.In verse 17 we are told that "the LORD upholds the righteous, Tzadikim. " In Verse 19 it says "in the days of famine they are satisfied."
In Isaiah 55:1 and following, it says "Ho, everyone that is thirsty come for water.He that has no money, come buy and eat.Come buy wine and milk without money and without price."
In Isaiah 65:13, God says, "My servants eat, but you are hungry.My servants drink, but you are thirsty."
Psalms 22:26 it says essentially the same thing using synonymous words."Let the humble eat and be satisfied." The word humble in Hebrew is the same as poor in spirit in verse 3.
You see something building here in the Beatitudes that often escapees the casual reader; that is, that each Beatitude is building on the previous one and they are essentially synonymous.
Blessed are those who are hungering and thirsting for God’s Tzedakah – that unique special quality that only comes from God; those who are hungering and thirsting after God’s Tzedakah.They are the ones who eat and are satisfied.
Blessed are those who are hungering to see God’s kingdom spread over the earth: they area the ones who are satisfied, who are filled.
