History and Justice

In his Of God and Gods: Egypt, Israel, and the Rise of Monotheism (George L. Mosse Series) , Jan Assmann argues that justice is a “generator of history,” that is, it is the concept/action that makes history a field of interaction between God and man.  In the Bible, in contrast to Egyptian, Greek, and Roman religion, “History is seen as the manifestation of the will of God, of a god who reacts to the deeds of mankind by punishing, rewarding, guiding, and, eventually, redeeming.  History, or God’s interaction with humanity (or with his chosen people), is based upon justice.”  Thus justice is “a generator of history.”

That biblical perspective appears in some other ancient religions, but it also runs directly contrary to the impulses of many ancient religions, for which justice as order is precisely a stay against time and history.  It is the fixed frame within which time and history flow.