Giustizia della terra, giustizia del cielo. Modelli e ideologie della corruzione nella Bibbia ebraica

Abstract

This study investigates how the biblical text addresses the issue of judicial corruption. For a regulatory system that self-conceives itself as divinely inspired, a phenomenon such as bribery poses a particular problem. By affecting the impartiality of judgment, the bribe system favors the rich at the expense of the poorer classes. An analysis of the literary texts that address the issue of corruption allows us to identify two different ideological orientations in the Bible. The first orientation is mostly found in the legal sections and, to some extent, in the prophetic invectives and conceives of corruption as a social and legal problem. The second orientation concerns the so-called 'Writings,' or the last section of the Hebrew canon. In these texts the tendency to theologize the problem of justice emerges strongly, consequently linking the issue of corruption to that of sin religiously understood.