Hand-Me-Downs of Historical Injustice
Job 20:5, 10
We inherited moral injuries and are complicit with ongoing injustice. What is our responsibility to moral repair that will last beyond us?
Syria is a case in point. Syria’s political shift and its hope for a better chapter after 50 years of the Assad regime and a brutal civil war makes many wonder - can a nation so scarred by decades of oppression and conflict ever truly reconcile its past?
What’s true for Syria is true for other nations facing peril right now, mid war and moral injury, as so many people are facing their own private arcs of shifts and transformations.
Justice seems elusive and may take years of generations to play out - if at all. This is what’s on Job’s mind is he continues to wrestle with his painful fate and his long view of the world.
Could he, can we, hold on to the words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”?
King’s legacy will be honored this coming weekend, alongside a suspenseful start of a new presidential chapter in the United States, and his wistful words offer us some hope that even the most entrenched injustices can be corrected - over time.
Yet, King also emphasized that such bending requires our active participation. The moral arc does not move by itself; it is bent by the hands of those committed to justice.
This sentiment echoes in today’s chapter of Job, as Eliphaz insists that justice prevails and that those who did harm will eventually have to pay for their misdeeds - even if it takes generations:
כִּי רִנְנַת רְשָׁעִים מִקָּרוֹב וְשִׂמְחַת חָנֵף עֲדֵי־רָגַע׃
Know you not that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
בָּנָיו יְרַצּוּ דַלִּים וְיָדָיו תָּשֵׁבְנָה אוֹנוֹ׃
The wicked person's children shall seek to please the poor, and their hands shall give back that which has been robbed.
Job 20:5, 10
Eliphaz insists that justice will eventually find its way, even across generations, from one hand to another. His words may seem reassuring, but Job’s response reminds us of the bitterness of waiting. Justice delayed feels like no justice at all, and Job’s own suffering—so undeserved and incomprehensible—points to the randomness of a world where the wicked often prosper with no retribution in sight.
Rashi’s commentary on Job 20:10 underscores the inevitability of restitution, asserting that wealth gained unjustly will return to its rightful place. Yet the delay in achieving justice presents a profound challenge: How do we reconcile with a justice that arrives too late for the original victims? Can this ever satisfy our sense of fairness or heal the collective wounds of history?
Eliphaz’s claim also resonates with modern attempts at generational justice, such as German reparations to the Jewish people after the Holocaust. These reparations, though significant, could never fully heal the pain or restore the lives lost. Likewise, in the United States, ongoing calls for reparations for the descendants of enslaved African Americans confront centuries of systemic injustice and economic disparity. In both cases, the moral debt is clear, but the means of repayment and repair remain complex and fraught.
Abraham Joshua Heschel, writing in The Prophets, insisted that
“morally gained possessions are more enduring than wealth acquired through injustice.”
For Heschel, justice must not only right past wrongs but also establish a moral foundation for the future. His words compel us to consider the dual responsibility of addressing historical wrongs while ensuring that the systems and structures of today do not perpetuate new injustices.
The metaphor of the hand in Job 20:10 is striking. The same hands that hoard wealth unjustly are called upon to return it. This imagery reminds us, as King and Heschel and so many other prophets remind us - that justice requires action—our hands must labor to repair the world. As we face global crises, from Syria to the United States and Israel-Palestine, the work of justice cannot wait for future generations. Job was right about that.
The arc may be long, but its bending is urgent. It’s a relay race and our hand must extend in both directions - past and future, hurt and healing, hand in hand.
In this moment of political divides and deep wounds, moral injuries and uncertain outcomes - we must ask: Can we stop wringing our hands and hold each other’s hands with care and commitment - making sure, as best as we can, that justice is not denied , that moral repair and more responsible care are handled now and handed down to the next generation? Much of this is in our hands.
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