What does the word just mean?

It can be used as an adverb, as in “I’ll be there in just a minute” (meaning I’ll be there just before your clothes go out of style). Or Just Do It.  (Great idea. But what is the “It” I should be doing?) The meaning of just is precisely or totally or completely. However, when our kids insist, “I just want one more cookie”, we realize “just” has the opposite meaning, as in “I really want 10 more cookies”.

Using “just” as an adjective has deeper meaning.

In Matthew 1:19, Joseph is described as a “being a just man”.  Since nothing he said was ever recorded and only a few stories about him even exist, it is important to know what the term means in order to understand Joseph. Different translations of the Bible use “just” and “righteous” interchangeably, so there’s a clue. “Just” means seeking what is right.  “Just” means you are willing to do what God commands.

We know God is just. He always does what is right, what should be done, and that He does it consistently, without partiality or prejudice. But how do WE know what is right, what is just, what is fair?  Any system of justice is based upon laws and rules.  And so the hard work comes in, we have to read and understand the commandments to learn what is right. Isn’t that what a just man does?

My theory on Joseph is that he was a guy who played by the rules.

He would have studied the Torah in the synagogue somewhere in Nazareth. He would know the commandments of the Lord and worn tassels to remember and obey what he was taught.

All 613 commandments.

In the book of Leviticus, they are all listed. There are 365 negative commandments, those things one must not do, and 248 positive commandments, those things one is called to do. Since there are 365 days in the year and 248 major organs and bones in the human body, God is asking us to commit our entire selves (248) to observe the laws every day of the year (365).

365 + 248 = 613.  Awesome math.

The tasseled garment worn by religious Jews is called a tallit and the fringe are called tzitzit. When the strands and the knots are added together, the number equals, you guessed it,  613.