Uh, I am not going play your game with David and will ignore your lack of response to the Joshua reference so OK, lets see what you do with Job? Job chose righteousness as a way of life. Jesus wasn't around ___ go fer it! I will try hard not to laugh.
There are two words that are translated as righteous in Hebrew. The first is
tsaw-dak' which means to be made righteous or to justify. The former, to be made righteous, is used only when it is God that is making one righteous: and the latter, to justify, is either done by God or someone else depending on the context of whether the justification is toward God or another human being.
The second word we find in Hebrew comes from
tsaw-dak'; it is
tsad-deek' and refers to deeds and those who perform the deeds, but either way it is referring to one's actions (works) not their being (actual nature).
Job is said to be righteous (
tsad-deek') many times; however, he is mocked when he says that he is made righteous (
tsaw-dak') by God.
You find this same thing throughout the entire OT. God is the one who makes one righteous, and
He has promised to
justify those who
work righteousness. However one can only work righteousness out of the Love of God, which we can only know through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament through the promise of the coming messiah, and the New Testament trough the finished work of the Messiah. So again in the end.... No Jesus; no righteousness. No Jesus; No hope!
As for the the whole Joshua thing... It was a
choice to serve the Lord; which, not surprisingly, is a
righteous deed (
tsad-deek').
