books like Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah; it clearly reverberates throughout the prophets and in many ways gave rise to the sectarian movements at the time of Jesus, like the Pharisees and Essenes, who were seeking God’s blessing. Second, there is a clear eschatological focus in the word “blessed.”9 If a focus of the Old Testament was on present-life blessings for Torah observance, there is another dimension that deconstructs injustice and sets the