The prophets, says James McPolin SJ, transmit and interpret God’s words for the time, especially in order to call people to address the injustices of their world.
The prophet Haggai describes himself as a ‘messenger of God’. In what sense are the prophets messengers of God? They speak on behalf of God; they deliver God’s word and the message they bring from God is directed to the contemporary situation. The society of their time and its conduct are the main theme of their message.
Messengers
Prophets are not just bearers of dispatches whose functions are limited to being sent on errands. The ear of the prophet is always directed to God; he transmits a message that belongs to God and it is often introduced by the words: ‘Thus says the Lord’.
The prophet is a messenger who is a mediator or intermediary between the divine and human world. In the presence of God he takes the part of the people whilst in the presence of the people he takes the part of God.
God ‘reveals his secret to his servants, the prophets.’ He tells Jeremiah: ‘you shall serve as my mouth’ (Amos Ch.3; Jer. CJ5). Generally, the prophets are sent to the people of Israel, but Jeremiah also regards himself as a prophet ‘to the nations.’ The prophet is in touch with God and with people. He is in sympathy with God and with the people, and is dedicated to loving service even when God’s message appears to be negative.
Interpreter
As a messenger of God the prophet interprets God’s will for a particular situation and then proclaims it. As a messenger of God the prophet is not to be understood just as a microphone or mouthpiece of God. Prophets are not just instruments; they are partners and associates of God. They are endowed with the power of a word that is not their own but they also have their own concerns, their own character and individuality. To proclaim God’s word is often a struggle for them.
While they have sympathy with the divine concern they also feel compassion for the people they criticise. Somebody has said that ‘the prophet should not be regarded as an ambassador who must be dispassionate in order to be effective.’ In fact, prophets are passionate because they are so much in touch with God and also with human beings with all their sufferings, weaknesses and hopes. They were convinced that their mission as messengers from God was founded on a special call from God and they sometimes describe this experience (Is. Ch.6; Jer. Ch.l).
In crisis situations they show a deep sensitivity, particularly in two ways: they show an acute awareness of distress, pain and dysfunction present in the people and they always try to raise their hopes. In the image of the dry bones, Ezekiel (Ch.37) wishes to convey that God will restore his people after the Exile.
Anger and compassion
At times one gets the impression that the prophet’s message is more one of anger than of hope and compassion (Am. Ch.l; Jer. 5:5). But sometimes this anger is linked with their compassion. We ourselves feel angry when we see innocent people being treated unjustly, or defenceless people being persecuted. Notice, for example, how the prophets are preoccupied with justice, and the passion with which they condemn injustice. That passion is rooted in the compassion and justice of God.
Somebody has said that if we have no anger then we have no compassion. The prophets are upset; they speak out with strong feeling not because laws have been broken but because people have been hurt and because the very heart of man and woman which introduced a wrongness into created reality has been twisted.
In addition, the prophets feel sympathy for God and are angry because God loves his people and they have rebelled against that love. They not only denounce but also announce good news. Hosea, for example, has been called the prophet of God’s love even if he is painfully aware of the unfaithfulness of the people and constantly calls them to repent, to ‘return’ to God (Hos. Ch.2).
Social justice
What makes the prophets most relevant today is their constant call to social justice. This call is based on God’s own justice, on his special concern for the poor and the weak and also on the harsh reality of the injustices that existed in society at the time. This call is frequent in Amos, Jeremiah, Isaiah and Micah, e.g. ‘What does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?’ (Mic. 6:8).
Long before the prophets, even in the Near Eastern culture, justice was an important value. But the call of the prophets is based on God’s justice, i.e., his faithfulness to the demands of his relationships, especially with the poor, and it became even more urgent when the evils of poverty became more serious because of the changes in the structures of society; for example, the change from being a nomadic society to being independent farmers with their own piece of land. The gap between rich and poor widened more with the development of the monarchy and the growth of a large army.
Injustices
The prophets were very sensitive to social breakdown of life in their times. One key issue was land and its ownership. The life support system of most of the people was the land. According to tradition the land was the inheritance of the people received by them from God and so it constitutes the integrity of a citizen’s existence.
Unjust redistribution of the land violated this. In 1 Kings 21 we read how King Ahab and Jezebel unjustly seized Naboth’s land. Amos and Isaiah tell of very rich people who built large apartments and owned big vineyards, kept summer and winter houses, and collected expensive furniture inlaid with ivory. Micah accuses the leaders and professionals, inluding priests and prophets, of the complete prostitution of their vocations to
the lust for wealth. In the time of Amos there was great prosperity but the poor were disadvantaged.
The prophets were not against wealth as such. They were against it only if it was acquired by affecting the welfare and freedom of others or by violating justice. They deemed it sinful if wealth were the dominant motivation of those responsible for social well-being, (Is. Ch.3; Am. Ch.6; Mic. Ch.3).
For the prophets justice was all about relationships, especially as regards the land and the law courts. They criticised the unjust administration of the courts where the poor were defenceless against bribery, the pressure of the rich and the corruption of the judges, just as they were also defenceless against the cheating of the rich business people, the merchants in the marketplaces (Mic. Ch.5).
The city
For Isaiah, Jerusalem betrayed God because it betrayed the poor (Ch.l). Micah says it should have been an impressive spectacle with its buildings, but in fact it is quite the opposite. He does not like the city, its buildings or its prosperity and progress. He does not trust the court; its prosperity and progress have been created with the blood of the poor, on a foundation of injustice (Ch.3). He and Isaiah also pinpoint the injustices of rural life. Micah condemns the greed of landowners who covet land and seize houses (Ch.2). The prophets also condemn the way workers are underpaid or cheated of their wages (Jer. Ch.22).
In denouncing such injustices they are defending the poor and proclaiming that inter-human justice is a fundamental value founded on the justice of God and on his special concern for the poor.
Knowledge and worship
The prophets also tell us what true knowledge and worship of God means: ‘I desire knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings’ (Hos. Ch.6). By this they don’t just mean intellectual knowledge or the knowledge of doctrine about God but rather attachment to God and the practice of justice.
Jeremiah asserts that King Josiah has true knowledge of God because he is a man who defends the poor (C 22): ‘Incense is an abomination to me…your festivals my soul hates …take away from me the noise of your songs and let justice roll down like the waters’ (Is. Ch.I; Amos Ch.5; Jer. Chs.5,6,7).
Alternative vision
The prophets are not hostile to worship as such but they do insist that prayer, hymns and sacrifices are empty exercises without the the practice of justice. Religion was often merely a matter of the temple, priesthood, incense and hymns. Such piety Jeremiah brands as illusion. Any worship that is preceded,or followed by injustices becomes an absurdity.
It is not that the prophets are a group of angry people. But they have an attentive perception of reality and of the values of God. They offer an alternative vision of society and reality in the light of their experience of God. And they suffer for their vision and for their work of creating a better world, just as Jesus, the prophet rejected in his own country, suffered in the hope of creating a better life for us all.
This article first appeared in The Messenger (December 2000), a publication of the Irish Jesuits.
