Instead of showing us the beauty of the world, the prophet takes us to the slums (as if the whole world was a slum).
They make much ado about ‘little things’. (Is it really so important that poor people, somewhere are being badly treated by the rich?)
The things that horrified the prophets are even now daily occurrence all over the world. (See Amos 8:4–6)
Sensitivity to Evil
Prophets look at single act of injustice with a ‘magnifying glass’.
For them a minor injustice is a disaster, a catastrophe, a threat to the world. Even cosmos is affected by acts of injustice. (See Amos 8:7–9; Jer 2:12–13)
Should heaven be really appalled, because Israel has become unfaithful to God?
Should Jerusalem be destroyed because ‘small injustice’ has been inflicted on ‘insignificant, powerless people?
Sensitivity to Evil
Read Amos 6:4–7.
Prophet is sensitive to evil; people are indifferent to evil. Which attitude is the right one?
People shun from looking at evil; prophet is burden with the issue of injustice.
It is God who put a burden upon his soul;
It is God who is raging in the prophet’s word.
The importance of trivialities
According to Greek and Roman Philosophers, gods are totally withdrawn from the affairs of this world:
“The gods attend to great matters; they neglect small ones” (Cicero);
The gods are not concerned with the dispensation of good and bad fortune or with external things - Aristotle’s thought.
The importance of trivialities
But according to the prophets it is the opposite.
God is much more preoccupied with the plight of man than with contemplating eternal ideas. (He is the God of His/Her-story - He is the God of history).
Although man is rebellious and full of iniquity, yet he is still cherished by God.
God's love for man is intimate, yet His wrath can be harsh and dreadful.
Powerful language
Prophetic utterance is urging, alarming, and forceful. The words of prophets seem to be coming from God’s heart and trying to enter the heart and mind of man.
The prophet does not care about the beauty of the language; he tries to communicate the message forcefully (see Is 32:11–13)
Powerful language
Why such language?
(1) The prophet aims at making us responsible for injustice in the world;
(2) The prophet does not accept our excuses for being indifferent and not doing anything;
(3) The prophet dismisses our pretence and self-pity
The Highest Good
The prophet’s ear is attuned to a cry which is not heard by others. (see Habakkuk 2:6,9,11–12).
“Woe to him …?” Really?
Who cares that cities and nations have been built on injustice. The success is what matters, isn’t it?
Not for God. (See Amos 6:8).
The Highest Good
Wisdom, wealth, and might. Who does not cherish these three? (Isaiah 10:13; Hosea 12:8).
But, there is worldly wisdom and godly wisdom. They are based on different principles (see Is 29:13–14; Jer 8:9; Hosea 10:13–14).
True wisdom is spelled out Jeremiah and Zechariah (see Jer 9:23–24; Zech 4:6). This is the highest good.
Do the prophets not exaggerate?
Our perception of humanity and the world:
(1) There are so many good people in the world and many acts for justice and deeds of charity.
(2) Our world is not perfect; none of us is perfect. Therefore there are wars, conflicts, domestic violence, women trafficking, child prostitution, ecological crisis.
(3) but we have good intentions and we try our best.
Do the prophets not exaggerate?
The prophet, however, does not accept such excuses.
Humans cannot live with guilty conscience. Even the greatest murders see themselves as doing evil acts for ‘good cause’. We excuse ourselves from responsibility, and if conscience still bothers us, we look for comfort and soothing.
Do the prophets not exaggerate?
But who will comfort and sooth those who are hurt, those victims of our injustice?
Who will comfort and sooth God, who sees all the cruelty committed on the face of the earth?
Do the prophets not exaggerate?
God shares His thoughts with the prophets (Jer 11:18)
The prophet knows the huge difference between God and human civilisations (Is 40:15,17).
He also knows that if God gets really angry things can get tragic for humanity (See Jer 4:23–26; Gen 19:24).
Our world is real, but not absolute. It totally depends upon being in communion with God.
Sweeping allegations
if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth? (Jer 5:1)
“Their transgressions are many, their apostasies are great” (Jer 5:6)
there is nothing but oppression within Jerusalem (Jer 6:6)
everyone is greedy for unjust gain; everyone deals falsely (Jer 6:13)
Sweeping allegations
“There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land” (Hosea 4:1–2)
“sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly!” (Is 1:4)
They add sin to sin (Is 30:1).
Are those allegations fair? Were all people guilty?
Is 3:10 and Jer 5:26 indicate that they were righteous people as well.
Sweeping allegations
Statistically, the prophets were inaccurate, but their allegations expressed the truth expressed in Talmud:
“Whoever destroys a single soul should be considered the same as one who has destroyed a whole world. And whoever saves one single soul is to be considered the same as one who saved a whole world.”
Sweeping allegations
What for us is exaggeration, for them is seeing the world from the point of view of God who is deeply affected by our actions and from the point of view of the victims who suffer because of our actions or our indifference.
Sweeping allegations
Our societies are marked by excuses, pretence, and self-pity.
Guilt seems to be disappearing; no crime is absolute, no sin devoid of apology.
Relativity becomes the truth and relativity excuses.
We learn history: it tells us what has happened; what we have done.
The prophets teaches us to imagine what might have happened if we would listen to the voice of God.
Few are guilty, all are responsible
Bible is a unique book. It presents the drama of God and His people. Israel’s history plays a unique role in that drama. From the prophet’s perspective the drama looks more or less like this:
God was alone in the world, unknown or discarded. The countries of the world were full of abominations, violence, falsehood. Here was one land, one people, cherished and chosen for the purpose of transforming the world. Their failure was most serious (Hosea 11:1–2; Is 5:1–2; Jer 2:3,7).
Few are guilty, all are responsible
We might judge ourselves and others just and pure. The Bible sees us differently (see Ps 14:2-3; see also Ecclesiastes 7:20; Job 4:17–19; 15:14–16; Is 6:2–5).
If God finds angels imperfect, how does He find us?
It is given that a person is affected by the spirit of society - its culture, moral values, educational principles. Some also say that a person’s crime discloses society’s corruption. If it is true then imagine a ‘prophetic society’.
Few are guilty, all are responsible
A ‘prophetic society’ would have these characteristics:
(1) not indifferent to suffering;
(2) uncompromisingly impatient with cruelty and falsehood;
(3) continually concerned for God and every man.
In such society, there would be less crime and corruption and that what the prophets aim for: renewal and transformation of our communities and societies.
An iconoclast
An iconoclast is someone who challenges cherished beliefs and questions established institutions.
The prophets challenges something that in biblical tradition is established as holy, awesome (see Jer 6:20; 7:21–23).
The prophets knew that religion could distort what the Lord demanded and that priests had often participated in the acts of injustice.
An iconoclast
Temple, priesthood, and incense or sacrifice were the pillars of religion in Israel.
Yet, the prophet is challenging those pillars. (See Jer 7:4,8 and Jer 7:9–15).
We basically have this situation:
(1) Evil acts —> (2) Worship —> (3) Evil acts
Such situation is an insult to God.
An iconoclast
In the pagan religions gods depended on their worshippers. Worshippers build shrines to their gods.
A god/goddess who threatens to destroy his/her shrine and send his/her worshippers into exile undermines his/her own cult.
If there is no dedicated place of worship, if there are no people who would worship, god/goddess cease to exist.
With the God of Israel is different.
An iconoclast
Is 10:5; 13:5 - The enemy becomes God’s instrument to punish His own nation.
Jer 25:9; 27:6 - The enemy is God’s servant fulfilling God’s plan.
The prophets do not curse the enemy; they condemn their own nation. Why?
Austerity and Compassion
Behind stern words of the prophets is love and compassion for humankind (Ezek 18:23).
Every woe is a call to repentance.
Together with castigation, the prophets bring also consolation, promise, and the hope of reconciliation.
The prophets began with a message of doom and concludes with a message of hope (Is 35:3–10).
Austerity and Compassion
The prophet calls us to live in a way that takes into account God’s presence in our midst.
God’s presence can mean comfort and security, but for the prophets it was a challenge and demand.
God is compassionate but He does not compromise; He upholds justice but He is also open to clemency.
The prophet’s predictions can be always proved wrong. How? By repentance, by a change of man’s conduct.
Challenges to prophetic life
It is not easy to be a prophet.
(1) He has two opponents: callous-insensitive heart of a man and the established authority.
He offers: disaster, pestilence, agony, and destruction.
Challenges to prophetic life
If you don’t change your heart and cease to be callous to God’s word, you will die. (the basic message of Jeremiah).
(2) Loneliness and misery (Jer 15:17).
To be a prophet means to be different and ready to suffer. His mission is often distasteful to him and repugnant to others. No reward is promised.
He is seen as madman by his contemporaries (Amos 5:10). Even today, they are many who do not see them as positive figures.
Challenges to prophetic life
None of the prophets is delighted with his vocation. (Is 6:2–5; Jer 20:14,17,18).
They have no illusion about the success of their mission (Ezek 2:3–5, 3:8–9; Is 6:8–13).
Jeremiah is tempted to give up his mission (Jer 20:9; see also 1 Kings 19:4).
Yet, despite all the hardships, they continue to speak. They see it as their responsibility (Ezek 3:16–21; 33:6–7).
Challenges to prophetic life
What should they speak?
“declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin” (Micah 3:8);
that “is evil and bitter to forsake the Lord your God” and not to fear God (Jer 2:19).
(3) Is there any joy in such vocation?
It seems there is: “your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart” (Jer 15:16).
People’s tolerance
To the nationalists and patriots the prophet was pernicious. He apparently did not love his own country (Amos 2:5; Jer 26:18);
To the pious, the prophet was blasphemous (Is 1:10–15);
To those in authority, the prophet was seditious (Amos 7:10; Jer 38:4).
And yet, despite all of these the people tolerated them (see Jer 26:16).
Conclusion
Who is the prophet?
What is the real content of prophetic message?
Who is the prophet?
He is more than a messenger.
In his words, the invisible God is audible. (Think about Jesus in whom the invisible God became visible – the image of unseen God)
“There are no proofs for the existence of the God of Abraham. There are only witnesses” (Abraham Heschel, a 20th century Jewish rabbi)
Who is the prophet?
Is there a coherence in the prophetic message?
“Fallen, no more to rise, is the virgin Israel; forsaken on her land, with none to raise her up” (Amos 5:2; see also Amos 5:8). No more to rise? Then why do we hear also this message?
“I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them …” (Amos 9:14–15).
Who is the prophet?
The prophets do not lay down laws or principles. They deal with relationship between God and man, and in such relationship contradictions are inevitable. (Just look at relationship between us, in a family).
Then, we should never forget that behind the prophetic message there is its Messenger - God. They speak in the name of God for whom mercy stands above judgment and anger.
Who is the prophet?
The prophet is not a mouthpiece or an instrument of God. He is an associate of God.
The prophet is personally affected by the word he is told to deliver to the people.
The feelings of God penetrate his heart. He is in sympathy with God.
What is the real content of prophetic message?
(1) Neither Anxiety for the future of the people and nation; (2) Neither patriotism; (3) Nor even moral indignation; But …
Feelings of God:
His Love, mercy, disappointment, indignation.
These feelings penetrate the heart of the prophet who is in fellowship/sympathy with the feelings of God.
What is the real content of prophetic message?
Our God is not an impersonal God.
He is deeply involved in our lives.
He is affected by the drama of human history.
If he would not be, we would not have the Gospel’s message of John 3:16: “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”.
What is the real content of prophetic message?
God cares about what is going on here, on the earth. Because, He cares we have the prophetic message and the mystery of incarnation and redemption.