AT THE CROSSROADS 36

The Prophetic Alternative (1)

Our commentary on the Catechism of the Catholic Church resumes with the prophetic stage of God’s self-revelation: “Through the prophets, God forms his people in the hope of salvation, in the expectation of a new and everlasting Covenant intended for all, to be written on their hearts. The prophets proclaim a radical redemption of the People of God, purification from all their infidelities, a salvation which will include all the nations” (CCC, 64). We cite excerpts from my article “Mission in the Bible”, in Re-routing Mission (Philippine Perspective). ed. Liza Lamis (India: CCA 2004).

“In the era of the kings and the temple aristocracy, the prophetic books have recorded the atrocities committed against the people, the nation and creation by an elite few, a cabal of government officials and temple authorities. Amos, for example, in the time of King Jeroboam II (786-746 BCE) had a detailed list of these violations, their perpetrators and their victims. Spoliation of the land, forced migration of the people, pitiless murder and unforgiving anger of brother against brother, and killing of women and children in their womb - all these typified the transgressions of the law of Yahweh. To cap these charges against the sinful people and nation, in general, Amos declared (2,6-8): because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes. they trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted; a man and his father go in to the same maiden…they lay themselves down beside every altar upon garments taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.

The perpetrators have been identified by the prophet: the cows of Bashan – women of power who force their husbands to cause the oppression of the poor and the crushing of the needy so they may have something to drink; the temple authorities who offer sacrifices soaked with the blood of the poor; the notable men of the nation who were at home and secure in their power and rule with violence; members of the economic elite who lay upon beds of ivory, filling themselves with food, music and wine but were totally unconcerned with the destruction and death of the people and nation.

And their conspiracy, at a time of seeming prosperity for the nation, was described, thus: Hear this, you who trample upon the needy, and bring the poor of the land to an end, saying, “When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great, and deal deceitfully with false balances, that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and sell the refuse of the wheat? (Amos 8,4-6).

Does this situation of God’s People in the time of the prophet sound familiar?-Fr. Ben Alforque, MSC