PROPHETIC WITNESSING, by Sister Rosemary Francisca Neves, SFP
To talk of “prophetic witnessing, prophets and prophecies” is to evoke memories of the Biblical prophets who marked the people of Israel 's history. It is to talk about the persons who had the courage and daring to listen to God's call, becoming his messengers to announce his prophecy. They were persons who denounced injustice, iniquity, violence, but who also announced a new time of hope, justice and peace, thereby becoming “the light of the nations” (Isaiah 49:6). It is from memory, based on some theoreticians' works, that we will construe the meaning of these terms. We will seek to clearly and concisely discuss the historical evolution of prophecy – its beginnings, characteristics and mission, and eventually the prophet's ways of doing things. Our goal in this reflection is to understand the prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures. Evolution through History The term prophecy appeared in reference to poetry, trance, music, art, intuition, oracles, prayer, mystics, religion, the divinity and so many other connotations to clarify its origins. Prophecy does not rise from institutional power, organization or rational knowledge. It comes up as a God manifest through a human being to communicate a message to his chosen people (CRB NACIONAL: A Leitura Profética da História, 1994, p. 17). In antiquity, among Biblical characters, individuals such as singers, artists, and poets were often named “diviners” or “prophets” (1 Sm 10:10; 19: 20-24; 1 Kings 17:17-18). They were usually called to resolve problems affecting the people in general, such as health and other common matters. When rulers called a prophet, they usually meant to have him find a solution for their problems in the name of a god, since a prophet's support meant having support from the divinity associated with him, thereby also securing obedience from their subjects. Prophets in fact gave rulers the means to legitimate their own power. Prophets therefore became known as legislators as well, since they could be given the task to either enforce an existing right, or institute another. They were often called to resolve social tensions. Beyond Biblical times, prophets showed interest in raising social and political questions, but for Biblical prophets such issues were merely a means to an end because their interest was primarily political, a stage on which to display their gods. (WEBER, 1991, p.305).
This split first happened during Elijah's lifetime (874 - 853 BC). It was with him that prophecy took on the advocacy of God's covenant with his chosen people, despite the tyranny of their rulers. The prophets always risked punishment even by death at the hands of the rulers and their henchmen, who did not hesitate to kill them off. But despite these affronts, prophets and prophetesses could never be silenced. Obviously not all prophets were as daring and brave to put up a fight as did Elijah, who set up the distinction between the false and the true prophets of Yahweh. This separation determined the need for people to decide which side to take (Dt 18,15-22; Jr 14,13-14; 28,9; Ez 33,30-33), something that was not always easy since the prophets themselves many times had doubts (Jr 17,15; 12,1) (CRB, 1994, p. 19). The word or title of prophet first appeared during the exile in Babylon to mean “the one who speaks in God's name.” Pre-exile prophets were mainly concerned with proclaiming God's will while opposing social injustice prevailing among the Israelites and the Judeans. During the exile period, however, the prophets sought to encourage the expatriated, whereas post-exile prophets were concerned with the rebuilding of Jerusalem (BOUZON in BINGEMER; YUNES, 2002, p. 40-41).
Throughout the exile period (587 - 550 BC), the prophet's preaching actualized itself in giving hope to the people of Israel: hope in God's powerful hand, the promise of a new heaven and a new earth. The prophet announced hope and invited the people of Israel to participate in God's covenant through conversion. In this context of suffering, the prophet needed to fulfill some characteristics, one of which is: vocation. The prophet was someone chosen, vocationally called by God. The Biblical prophet's actions are always marked by God's initiative. No legitimate prophet can be self-proclaimed, rather, he hears God's call and freely responds by letting himself be guided by God. Many times this call causes him some uncertainty and resistance, as happens with Jeremiah who is initially afraid to respond to God's command. After having his experience of God, he can no longer remain silent. Accepting the call, he makes himself fully available to God (ARAÚJO, quoted in BINGEMER & YUNES, 2002, p. 79). The prophet makes his experience of God from being and living among the people, in the events of daily life, and he surrenders to God. (Is 52:6; 58:9; 65:1). It is in the midst of the people that prophecy is found and is a source of wealth; though it can be a source of decadence, as happens when people frivolously cry out, “so says the Lord!” (Jr 28:4; 8) (CRB, 1994, p. 20).
The prophet's experience of God is always related to his ancestors' belief; a reminder of all that God has done in the past to give the prophet enough sight to understand its meaning as applicable to the present. In this context, the prophet becomes the people's memory: for example, a reminder of annoying things they would rather forget, such as the exodus experience (Ex 22:20). It is also a reminder of the caring presence of a redeeming God who made a covenant with his people and led them to a new land. (Dt 32:10-11). These memories, brought about by the prophet, are helpful hints for the people to recognize him as a true prophet. It is through his experience of God that the prophet becomes the defender of the covenant as someone who demands that the people abide by it to show their faithfulness. The prophet incarnates the covenant's demands and, while attesting to God's holiness, he exacts the people's fidelity and the practical observance of God's law. The prophet's experience has to attest to God's holiness because he is aware of what the people should be and were not. It is through this awareness that the prophet can sense when the covenant is broken so as to exhort the people to change their ways. It is from his two-way experience of God-being- for-his-people and of the-people-being-for-their-God that the prophet becomes more deeply aware of his mission. It is from then on that the prophet begins to protest and proclaim God's prophecy. It is by opposing human injustice that the prophet tells of God's love for his people, and appeals to their conversion.
It is by living with the prophet who is present in their midst that the people can attain their own experience of God. Similarly, it is through the reality of their suffering that the people identifies itself with the prophet: by recognizing in him the ideals they carry within themselves. And it is through their faith that the people recognize the true prophet (CRB, 1994, p. 20-1). Not only is the prophet a special person having a great experience of God without any selfish interest, he actually turns his experience into a gift of his own life to the fulfillment of God's will. As he proclaims God's will, the prophet does it from his knowledge of God's deeds through the living experience of his people's suffering from injustice. Being the one who announces God's presence and will because of his divine incumbency, the prophet has authority to demand obedience out of ethical duty. The prophet can also be a man or woman who, by his/her own example, shows the way of religious salvation (WEBER, 1991, p. 305-6). In this sense, the prophet's mission is bound to be gratuitous and cannot be exercised as a career. His mission is to avail himself to the service of God so as to actualize a given mission by proclaiming his prophecy.
When announcing his message, the prophet has to follow the three intertwined pathways of justice, solidarity and mysticism. Justice The pathway of justice is taken when everything has already happened according to God's will. In this instance, the prophet's mission is to keep the people organized according to Yahweh's covenant. He does not appear to be talking out of context, or preaching theoretically. He clearly points out injustices and once revealing their cause, faithfully follows God's message (CRB, 1994, p. 22). When denouncing injustices, the prophet creates norms favoring at once people's lives and a keener observance of the covenant. One of the prophetic norms aiming to establish a just agricultural structure is the establishment of the Sabbatical or Jubilee Year (Lv 25; Dt 15). The struggle for social justice always brings the prophet to confront the ruler, holding the latter accountable to do his part in abiding by the covenant. In addition he demands that the covenant be honored throughout the territory entrusted to the ruler's care to fulfill God's designs. Solidarity With the destruction of Samaria (the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel) by Assyria in 722 BC, the practice of changing the monarchy and the structuring of the great empires becomes impossible and faithfulness to the covenant begins to point more insistently to the path of solidarity (CRB, 1994, p. 22). The prophet at that time had the mission to indicate ways to achieve solidarity among the people. The prophet's witnessing led the people to learn how to be caring of one another while sharing the gift of life with its joys and sufferings. Mysticism The prophet's proclamation taught the people that they, as the community of God's people, must behave in such a way as to be an example of what God wills for all. They are meant to be a community to fulfill God's covenant with all, welcoming the poor, the outcasts, and struggling for justice. The prophet's words are permeated with the practice of solidarity. But the prophet's action was not limited to denouncing injustice and error nor to encouraging the people toward solidarity, but also and above all, the proclamation of the core of faith: God present among his people, God listening to his people's outcries. This is how prophets contributed to the dynamic rising up of a new consciousness, independent of their oppressors, directly born of the very source of life: God's love. It is within this context that social justice and solidarity resulted from a mystical practice of incarnated faith, closely linked to the prophet's mission. In conclusion, prophetic witnessing has been since its origin permeated by evolutions marking its history and the history of God's people, since it is from the people that prophets are born. Receiving from God his vocation to announce his message, the prophet is someone who experiences the God of Israel from the standpoint of the suffering, injustice and oppression of his people. We conclude that through the prophet's witnessing, prophesying has always referred to the past and, while firmly standing in the present, seeks to soar to new heights in the near future. _________________________________________________________ BIBLIOGRAPHY BINGEMER, Maria Clara Lucchetti; YUNES, Eliana (Orgs.). Profetas e profecias: Numa visão interdisciplinar e contemporânea. São Paulo: Loyola; Rio de Janeiro: Ed. PUC-Rio, 2002. CROATTO, José Severino. Êxodo: Uma Hermenêutica da Liberdade. São Paulo: Paulinas, 1981. CRB NACIONAL. A Leitura Profética da História. São Paulo: Loyola, 1994. MARTIN-ACHARD, R. Introdução geral. In: AMSLER, S. Os profetas: e os livros proféticos. São Paulo: Paulinas, 1992. SICRE, José Luis. Profetismo em Israel: o profeta. os profetas. a mensagem. Tradução : João Luís Barúna. Petrópolis: Vozes, 1996. VASCONCELLOS, Pedro Lima; SILVA, Valmor da. Caminhos da Bíblia: uma história do povo de Deus. São Paulo: Paulinas, 2003. WEBER, Max. Economia e Sociedade. Tradução Regis Barbosa e Karen Elsabe Barbosa. Brasília: Ed. UNB, 1991. _________________________________________________________ ARTWORK: by Gwen Meharg, www.drawneartogod.com
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