I was surprised that the first thing that jumped out at me when I reflected on this series was how much the religious and political authorities resisted the message of the prophets.
Admittedly, at the invitation of some of our readers, I was reading their comments, focusing on what they said to our current political administration. Nevertheless, it was evident that we’re not experiencing anything new. Priests and kings try to silence prophets.
I always thought of the law and prophets complementing one another as a good summary of the Old Testament. I saw the law representing an approved record of how God operated in the past, and the prophets discerning what God was doing in the present.
That seems to be the ideal relationship in the Bible. It recognizes the ongoing activity of God. However, very often in history, kings and priests have seen prophets disobeying their interpretation of the law and therefore challenging their power over the people.
Just before writing this, I watched an example of this on the news. President Trump called a female reporter “piggy” and accused her of insubordination because she asked about his support of a Saudi prince who allegedly murdered another reporter.
Reporters certainly could be considered modern-day prophets. It doesn’t take much thought to realize kings have always regarded prophets as troublemakers, whether that be Ahab in the 9th century BC, Constantine in the 4th century AD, or Donald Trump in the 21st. And there have always been some priests who support them.
The second issue that stood out in reflection was how caring for the needy was a central theme in the prophetic message. Then and now, that challenges powerful religious and political authorities.
And of course, that goes beyond the authorities. Prophets call us all to repentance. That is not simply being sorry for what we have done. It demands changing our minds so we can follow the will of God rather than the unjust commands of religious and political authorities
