Passage Read: Amos 3-6
Meditation Verses: 5:12-13
Thought
This is why the prophet is considered a fool: When men, when societies, are given to pervert justice and reward wickedness, then the prudent man, who is considered wise, keeps silent. He does not want to be caught up in the backwards justice, where good is punished as evil and evil is rewarded as good. Neither does he want to do evil because He knows there is a higher judge who will call him to account. So he's caught between a rock and a hard place. Better to keep silent, keep your head down, mind your own business and do what is good and right as quietly and secretly as possible, if at all. That's couriered wise, from a human point of view, because it keeps you safe and alive, hopefully to outlast this period of perverted values. But the prophet cannot and must not keep his mouth shut. He foolishly rebukes the people, the rulers the powers that be, and makes himself an easy target for their wrath, should they be so inclined to silence or eliminate him. From a prudent human point of view, the prophet is a fool, though brave and speaking truth, he's a fool to speak up, only wasting his breath and perhaps making life harder for those who might want to do right, but quietly and out of sight. Prudence isn't the height of wisdom, but just a humanly acceptable form of self-preservation. Prophets, rather, are the height of wisdom and compassion, both for the oppressed and the oppressor. The prophet rebukes sin in hope of the oppressor's repentance and the salvation of both, in eternal and temporal terms. Though, like Moses asking pharaoh to let God's people go, often the short term result is greater hardship for the people championed, such that even they can turn against the prophet.
Application
The prudent thing is to keep quiet when things go bad, so as to avoid attention and attack, so as to hopefully do your right thing in secret, looking forward to when God rescues His people from this oppression. It's not sin, but neither is it the only right response. In God's eyes there may be a better response. Certainly, there are those He calls to a different response, and they are as right and pleasing in God's eyes as the prudent, and maybe more pleasing. The vision of the prudent is self-preservation for the benefit of others, as opposed to self-sacrifice for the benefit of others. Prudence sees this life as more important than God's eternal promise, and sets a communal or social trajectory of drift away from faith toward sight. The prophet is always needed, even when things are going well, in order to pull the trajectory back towards faith and away from sight. Prudence is a natural response to fearful circumstances; prophecy is a supernatural response to evil circumstances. I've always considered prudence an admirable quality, but I'm beginning to see the prophet as a more noble and honorable, even necessary choice.