Acciones de filiación.

The foregoing represents the socio-economic milieu in which the prophets intervened, a society in which the small minority dominated the resources and literally enslaved the others. Hence, the criticism of the prophets intensively focuses on the upper class: the rulers, merchants, judges and ministers of God. The prophets describe the rulers as irresponsible people who op-

pressed the ordinary members of the society, whereas their duty was to defend the latter’s cause. For example, Micah blames the government and the rich landlords who were entrusted with the administration of justice for using their power instead for com- mitting injustice and heartless exploitation of the governed, de- vouring them flesh and bone (3:1-4; cf. Amos 6:12-14). In this way, the prophet likens these oppressors to cannibals preying upon their subjects, mercilessly devouring their substance like ravenous beasts, reducing them to absolute destitution, starvation and death (Archer 1970:755). Isaiah (10:1-4) condemns the rulers and law makers for making decrees to legalize their atrocities against the people. In the opinion of Bright (1982:498), this is re- ferring to rulers who issued unjust laws designed to deprive the helpless of their rights perpetually. As Kidner (1970:597) puts it, for these selfish leaders, cheating their subjects became exploits of a life-time, finding their way through the law. So, apparently with anger, Isaiah assails these powerful and unscrupulous no- bles for conspiring with the judges to cheat the helpless (1:21-23). The wives of members of the upper class apparently collabo- rated with their spouses in oppressing the poor. Hence Amos de- nounces the frivolity of the women of the nobility, describing them as “cows of Bashan,” who urged their husbands to oppress the poor and crush the needy in order to provide them with the luxuries they demanded (4:1-3). The two main verbs in verse 1 are

‘asaq (to oppress) and rasas (to crush). The former may also mean

to cheat, to subjugate, to maltreat, while the latter in active parti- ciple as used here can also mean to kill or to murder (Brown 1977; Brill 2003). Thus the intensity of the oppression of the poor is plainly portrayed using these verbs. Hyatt (1982:620) affirms that Bashan was a fertile district east of the Sea of Galilee noted for its prize cows. If he is correct the prophet apparently deliberately contrasts these wealthy, plump women with the dallim

(~yLiêD:)

and ebyonim (

~ynI+Ayb.a,)

The prophets were hard particularly on the rich merchants for the heartlessness and dishonesty with which they maltreated the

poor. Amos (2:6f.) accuses them of “selling the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes,” which in Hyatt’s interpretation refers to rapacious creditors selling their debtors into slavery for trifling debts. For Amos this may have been achieved within the law but it is evil in the eyes of God. Interpreting Amos here Gunda posits that the exploitation of the poor farmers and pro- ducers by the rich estate owners and merchants should be under- stood as having been carried with "governmental and juridical connivance." The poor had no redress anywhere because they had become part of the spoils for the rich, supported by the political elites and the judges. This exegesis anticipates the situation in the Niger Delta where successive governments kept on adjusting the constitution in favour of themselves as against the ordinary peo- ple. We have seen above how Isaiah (5:8) scolds the rich landlords and government officials for confiscating the property of the lower class until all became theirs. The prophets also criticized the corrupt judicial system. Micah rebukes the judges and the rulers together, for the way they investigated crimes was determined by the amount of bribe they received (3:11; 7:3; cf. Isa. 1:23).

For these and other vices the prophets unanimously predicted Yahweh’s punishment in terms of the fall of the two nations. They declared that Israel had no future but utter ruin (Amos 5:2; 7:7-9; 8:1-4,8a; Hos.2:2-13; Isa.6:11f.). The Day of Yahweh which they hoped for would not be a day of deliverance but that of divine judgment (Amos 5:18-20; Isa.2:6-21) for which God had appointed Assyria as his instrument (Isa.10:5; Hos.11:5ff.). Israel’s hope was only in justice. It must roll like waters (Amos 5:24). According to Finley (1985:419), Amos particularly views justice in terms of fairness, especially towards the needy.

The fall which the prophets predicted indeed came when As- syria captured northern Israel in 722/21 BCE. However, it is obvi- ous that the Assyrian invasion was only the straw that broke the camel’s back. Before the invasion the inner weakness, the teeth- ing discontent within the land, the social disintegration, was manifest. This situation gradually culminated into the anarchy recorded in 2 Kings 15:8-31, which shows that Israel had almost

collapsed as a nation. The instability of the time is best seen in the fact that four kings occupied the throne and two were murdered within two years, rival kings probably claiming authority during the same period. In the words of Hosea we see the graphic picture of the plots and counter-plots that had torn the polity asunder (8:4; 10:3f), the complete collapse of law and order in which nei- ther life nor property was safe (4:1-3; 7:1). It was in such a period; during the reign of one of the usurpers, Pekah (734-32) that the Assyrians under Tiglath-Pileser III started the invasion and cap- tivity which northern Israel never survived (LaSor 1970:359).

Thus in ancient Israel the upper class, that is, government of- ficials and the rich, relegated the lower to the background. The prophets warned the perpetrators of this injustice of the dire con- sequences but they would not heed their warning until discontent in the land led to the social unrest which paved the way for the collapse of the nation. It is in the context of the prophets’ call for justice in the midst of marginalization that their message is rele- vant to the current situation in the Niger Delta, the subject to which the rest of this article is devoted.