Courage – Prophetic Moral Strength 247In our experience of courage, which consists paradoxically in accept-
ing ourselves as we are, despite all, God is intervening to set us free,
heal us, set us on our feet and send us on our way. In these conditions,
God is reincorporating us into the flock. It is an act of liberation and
restoration. It is that experience as a spiritual value that we can see in the
vocation of the prophet Micah.
19.3 Courage: a Spiritual Value of the Prophet Micah
in his Prophetic Mission
In the course of their history, the people of Israel have known two
sorts of prophets, i.e. those who prophesized professionally for a living
and their own self-interest, and those prophets who, despite threats to
their lives, have not been afraid to tell the truth to the people of Israel
and make clear to them the error of their ways and their sin. Those
prophets, who were faithful to their vocation and guided by the Spirit,
the Breath of God, showed courage at the cost of their own lives, so as
to stand up against arbitrary actions and denounce the generalized cor-
ruption and false values rampant in the kingdom of Israel. Those proph-
ets included Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Amos and Micah. We will exam-
ine the case of Micah, who spoke clearly of courage as the prime spir-
itual value which he wielded in his mission.
His mission was ‘to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel
his sin.’^202 Samaria and Jerusalem were the personification or embodi-
ment of ‘the crime of Jacob’ and ‘the sin of Israel.’ In order to accom-
plish his mission, which was not all that easy, Micah was aware of being
filled with power, judgement (justice) and valour by the breath or Spirit
202
Cf. Micah 3:8. Micah did not hesitate to reproach and make accusations
about what he calls ‘the crime of Jacob’ and ‘the sin of Israel’ They are idolatry
(Micah 1: 7; 5:13); injustice, oppression, abuse of power, cupidity and covetous-
ness (Micah 2:1-2); the greed of the princes, the prophets and the priests (Micah
3:2-11); magic and sorcery (Micah 5:11); dishonesty (Micah 6:10-12); corrup-
tion and general criminality (Micah 3:2-11); and treachery (Micah 7: 5-6)