The Lord said to Moses, Say to AaRon and his sons, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel; you shall say to them, The Lord bless you and keep you:
The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you: The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace [shalom]." Numbers 6:22-27.
Here the blessing of God is the grace of God resting upon his obedient people granting them shalom. Shalom is a rich Hebrew word meaning more than peace; it carries a sense of wholeness, completeness, harmony. Shalom is a total sense of well-being for not only individuals but also a community, a people walking with God together. The blessing of shalom carries a sense of well-being---materially, socially and spiritually. A people blessed with shalom experience authentic joy in life---more than happiness.
It is rather obvious why a true prophet of God would preach and promote shalom. But false prophets also proclaimed shalom according to Jeremiah. Jeremiah 6:14 and 8:11 state: "They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace.' Or 'shalom, shalom, when there is no shalom.'"
If there was no shalom, what was there? Again and again, the prophets thundered there was religious idolatry and social oppression. Social oppression usually followed religious idolatry.
In Jeremiah 6:13 and 8:10, oppression is described: "Because from the least to the greatest everyone is greedy for unjust gain; from prophet to priest everyone deals falsely."
Or Jeremiah 5:26-28: "For wicked men are found among my people. . . . Therefore they have become great and rich, they have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of wickedness; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and the do not defend the rights of the needy."
In commenting about Jerusalem, the key city in Israel, Jeremiah (6:6) declares: "This is the city which must be punished; there is nothing but oppression within her." Jeremiah 7:6 calls on Israel not to "Oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow, . . . " Jeremiah 9:6: "Heaping oppression upon oppression, deceit upon deceit, they refuse to know me, says the Lord."
Oppression is the opposite of shalom and the absence of justice. Oppression and shalom are polar opposites. Oppression occurs when people in power and authority, usually in social institutions, misuse that power and authority cruelly and unjustly, to crush, humiliate, animalize, impoverish, enslave and kill persons created in the image of God.
Oppression crushes people; Jubilee justice releases the crushed. Oppression humiliates persons; justice affirms people's dignity. Oppression animalizes people; Jubilee justice humanizes people. Oppression impoverishes people; justice provides access to the resources of God's creation so persons can be self-sufficient. Oppression enslaves persons; Jubilee justice liberates/releases the oppressed. Oppression kills; only justice/judgment beyond this life can provide shalom for these persons.
Until recently (the 1980s), there was relatively little scholarly analysis of the biblical concept of oppression, especially in English and written by white evangelicals. In a Hebrew OT, there are 555 references to oppression and its synonyms. The ISBE bible dictionary is the only bible dictionary with a significant article on oppression. In all other bible dictionaries, there is with no mention of oppression or only a short, shallow discussion. You might find references to Oprah, Oracle, Orchard or Ordination, but not oppression.
Thomas Hanks, author of God So Loved the Third World: The Biblical Vocabulary of Oppression, states:
"Anyone who has read much in the theological classics (Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Barth, Berkouwer) will recognize that the theme of oppression has received little or no attention there. One might think that the Bible says little about oppression.. . . . Oppression is a fundamental structural category of biblical theology, as is evidenced by the large number of Hebrew roots denoting it (10 basic roots, 20 in all); the frequency of their occurrence (555 times); the basic theological character of many texts that speak of it (Gen. 15; Exod. 1-5; Ps.72,103, 146; Isa. 8-9, 42, 53, 58, etc.); and the significance of oppression in Israel's great creedal confession (Deut. 26:5-9)."
In my judgment, unless a Christian has a profound understanding of the horror of oppression, a Christian is highly unlikely to develop a passionate concern for social justice, Jubilee justice. By and large the white American church has not had a biblical understanding of oppression; this same church has done little to execute justice on behalf of the fatherless, the alien, the widow. Some charity, yes, but little fundamental biblical justice that release the oppressed.
Perry Yoder, author of Shalom, states: "God's justice sets things right; it is a liberating justice."
The key verse in the Sermon on the Mount passage is "Set you mind on God's kingdom and his justice above everything else." (Mt. 6:33, NEB)
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