Obadiah

Intro

The book of Obadiah is the shortest book in the Old Testament and there is nothing to let us know who Obadiah actually was. There are 13 Obadiah's known of during old testament times but the only thing we know is that the name in Hebrew means “worshiper of Yahweh” or “servant of Yahweh”.

It is thought this prophecy would have been given regarding the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC and the Babylonian captivity that Daniel was part of. The issue here against the Edomites is that they have stood idly by and even assisted the enemies of Israel in attacking and conquering the people of Israel.

*Psalm 137:7 “Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!”

*The history that is important here traces back to Jacob and Esau, the sons of Isaac and Rebekah. Esau was the first born and Jacob was born second. The Bible tells us that even while they were in their mothers womb they fought within her.

Genesis 25:21-26 “And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.” When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.”

From the very beginning it was told by the Lord that from Jacob and Esau would come two nations that would be divided and at war with each other. In jewish tradition the first born would be given all of the inheritance of blessing of the family and any others would be under the first born as the patriarch of the family once Isaac had died. Esau despised his birthright is what we are told and he sells it to his brother in exchange for a bowl of food. Later in the story Jacob deceives their father and steals the blessing of the first born from Esau as well as already having his birthright or inheritance. This leads Esau to swear to kill his brother and Jacob to escape in the middle of the night in order to save his life. Even though we see a temporary reconciliation later in their story, Esau and Jacob remained at odds the rest of their lives and this was passed down to their descendants just as the Lord said to Isaac. The Edomites had descended from Esau while the Israelites or people of Judah had descended from Jacob.

*Edom = אֱד֗ם

Adam = אָדָ֣ם

There are a couple of themes in this book that stand out. First the word for Edom and the word for Adam in Hebrew are the same spelling and we see that the pride and fall of Edom is a symbol of the pride and fall of all humanity. In this we can see Edom as a type or foreshadowing of all humanity for through one man, Adam, sin entered the world and all of humanity entered a state of rebellion against God. In this prophecy Edom can be seen as a representation of all of humanity that has rebelled against God. They have fought against and brought enmity between themselves and the people of God. Judah has been selected by God to be the recipients and experience His grace.

So I want to finish the intro to this book with a story. King Canute ruled over Denmark, Norway, and England more than one thousand years ago. A wise ruler, he worked diligently to make the lives of his subjects better. As is often the case, he was surrounded by those who sought to gain influence and prominence with him, and according to the ancient story, he grew tired of their continual flattery and determined to put an end to it. He ordered that his throne be carried out to the seashore and gathered his courtiers about it.

By the sea, the king commanded the tide not to come in. Yet soon the waters were lapping around his legs as the tide did not heed him. According to one historian’s account, King Canute rose up from his throne and said, “Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings, for there is none worthy of the name, but He whom Heaven, earth, and sea obey by eternal laws.”

*The first part of this book deals with the pride of Edom and the results of how God will deal with their pride while the last part deals with the hope God brings to His people. The pride of Edom and the pride of humanity, lead man to believe he is a god unto himself and to ignore the power of the true and only sovereign God of all creation.

Jacob and his descendants represent embody the principle of God’s undeserved grace and mercy while Edom represents humanity in rebellion against a Holy God.

*Obadiah 1-14

1 The vision of Obadiah.

Edom Will Be Humbled

Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom: We have heard a report from the Lord, and a messenger has been sent among the nations: “Rise up! Let us rise against her for battle!”

2  Behold, I will make you small among the nations; you shall be utterly despised.

3  The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, “Who will bring me down to the ground?”

4  Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the Lord.

5  If thieves came to you, if plunderers came by night— how you have been destroyed!— would they not steal only enough for themselves? If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings?

6  How Esau has been pillaged, his treasures sought out!

7  All your allies have driven you to your border; those at peace with you have deceived you; they have prevailed against you; those who eat your bread have set a trap beneath you— you have no understanding.

8  Will I not on that day, declares the Lord, destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of Mount Esau?

9  And your mighty men shall be dismayed, O Teman, so that every man from Mount Esau will be cut off by slaughter.

Edom’s Violence Against Jacob

10  Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.

11  On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them.

12  But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune; do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; do not boast in the day of distress.

13  Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; do not gloat over his disaster in the day of his calamity; do not loot his wealth in the day of his calamity.

14  Do not stand at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives; do not hand over his survivors in the day of distress.

We begin at the very first part of this prophecy to see God’s dominion over all of creation and all nations. God consistently used enemy nations throughout the Bible to bring His people back to worship of Him. He uses the same today. When we stray God will use outside influences to turn us back towards Him.

*Hebrews 12:6 “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

This does not mean that every trial, every bad thing we experience, is God trying to correct us. There are things that happen that are used to perfect us and mold us into what God created us to be and then there are times that God must use correction to bring us back to Him. When we turn from God, and we are truly His child, He will use whatever means necessary to bring correction into our lives and turn our focus back to Him. We look at the parable of the Good Shepherd that Jesus told in Matthew 18:10-14. This parable is the image of how Jesus treats those the Father has given Him. Not one will be lost. When one sheep strays and leaves the rest of the flock the Good Shepherd leaves the rest of the flock in the safety of their fence and goes after the one and brings it back.

Here in the prophecy God tells Edom He will make them small among the nations. This is important because Edom had a problem with pride. Edom had become a wealthy nation and one that was extremely hard to attack and conquer. Through mining of natural resources Edom had established trade and relationships with many other nations. Their location in the rocks of Petra made their are virtually impossible to attack. It was said that 20 men could defend the entire area and prevent invading armies from reaching the city. This was due to the narrow passageways in the rocks, if you have seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, it depicts this area in the scene where the ark is found in the hills of Petra. The people of Edom were full of pride thinking they were invincible and nothing or no one could bring them down. The locations of homes high up in the mountain leads to the eagles nest and stars references. The Edomites had built their dwellings so high up in the mountains that they were impossible for a human to reach without being exposed to harm. No human was thought to be able to bring them down from these places but they ignore the fact that they cannot hide from the almighty God. That the power of the almighty sovereign God of creation uses nations and peoples to accomplish His will and His will is going to be completed no matter what man may do or say.

*We must understand that the sin of pride is a sin of idolatry. Its a sin of idol worship. Pride is man saying he knows better than God and has more control than God. It is man attempting to take the place of God and setting themself up as god. It is one of the things that Solomon writes that God hates in Proverbs 6:16-17. The haughty eyes or prideful eyes top the list of the things God hates. Solomon writes again in Proverbs 16:5 “Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished.” Again we are told God hates pride in Proverbs 8:13 “The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.”

*C.S. Lewis says, “According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.

This sin of pride was seen in Edom. Not only did they say no one would be able to defeat them but they warred against the people of God. Because of their pride, a sin that God hates God says He will completely destroy them.

David writes in Psalm 101:5 “Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure.” God will not stand for and endure the sin of pride. In this prophecy Obadiah prophesies that unlike the thief or the grape gatherers that would leave some things and only take things that may be considered valuable, God would take everything and Edom would experience complete and utter destruction. The higher and greater the pride the farther and harder we will fall when we rebel against God. Their vendetta against Judah meant that they were at odds with the people God had promised to bless and protect and God will always protect His people.

*He that is down needs fear no fall, He that is low, no pride; He that is humble ever shall Have God to be his guide.—John Bunyan

Bunyan realized that to be the people of God and to truly follow God we must be humble. Philippians 2:6-8 “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Even Jesus humbled Himself to the will of God the Father even to the point of enduring the shame, humiliation, and intense pain of the cross. James 4:10 “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” Not that God will make us gods ourselves but that if we are humble God will raise us up and we will be children of God. We will be joint heirs with Christ. We are not made deities but we are given the birthright through the spirit of adoption into Gods family. We must not place ourselves in the place of God. This was the very first sin in the garden of Eden. The eating of the fruit was the outside symptom of the internal heart condition. Eve and then Adam were told by the serpent that by eating the fruit they would be like God. That they would transcend this earthly plane and they would have the same knowledge and same status as the almighty God. This was pride that caused them to do this. They wanted to be like God and replace their need for Him with their own capabilities and their own desires. Not only was Edom guilty of pride but their passivity in protecting their brother Judah, convicted them of the sin of passivity. They stood idly by and watched and even gloated and rejoiced as other nations would conquer and bring Judah under subjugation.

*Obadiah 15-21

Obadiah 15–21 (ESV)

The Day of the Lord Is Near

15  For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head.

16  For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations shall drink continually; they shall drink and swallow, and shall be as though they had never been.

17  But in Mount Zion there shall be those who escape, and it shall be holy, and the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions.

18  The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble; they shall burn them and consume them, and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken.

The Kingdom of the Lord

19  Those of the Negeb shall possess Mount Esau, and those of the Shephelah shall possess the land of the Philistines; they shall possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria, and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.

20  The exiles of this host of the people of Israel shall possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad shall possess the cities of the Negeb.

21  Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.

There are multiple “days of the Lord” talked about in the Old Testament. Ultimately the final day of the Lord in the Bible will be found in the book of Revelation when Christ returns to create a new heaven and a new earth. Here in Obadiah the day of the Lord tells the people of Judah that the deeds that the other nations have done against them and the pain and suffering that has been caused by Edom will be returned to them and God will provide the vengeance for His people. This is why as a people that should be humble we are not called to repay evil for evil. Romans 12:17 “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.” We as the people of God are called to love others even when they do wrong to us. When Jesus teaches the sermon on the mount we are told

* Matthew 5:2-12 “And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Jesus was the ultimate example of someone who was treated wrongly yet He did not raise a hand to those who sought to destroy Him. The beautiful thing about being the people of God is that we do not have to fight our own battles. We do not have to seek out vengeance. We rejoice when people treat us wrong because we follow Christ. We rejoice when we are persecuted for the sake of righteousness. When we are singled out in the work place because we stand for what is true and right. When have people spread horrible lies about us to try and discredit who we are because we stand as a representative of Christ. Jesus tells us this is a blessing! God has already fought our battles and He has already won them for us. While we may experience persecution and troubles on this earth our ultimate promise and our ultimate hope is the intense bliss of paradise with our saviour.

Spurgeon said this about the thief on the cross next to Christ;

*The thief’s faith was the more remarkable because he was himself in great pain, and bound to die. It is not easy to exercise confidence when you are tortured with deadly anguish. Our own rest of mind has at times been greatly hindered by pain of body. When we are the subjects of acute suffering it is not easy to exhibit that faith which we fancy we possess at other times. This man, suffering as he did, and seeing the Saviour in so sad a state, nevertheless believed unto life eternal. Herein was such faith as is seldom seen. ~Charles Spurgeon

God takes sin seriously and His righteous judgement must be carried out, but by His great mercy we are given grace that this judgement has already been carried out in the person of Jesus Christ. God with us. The work of Christ gives legs to our faith. That we can go through extreme temptation, and extreme torment, pain, and still know that our hope is found in Christ. That He is the solid rock on which our faith, our foundation, our entire lives are built. Without Him we are planted on sand and when trials come we will be destroyed by with Him we are able to stand the most violent storms we may face. What I would consider one of my life quotes was said by Spurgeon, I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the rock of ages.

*When we allow our trials and our troubles to bring us even closer to Christ then we may rejoice in them. We may find joy at even the darkest parts of our lives. Because we have a hope, and a promise, we are the people of God and nothing can take us from His hand and His plan.

Jacob and his descendants represent and embody the principle of God’s undeserved grace and mercy while Edom represents humanity in rebellion against a Holy God. The final verse of this prophecy says that saviours will go up to mount Zion to rule mount Esau. This is a prophecy of the adoption of the gentiles into covenant with God. That a saviour, Jesus Christ, will come and that through Him salvation will be brought to the world. That no longer will Judah be the only people of God, but that the promise will be extended to all. Peter preaches on the day of pentecost in Acts 2:39 “For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

The promises of God are offered and extended to all those He chooses to call.

*How beautiful this promise is. How amazing that we are not alone to fight every battle that comes our way but that God has already fought it and has won the victory. This doesn’t mean the life of a follow of Christ is one of ease and one of prosperity. It does mean that it is a life of contentment. That as Paul said, Philippians 4:11 “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” Paul wrote that whether he was in jail, whether he was in exile, whether he was with one of the church’s, whether he was bruised and bleeding from being beaten, he had learned to be content. This contentment and peace is only found in Christ and the knowledge that there is an eternal hope and an eternal peace that He provides.

As we close the questions I want to pose to you are

*Have you allowed pride in your life? Have you placed yourself in the place of God as your provider, as your saviour. Have you searched for your joy and contentment in your job, or your lifestyle, your friends, your social clubs, your family, that you have attempted through wordly gain to provide all your needs for yourself instead of trusting God to provide these and acknowledging Him as God. There is nothing wrong in and of itself with job, friends, social circles, but when we allow them to define us and not God, when we find our happiness in these instead of finding joy in God, when we are proud of these instead of acknowledging God we are walking a dangerous path that will lead to destruction.

*Have you followed God in your heart and bowed to Him as Lord of your life? Following Jesus is so much more than walking an aisle, raising your hand, saying a prayer. None of this saves you. It is just an outward action. It is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives that brings salvation. That Gods spirit moves on us and breathes life into a sinful, dead corpse and simultaneously we are saved by the power of God and begin to follow Him. That we no longer want to go the places we used to go, do the things we used to do, follow all the things of this world to try and find happiness but we realize we are now adopted sons and daughter of the sovereign God and there is nothing that can take that away from us. We are His people and He will provide us joy through the power of His spirit that will give us contentment in any state we find ourselves in life. Whether good or bad we will say blessed be the name of the Lord.

Let’s pray

Father I pray that you would move on our hearts and our minds. That for those of us that have been adopted into your family we would hope to your promises and that we would find our contentment in you knowing that we have a future promise of paradise and a future promise to spend eternity with you. For anyone here that has not made that step in their lives yet, Father I pray you would move on their heart and that You would call them to You. That they would find the peace and joy that only comes from You and that cannot be found in anything of this world. Father that we would humble ourselves every day and we would be submitted to Your will and Your will alone. That we would not fall prey to pride and the destruction it brings but that we would seek after Your plan and that we would glorify you alone in all that we say and do. We thank you for Your promises that extend to us and throughout generations. In Jesus Name