Sermon Tone Analysis

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.