Where do you find joy

Obadiah is a book with a prophecy. But why? It’s about some other nation we haven’t heard of, it’s tiny, feels random; how did this make the cut for being in Scripture? Is it actually important?

In 1 Kings 11:41, the author makes a funny comment; he basically says, you can read the rest of the stuff about King Solomon and his wisdom in these other books (which we don’t have). We only have some of the story, apparently there was a lot more, but we just have a little glimpse into Solomon’s life. In John 21:25, John writes at the end of his gospel,

John 21:25 (NIV)

Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

We see this theme throughout the Old and New Testaments; that we only have a glimpse of everything happened. This tells us that what we do have is very intentional, and even strategic. Every verse, every chapter, every genealogy, every piece of the Bible is here for a reason. Which should make us stop and take very seriously the question, why is Obadiah in the Bible? Here are some of the basics about it:

It’s the shortest book in the Old Testament with only 21 verses.

Who wrote it? Obadiah the prophet. But who is he? There are a dozen different Obadiahs mentioned in Scripture, but none seem to be a prophet. Is this another one? And who is he?

The book was written around 587 BC, or mid 800’s BC. We’re not sure; it might be one of the older books of Bible – or it might not.

It’s a prophecy of judgement against Edom. Edom? Who is Edom?

The story starts with Isaac and Rebecca and their twin sons, Jacob and Esau. You may remember them; Esau was the older brother who sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew. These two literally were born fighting with each other, and it was only made worse because their parents played favorites.

Genesis 25:28 (NIV)

Isaac … loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Parents playing favorites? That just never ends well. There is constant tension, constant maneuvering, constant fighting between these two. Genesis focuses on Jacob because it’s his descendants that become the nation of Israel, ultimately paving the way for Jesus to come and provide salvation.

Meanwhile, Esau fathers his own nation that would eventually be known as Edom; his descendants were the Edomites. And just like Jacob and Esau couldn’t get along, Israel and Edom did not get along. So much so, that in Numbers 20, when the Israelites were escaping Egypt and the road crossed through Edom, the Edomites brought out their army and threatened them if they even set foot on their territory.

Numbers 20:20 (NIV) says, Edom came out against them with a large and powerful army.

It gets worse. Much later, in 2 Kings 25, Babylon conquered Israel; they destroy the wall protecting the city, burn the city, tear down the temple, take captive their best people – that’s when Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and Daniel were all taken to Babylon. We read in Psalm 137, Ezekiel 35, and Amos 1, that Edom’s response to all of this was that they thought it was great. In fact, they went in and plundered the Israelite cities and abused the refugees trying to escape.

All this is to say that Israel and Edom were not BFF’s. Which sets the stage for what we’re going to read in Obadiah;

Scripture

Obadiah 1:1-3 (NIV)

1 The vision of Obadiah. This is what the Sovereign Lord says about Edom— We have heard a message from the Lord: An envoy was sent to the nations to say, “Rise, let us go against her for battle”— 2 “See, I will make you small among the nations; you will be utterly despised. 3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’

Edom literally had their capital city in a cleft of the rock on the top of a hill; they thought it was impossible for them to be attacked or defeated, but God told them in this prophecy that their pride had caught up to them. They were both literally and spiritually in danger.

Obadiah 1:4-21 (NIV)

4 Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” declares the Lord. 5 “If thieves came to you, if robbers in the night—oh, what a disaster awaits you!—would they not steal only as much as they wanted? If grape pickers came to you, would they not leave a few grapes? 6 But how Esau will be ransacked, his hidden treasures pillaged! 7 All your allies will force you to the border; your friends will deceive and overpower you; those who eat your bread will set a trap for you, but you will not detect it. 8 “In that day,” declares the Lord, “will I not destroy the wise men of Edom, those of understanding in the mountains of Esau? 9 Your warriors, Teman, will be terrified, and everyone in Esau’s mountains will be cut down in the slaughter. 10 Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever. 11 On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. 12 You should not gloat over your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their trouble. 13 You should not march through the gates of my people in the day of their disaster, nor gloat over them in their calamity in the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster. 14 You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives, nor hand over their survivors in the day of their trouble. 15 “The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head. 16 Just as you drank on my holy hill, so all the nations will drink continually; they will drink and drink and be as if they had never been. 17 But on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy, and Jacob will possess his inheritance. 18 Jacob will be a fire and Joseph a flame; Esau will be stubble, and they will set him on fire and destroy him. There will be no survivors from Esau.” The Lord has spoken. 19 People from the Negev will occupy the mountains of Esau, and people from the foothills will possess the land of the Philistines. They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria, and Benjamin will possess Gilead. 20 This company of Israelite exiles who are in Canaan will possess the land as far as Zarephath; the exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will possess the towns of the Negev. 21 Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will be the Lord’s.

Application

“There will be no survivors of Esau.” The Israelites thought this was a great prophecy. There’s nothing like seeing your enemy have justice catch up to them, right? The Edomites were not so much of a fan. I mean, it’s basically God telling them, “Hey, when I’m judging the Israelites, don’t laugh at them, don’t take their stuff, and definitely don’t get cocky about your position in the world, because you’re next.”

Honestly, this prophecy must have been pretty satisfying for the Jews to hear. They probably felt a little vindicated after centuries of fighting. Which brings us to our next question:

Why is Obadiah after Amos? Scholars all agree, when the Bible was put together, if it followed the pattern of other books, the book of Amos should follow Obadiah, based on when it was written and the topics in it. But it’s not, and it’s believed it all boils down to two verses in chapter nine of Amos that quote God.

Amos 9:11-12 (NIV)

“In that day I will restore David’s fallen shelter—I will repair its broken walls and restore its ruins—and will rebuild it as it used to be, so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name,” declares the Lord, who will do these things.

This is part of a broader passage talking about the end of time when Jesus has returned and is setting up His kingdom. And in these two verses, God highlighted that there will be other believing nations represented, and He specifically singles out Edom as being present. In other words, there will be a remnant of Edomites who survive to the end and have given their lives to God and will be a part of the His kingdom.

We know that over time the Israelites saw the prophecies of a Messiah as being just for them; they forgot that the Messiah was for the world, not just the good, religious Jews. But the message from the beginning was that God wants the world. When God made His covenant with Abraham, He said in Genesis 12:3,

Genesis 12:3b (NIV)

“all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Isaiah 56 is a powerful passage speaking of the coming Messiah and that He is a hope for all the world;

Isaiah 56:7b (NIV)

“…my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

We even saw this theme in Obadiah; we just read it in verse 15;

Obadiah 1:15a (NIV)

“The day of the Lord is near for all nations.”

Obadiah is focused on judgement, but there is also this underlying theme of salvation and hope for all the nations, including Edom.

It goes even deeper than we might catch at first glance; language scholars noticed something significant. In Genesis 1, the Hebrew word for Adam, the first man, literally means humanity. It helps shape our understanding that Adam represented all of us when he sinned; it’s why Scripture also calls Jesus the second Adam in that He brings salvation for all of us. Now, look at the original Hebrew words for Adam/humanity, and Edom;

אָדָם Adam/Humanity

אֱדם Edom

Do you see how similar they are? There are a couple different modifiers, but the root words are virtually identical, which would have jumped out at Jewish readers. For them, it was a clear connection that Edom’s pride and fall is an image of the pride and fall of all humanity. That Edom represents what’s going on with all of us, which brings us back to the question of why Amos was in front of Obadiah instead of after.

God wanted that Amos passage about Edom receiving salvation at the end of time in our minds as we read Obadiah; He wanted us to know the end of the story before we read about the judgment Edom will receive, because it forces us to ask the question,

What do we rejoice at?

What gets us excited?

Which story brings us satisfaction?

Are we excited that Edom is destroyed, or are we joyful that Edom is saved? For the Israelites, that would have been a genuine struggle. They would know they are supposed to be happy about the salvation, but their human desire for vindication would want to be happy about the judgment.

Ultimately, we are all Edom. We are all Israel. Humanity has not changed. Thousands of years have gone by, our technology has improved, the nations are different, but our underlying sinful nature and the ways we interact with each other are still the same in so many ways.

Story 1

Have you seen Les Misérables? It’s an incredibly famous musical, performed around the world, it’s been turned into a movie multiple times – my favorite is the one with Wolverine in it, I mean, Hugh Jackman. One of the final and famous scenes features the character Javert, an officer consumed with justice He had been pursuing Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) for years to punish him for a crime, but in the end, he realized the shocking truth – that a criminal can become a new, good person. For Javert, it was an impossible situation; he knew he should rejoice at the good, but the officer in him demanded punishment, and ultimately, he killed himself because he couldn’t reconcile the two. It’s a powerful story because it resonates with us; we want others to suffer the consequences of their actions – but at the same time, we want mercy and forgiveness for ourselves. Which way do we turn?

Application 2

God put Obadiah and this passage in Amos together to confront this question of where we find our joy. Is our joy based in our sinful flesh, or after the heart of God?

Matthew 5:21-22a (NIV)

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.

We might rationalize and think we are better because we aren’t literally murderers; but Jesus made it clear that what is in our hearts matters to Him. Our anger, our satisfaction or joy over someone else’s suffering – even if they have been nasty to us, they’ve hurt us, they’ve humiliated us, taken advantage of us, whatever the reason is – the response in our heart matters to God.

Luke 15:10 (NIV)

“I tell you there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

The challenge, then?

Are we like Jesus in our joy?

Do we desire salvation for all?

DESTRUCTION. SALVATION. WHERE DO YOU FIND JOY?

Or do we desire salvation for just those we like? And if the answer is no, what should we do about it? It’s not an easy fix, is it?

I have four thoughts on how we can pursue this kind of joy;

Immerse yourself in Scripture; the more you read God’s Word, the more it becomes a part of who you are.

Immerse yourself in prayer; it makes you more and more like Jesus.

Find accountability; invite a couple other Christians into your life, join a small group. These are people who will challenge you and remind you to be like Jesus, to love the way He loves.

In addition to praying regularly, pray specifically for those who hurt and anger you. Pray that God will transform them, that He will save them, that He will work in their lives. Your heart will transform as you do that.

Let us become people that find joy in salvation, not destruction

Pray

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