Finding a Way Back

Today we journey back to an obscure letter from the Old Testament which rarely finds a reference; it is the book of Obadiah. It is the shortest of all the Old Testament prophesies; so short, in fact, that we can tackle the entire letter in one sermon—it is only twenty-one verses long. If you are flipping through your own Bible looking for Obadiah, it is tucked between Amos and Jonah. Let me take a minute first and give a little background of this letter before we read it through.

Obadiah is a prophecy written directly to the Edomites, not to any of the Israelites. It comes during the time in which Jerusalem has been attacked and fallen to the armies of Babylon. Many of the tribe of Judah have already been carried off into exile, and the few who remain behind in the rubble of the city have no army or defenses left to protect themselves. It is the people of Edom, then, who begin to swoop in and pillage what little remains after Jerusalem has fallen.

We saw mention of the Edomites last week in Psalm 137. The people of Edom were descendants of Esau. They lived in the region southeast of Jerusalem, on the other side of the Dead Sea. The terrain is such that as you travel east from Jerusalem, there is a sloping descent to where the Jordan River empties out into the Dead Sea. Then, around on the other side there is steep rise in elevation with rocky cliffs and narrow canyon passages. This is the territory of Edom where the Edomites lived. The mountainous landscape gave the Edomites plenty of strongholds in the heights which could be defended by very few soldiers from large armies of enemy invaders. The result was that—even though Edom was a numerically small country—they were very confident in their own ability to defend themselves by their own strength. If you have ever seen pictures of the archaeological findings of Petra, with columns and buildings cut right into the rocks along the cliffs and canyons, this is the area we are talking about. It is in the southern region of the present-day country of Jordan.

The natural defenses of the rocky terrain in Edom made the people there arrogant and boastful in the strength of their fortifications. They could not be overpowered. And so, while Jerusalem and the tribe of Judah fell to the Babylonians, Edom stood by and watched the whole thing thinking that the Babylonians would never be able to reach them. And even more, once the Babylonians have weakened Judah’s defenses by destroying Jerusalem, now the Edomites can easily come down and decimate whatever is left behind. This is what the book of Obadiah is about.

Obadiah 1–21 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?’ 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.

Alright, then, it is a prophecy against the people of Edom. Let’s unpack what is being said in these words from Obadiah and consider what might be the timeless biblical truth for us to see yet today. We began last week noting the ways in which the events of our world right now draw some parallels with exile. It sort of feels right now that we are people who have been exiled to mostly stay in our own homes and away from large gatherings of other people. We have been pushed to be stuck in a place we did not necessarily choose, and we are not allowed to leave and go back yet to whatever normal life had been before. What can we be learning right now about what exile means and how God entered into the lives of his people even during times of exile to lead them forward?

Israel, Edom, and Us

As the people of Judah living in Jerusalem were being attacked and overrun and destroyed, Edom saw an opportunity to pounce and gain for themselves. As descendants from Esau, they had no concern at all for the descendants of Esau’s brother Jacob. Israel’s misfortune was their gain. And after all, why shouldn’t it be? Who was ever going to be able to stop them? No one could ever break into the mountain stronghold fortresses of Edom. They could rely on their own strength to keep for themselves whatever they wanted to take.

Genesis 12 - covenant with Abraham, all people (nations) will be blessed through you

You know, it was just this kind of thinking that got the people of Israel into trouble in the first place. All the way back to Genesis 12 is where God first comes to Abraham and makes a covenant promise with Abraham. This covenant promise carried some conditions. In Genesis 12 God promises to bless Abraham and his descendants, and all people of all the nations of earth would be blessed through him. The covenant mandate of the chosen people of God here is clear. The blessing that is provided by God for his people is a blessing that is meant and intended to carry forward as a blessing and provision for all people.

This is not a point that needs much proof in scripture. It is everywhere in the Bible. Jesus himself teaches repeatedly that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. He teaches that the one who wants to find life must be willing to lose it. The apostle Paul writes repeatedly of the way he has become a slave to the gospel for the sake of the gentiles. From the time of Abraham in the Old Testament all the way forward into the new church commissioned by Christ and launched by the disciples, there continues to be a strong mandate given that the chosen people of God are to live for the benefit and restoration of others. We hold as part of our doctrine and theology that God uses the people of his church yet today for the flourishing of his blessing throughout the world.

Israel lost sight of this covenant mandate

Israel lost sight of this mandate during the time of the Old Testament. After many generations of Israelite people became comfortable with the abundance of blessing in Canaan, they began to hoard the blessing instead of share. The other Old Testament prophets speak of the ways in which the rich and powerful in Israel would deny justice for the oppressed, they would cheat the poor. The people of Israel, like the people of Edom, had become arrogant in their own strength and in their own power and abundance. They had forgotten about God who is the source of their blessing. They had forgotten about the covenant which mandated the use of that blessing to serve and benefit others. And so, in a time of exile, God brought about a reset for his people that would point them back in the right direction again. Even in exile, God told his people through the prophet Jeremiah, “seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

judgement against Edom was a reminder of the ways Israel had committed the same sins

Do you see it? This judgement against Edom in the words of Obadiah remains as scripture for God’s people as a reminder of the ways in which they had committed the same sins. And it was in exile where God restored his chosen people again back into the purposes he attached to his covenant blessing. And it is a message of scripture which carries down to us yet today as a reminder of our place in God’s covenant chosen people. We have a mandate and a purpose in God’s covenant work today as well. Could it be, then, that this moment of exile for all of us is a time to correct our direction and correct our purpose to once again align with the direction and purpose of God’s covenant plan of redemption—a plan of redemption launched into this world through Christ and handed off to his disciples and yet down to us in the church still today?

how have we committed the same sins?

relying on our own power, control, dominance to hold onto whatever we feel is entitled to us

standing aside while others are oppressed and suffer, even though we could help

It is not very difficult for us in the world today to see the direct application of the lesson of this message from Obadiah. It is not hard to see it; but it may be hard to admit it. We do not have to look hard at all to see the places around us in which injustice plagues people who live in oppression. We do not have to look far to see there are many in our own world who arrogantly hold on to their own strength and their own power as some sort of right they think that they deserve. In fact, this is us. We are those exiles who have lost our way. We are those people of Edom who have placed all our security in our own strength, in our own power, in our own ability to dominate and push back into submission anyone we perceive as a threat or encroachment upon us. We are those people.

Before any one of us starts thinking that somehow we get a pass, look again at verse 11.

Obadiah 11 NIV

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.

Stood aloof; that comes from the Hebrew word neged which means stand by or stand next to. It is a charge of accessory to the crime because Edom saw the injustice happening and just stood aside and let it take place because it didn’t involve them. And even more, when the refugees fleeing Jerusalem came to seek asylum in Edom, they were turned away at the border and sent back to violence and oppression from which they were fleeing. See that in verse 14.

Obadiah 14 NIV

14 You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives, nor hand over their survivors in the day of their trouble.

Do you see it? We who have complicitly stood by and watched as refugees seeking asylum are caged at our own borders. We who have complicitly stood by and watched as black men are killed sometimes by the very law enforcement officers who are supposed to be protecting them. We who have complicitly stood by and watched as those who embrace an “America first” policy seek to hold onto the vast abundance of all that this country has as though somehow it is ours to control by our own power and our own might. Do you see it? We are Edom. These words of Obadiah are words for us today.

A Way Back

What do we do with that? Is there any word of hope here in Obadiah for us today? It begins with a confession. I confess that I have too often turned a blind eye to the way our society and our systems are designed and built to benefit me while at the same time oppress others. I confess that we live in a divided world which sometimes labels other people as enemies simply because they are different from me.

“the day of the LORD” - a time when God rescues his people and brings back his justice

But it does not stop there. As we continue to think about what it means for us in the church to come out from this time of exile, there is instruction here in Obadiah that is helpful. Like so many of the other Old Testament prophets, Obadiah points to something called “the day of the LORD.” In the closing verses of Obadiah, the day of the LORD is characterized as a time in which those who have been in exile come back again. It verses 17-21 Obadiah speaks of God’s people coming back from exile in a way that spreads the chosen people of God into all corners of his promised land.

not just a return from exile to occupy their place in the world

it is a return from exile to occupy their place in the covenant

What is this about? It is not just a return from exile to once again occupy their place in a certain territory. Much more than that, it is a return from exile to once again occupy their place in a certain covenant. Obadiah is calling upon the people of God to remember the covenant mandate given by God. It is a returning from exile for the church to once again be the people through whom the flourishing of God’s world can bloom. The prophet is very certain that this will, in fact, happen. God will complete the promises he has made in his covenant to restore and redeem all that is broken and shattered by sin.

are we ready as people stuck in exile to come out of this time in a new way?

Will you be a part of that? Are we ready as people stuck in exile to come out of this time in a new way? This is the time in which we see so clearly the ways in which we must return. Instead of coming back to a world of grabbing for control and dominance, we come back to a place of letting God have control. Instead of coming back to a world in which our benefits come at the oppression of others, we come back to a place in which we may lift others up rather than push them down. Instead of coming back to a world of building walls and division, we come back to a place in which our hearts make room for God to connect us with those in need who are beyond us.

In other words, we find our way back into a world which is no longer my own. But as Obadiah says in the final words of his letter,

Obadiah 21 NIV

21 Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will be the Lord’s.