Obadiah 8-16 Shall I not in that day, saith the Lord, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau? 9 And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter. 10 For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. 11 In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them. 12 But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress. 13 Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity; 14 Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress. 15 For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. 16 For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.

We last studied the Book of Obadiah Sunday, March 24, 2013 – some 8 years, 5 months, and 7 days ago. How many of you remember what we talked about that day? Just joking – I can’t remember what I had for breakfast on most days.

Obadiah is a great book, though it is the smallest book in the Old Testament. But it’s packed with great truths.

Obadiah’s name means “Slave of the Lord”.

Obadiah is a very interesting person. On the Jewish site chabad.org we find out that Obadiah was an Edomite (a descendant of Esau) by birth. Obadiah found the God of Israel – or was found of the God of Israel – and gave his life to the Lord. Obadiah was the steward or chief butler of the household of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, the seventh King of Israel. Obadiah was also the disciple of the Prophet Elijah. We read in

1 Kings 18:3-4 … Obadiah, which was the governor of {Ahab’s} house. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly: 4 For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)

The Book of Obadiah is written to the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, a mountain dwelling people. As Obadiah writes, he is writing at the direction of God the destruction of his own people, the Edomites.

God does not hate the Edomites, or else He would have never chosen Obadiah to be His Prophet.

But the Edomites, like their father Esau, harbored hatred in their heart for Israel, and always stood with the enemy when Israel was attacked.

God Blessed Esau And The Edomites

God told Israel:

Deuteronomy 23:7 Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a stranger in his land.

God does not want His children to carry grudges. He wants us to love Him, and love others.

When you carry a grudge, it doesn’t take long before the grudge is carry YOU. Believers in God are NEVER to harbor grudges. In the Lord’s Prayer – a prayer I say often, and I’m sure you all know, God tells us to pray:

Matthew 6:11-12 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

We who are blessed of God are to forgive. Recently in our country people have pulled down statues and monuments, attempting to get rid of our checkered past. God does not want us to do that. God wants us to forgive.

God wants the red man to forgive the taking of his homeland by conquering Europeans.

God wants the black man to forgive those who took his ancestors from their homeland, to use them as slaves in America.

God wants you to forgive those who have mistreated you, and hurt you, and belittled you, no matter who they are.

What has happened, has happened. The good, the bad, and the ugly. We cannot undo history, nor the evils that was done yesterday. We can, however, change today and tomorrow. God tells us all to forgive. We offend God daily, but He forgives. We are to forgive. Jesus said:

Matthew 6:14-15 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Edom came about because of what happened between Esau and Jacob. Esau was the firstborn child of Isaac. As the firstborn, Esau should have received the double portion of his father’s blessing. But Jacob got the double portion. Esau sold his birthright to Jacob (Genesis 25:31-33), and the Bible says that:

Genesis 25:34 … Esau despised his birthright.

Jacob would get the birthright. But here’s the interesting truth of that whole story. It was God’s desire that Jacob get the birthright – that the lineage of Christ go through Jacob and not Esau.

God Is Always Right, Whether We Understand Or Not

Though it was traditional for the firstborn to be the chief inheritor of the family, God told Rebekah:

Genesis 25:23 Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

There were “Two NATIONS”,גּוֹי gôwy, {pronounced go’-ee}, “peoples” or nations in Rebekah. Her womb carried a crossroad in the history of the coming of the Messiah. It was God’s will that Messiah come through the line of Jacob, not Esau. This was determined long before either child did good or evil. The Apostle Paul, in speaking of the omnipotence and omniscience of God, said:

Romans 9:10-16 And not only this; but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; 11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) 12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. 13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. 14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

God chose to use Jacob to bring forth Israel – not Esau. And yet, God was good to Esau. Though Esau lost the birthright, he was still richly blessed. Esau was not Jacob, and would never be Jacob, but God loved Esau anyway. The Bible tells us that:

Genesis 36:6-8 Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his substance, which he had got in the land of Canaan; and went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob. 7 For their riches were more than that they might dwell together; and the land wherein they were strangers could not bear them because of their cattle. 8 Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir: Esau is Edom.

Esau was given a great family. He was given great riches. Though he lost the birthright, God still gave him greater grace. God gave “mount Seir” to Esau and his descendants, the Edomites. When God brought Israel out of the land of Egypt many years later, He told Israel:

Deuteronomy 2:4-5 … Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore: 5 Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession.

Those Who Receive Grace Should Always
Be Gracious, Not Grudging & Avenging

God looked after Esau and his people. But Esau and his people harbored a grudge against Israel, the children of Jacob. Esau and his descendants began to believe that their success, their blessings, came to them because they were superior, a superior people to Israel. When Israel was led out of Egypt by God, they asked to pass through the land of Edom. They were told:

Numbers 20:18-21 {Edom said} … Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword. 19 And the children of Israel said unto him, We will go by the high way: and if I and my cattle drink of thy water, then I will pay for it: I will only, without doing anything else, go through on my feet. 20 And he said, Thou shalt not go through. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand. 21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border: wherefore Israel turned away from him.

Edom had been richly blessed by God. Now they refuse to allow their brethren to pass through their land. God tells us in His Word:

Proverbs 25:21-22 If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink: 22 For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee. …

Exodus 23:4-5 … If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.

Proverbs 24:17-18 … Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: 18 Lest the Lord see it, and it displease him…

Those who are God’s own – blessed by God – are to let love and compassion rule their lives. When the enemy does us harm, God tells us to “turn the other cheek”. Our Lord Jesus told us:

Matthew 5:44-45 … I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Leave vengeance and retribution in the hands of the Lord God. “Vengeance is Mine – I SHALL REPAY – saith the Lord (Romans 12:19)”.

Yet Edom held on to their animosity against Israel.

When Southern Israel is attacked by Nebuchadnezzar II, Edom helped in that attack. The Hebrew apocryphal book 1 Esdras notes:

“the temple, which the Edomites burned when Judea was made desolate by the Chaldees {the Babylonians}. (1 Esdras 4:45; Bird 2012:182-187; Böhler 2015:97-107; McCarter 1976)”

Because of their pride and their grudge-carrying, God was going to destroy the Edomites.

What You Sow, You Will Reap

Obadiah the ex-Edomite now tells the Edomites what God has told him to say.

Obadiah 9-10 … thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter. 10 For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.

“Teman” was a major city in Edom. Job’s friend Eliphaz (Job 2:11) was from Teman. My commentary notes that Job himself was probably from Teman in Edom. Because of Edom’s grudge carrying and attacks on Israel, they would be “cut off for ever”. God says that He will cut them off “by slaughter”. The nation – once so prosperous – would be completely destroyed, and would never recover. Obadiah himself was in no danger, for he repented and became the servant of the Lord. But to those who stood against Israel, they also stood against God. And, as the Bible says:

Hebrews 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

God specifies the sins that causes the total destruction of Edom:

Obadiah 12-14 But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress. 13 Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity; 14 Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress.

We are all made in God’s image. In that sense, all are brothers. Brothers should not hurt one another.

When Israel fell to Babylon, it was because Israel had ceased honoring the Lord their God. God used Babylon to punish His people. But Edom should never have been a part of what happened. As Israel fell,

Edom gloated at Israel’s fall.
Edom rejoiced at Israel’s fall.
Edom boasted at Israel’s fall.
Edom invaded Israel with Babylon.
Edom looted Israel.
Edom prevented any Israeli from escaping.
Edom imprisoned their brother.

What they did to Israel, God was going to do to Edom. God says:

Obadiah 15 For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.

They would have been better off letting their grudge go, and trust in the Grace of God.

It Is Much Better To Trust In God ALWAYS!

What can we take away from the Book of Obadiah? First, God is in control. Always. We often have things happen to us that we do not like. We must not dwell on those things. We must dwell upon the Lord our God. Let us love Him Who has given us so much Grace. Let us love our enemies, those who do evil to us. Let us put all our trust in God.

In the end, those who love and follow the Lord Jesus will be left standing. We read:

Obadiah 17-18 But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. 18 And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the Lord hath spoken it.

Mount Seir, the abode of the haters & avengers,
will fall, but Mount Zion shall stand.

When you stand with God, doing as He has commanded, you will be blessed. Praise Him for His faithfulness. Trust God, though you may be in a bad spot. And let love, and a loving response, be your guiding light. I will end with this poem by Gloria Mast called “I Have No Rights”:

I have no rights, no legal claim,
No boasts of wealth, or worldwide fame,
For I am not my own.
The blood of Jesus claims my soul,
He has redeemed and made me whole,
And I am His alone.

Why then is there a war within,
One side for right, the other sin?
I feel the front-line heat.
It is because the enemy,
Tries hard to claim a part of me,
But Christ will him defeat.

I dare not think I’m strong enough,
To win alone, nor Satan bluff,
For by my strength I’ll fall.
I must my Captain’s orders heed,
His victory Manual often read,
And hasten at His call.

Trust in the Lord. Do good. Love even your enemies. In the end, the Children of God will prevail. May God through His Spirit and His Word move us all to live for His glory, both now and forever more. Amen and Amen!