Slices
Prepare
Have you ever been proud – in an arrogant way – of something you’ve achieved?
Were you brought back to earth with a bump? How did you feel then? Ask God to keep you honest and humble in his sight today.
Bible passage
Obadiah’s vision
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 for ever.
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.
Explore
The Edomites were literally able to look down on other people. They had a sense of superiority, not particularly because of what they’d done, but because of where they lived, high up in the mountains (v 3). This influenced their whole outlook on life. They came to feel unassailable, feeling no sympathy for the misfortunes of others (v 12). Do we ever get so locked into our own concerns that we forget about other people and their needs? Does our status in life ever cause us to be proud and perhaps prone to look down on others?
Obadiah warns that the day of the Lord is near, and things are about to change for these proud mountaintop dwellers (v 15). Verse 17 sings out to us: for God’s people on Mount Zion there will be deliverance. It will be a holy place. In the midst of devastation (v 13), the returning exiles will have their starting point to recreate all that is good and godly (v 20). Jacob (God’s people) will possess his inheritance (v 17), ‘… And the kingdom will be the Lord’s’ (v 21). God is in control.
Respond
Thank God that, whatever trials our world is currently facing, he knows and is in control.
Deeper Bible study
‘Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.’1 Reflect on how well you practise this principle.
Cain asked, ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’2 In Obadiah, this question gets answered with a resounding ‘Yes!’ Edom had not supported Israel (Judah) and God held them accountable for failing to act as their brother’s keeper on Judah’s ‘day of disaster’ (see vs 10–14). Baker comments: ‘The unexpected juxtaposition of brother with violence in verse 10 (cf v 7) accentuates the incongruity between expectation and realisation.’3 It was the Babylonians who had attacked Judah, but even though Edom had not allied themselves with these invaders they were guilty of doing ‘violence’ (v 10) to their ‘brother’ nation.
God charges Edom with both sins of omission and sins of commission. First, Edom had remained passive – ‘aloof’ – in the face of evil (v 11). In the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, Jesus condemns the sin of indifference to another’s suffering.4 Second, they took pleasure in Judah’s suffering. God’s people are called to ‘Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn’.5 Edom chose to ‘gloat’ when they should have been lamenting (v 12). Third, Edom seized the opportunity to profit from Judah’s downfall (v 13). Finally, they participated in acts of evil (v 14).
God does not take Edom’s response lightly. Whereas the Golden Rule calls us to ‘Do to others as you would have them do to you’,6 the lex talionis (Latin for ‘law of retaliation’) spells out consequences of our actions: ‘As you have done, it will be done to you’ (v 15). Edom had watched in silence while Judah was looted (v 11) and so they themselves would be ‘pillaged’ (v 6); since they showed no mercy but handed over fugitives to the enemy (v 14), they would find themselves with ‘no survivors’ (v 18); and because Edom dispossessed other nations, they themselves would be dispossessed (v 19).
In what ways might God be calling you to be a more caring and conscientious ‘keeper’ of your brothers and sisters in Christ?
1 Prov 3:27 2 Gen 4:9 3 David W Baker, T Desmond Alexander and Bruce K Waltke, Obadiah, Jonah and Micah, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, Inter-Varsity Press, 1988, p36 4 Luke 16:19–31 5 Rom 12:15 6 Luke 6:31
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 1 Samuel 25,26; Psalm 49
Pray for Scripture Union
Local Mission Partner The Oswestry Schools Christian Worker Project has moved online between January and July while their schools worker Jane Webber is on maternity leave. Please pray for her and her baby and that God’s Word will continue to reach their school communities through resources on YouTube.
