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Highlight Passage: Obadiah 1: 1-4 :[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.
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Highlight Passage #2: Obadiah 1: 8-10 :[NIV] … 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.
My Journal for Today: Today in my chronological read, I was taken from the historical failings of God’s chosen people described in 1st Kings and 2nd Chronicles to the little poetic and prophetic book of Obadiah, the shortest of the books in the Old Testament. But though called one of the “minor prophets,” Obadiah spoke words of truth in the times of King Jehorham, as a contemporary of Elijah, speaking to the neighboring nation of Edom, … words which ring with warning even today.
The Edomites where neighboring tribesman to Judah. They were descendants of Esau and lived in what is now Jordan in the mountains around their capital of Sela, which today is known as Petra. If you’ve ever seen the Indiana Jones movies, you may remember the remarkable area of Petra, where the Edomites carved a city out of the side of a mountain; and you can see what my wife and I were privileged to see a few years ago by going to this link for a You Tube clip showing Petra. I have put my own picture of the dwellings in Petra attached to this blog.
But in today’s reading of the one chapter poem of Obadiah’s prophesy, we read that God spoke words of curse for the Edomites. They had become prideful and felt that no one could invade their tribes in the mountains of Sela; and they hated and came against their cousins and blood brothers, the tribes in Judah. For this God, through Obadiah, prophesied their doom. And we now know that these mountain-dwelling warriors were decimated for encouraging the Babylonians to overtake Israel; and in Obadiah’s poem we read God’s warning to any people, on their own, who would come against God’s chosen peoples.
And today, the descendants of Esau, the Arab nations, still hate the Jews and Israel; and they war against them. And, as Obadiah prophesied, somewhere around 853 BC, any nation who comes against God’s chosen peoples may have temporary and temporal victories; but ultimately God’s justice from His eternal covenant with Israel – His Holy Nation – will bring down His final curse upon any who come against God’s chosen ones.
In other words, to paraphrase Obadiah’s warning into modern language, God is saying, “Don’t mess with My people!” And if you are a Christian today, my friend, you have been grafted into God’s family; and anyone who comes against you, as a remnant of God’s chosen nation, will ultimately experience doom and you will have God’s eternal protection God said it; … Jesus sealed it; … “It is finished!”
My Prayer Today: … Lord, we read Your warning; and we hear Your truth being spoken. May we always love and speak in support of Your chosen ones, of which we are a grafted remnant. Amen
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