Exploring The Minor Prophets -- Part 4

 

Obadiah -- Part One

 

     Obadiah is the shortest book in the Old Testament containing just a single chapter. While it may be a short book, there is much in it for us to learn.

     First of all, who is Obadiah? What we learn about him from the Bible is minimal.

     There are a few people in the Bible named Obadiah. However, scholars are in agreement that these are not the man who wrote the book of Obadiah. The person who wrote this book was called on by God to bring a message. Nothing else is known about him.

     Our Obadiah lived just before the invasion of Judah by the Babylonians. Obadiah and Jeremiah were most likely contemporaries sometime during the period when Jehoiakim was the king.

     Jeremiah’s focus was on what was going to happen to Judah if the people did not change their ways, the focus of Obadiah was on the nation of Edom. Obadiah describes what will happen to that nation and why.

     Just a little background. You might say that Israel and Edom were the result of turmoil. The people of Israel are the descendants of Jacob. The Edomites are descendants of Jacob’s brother Esau. Jacob used deception to take the birthright from his brother. Esau was so angry that he was going to kill his brother.

     Although the two brothers eventually reconciled after many years, their descendants were at constant odds. When the children of Israel wanted to pass through Edom on their way to the land of promise, the Edomites would not allow them to come through.

     In his prophecy, Obadiah gives the message from God that the Edomites are doomed. They didn’t treat their kinsmen with proper hospitality when they were on their journey to their home. They were also perpetually making light of any misfortune that would befall the people of Israel.

     The people of Edom are informed that their nation will fall. Even though they had a lot of mountains to flee to for protection, these would provide no help. The word of the Lord had been spoken.

     So, what can we learn as Christians today from the message of Obadiah? For one thing, we have to follow the admonition of the Apostle Paul in his great chapter on love found in I Corinthians 13. In this chapter, Paul gives us the characteristics of what true love is all about. Paul says that love does not rejoice when something bad happens to another person. The Edomites only had contempt for their brothers.

 

Part two will be posted next week.