Our Daily Scripture – 1/17/25 (Friday)

SCRIPTURE:  OBADIAH

INTRODUCTION:

Obadiah means “servant of Jehovah”.  This book is  the shortest book in the Old Testament prophesying against the nation of Edom.  It is a dramatic example of God’s response to anyone who would do harm to His children.  The Edomites were descendants of Esau having blood relation with Jacob.  But they were rugged, fierce, proud and gloated over Israel’s problems.  Instead of helping their brothers, they captured and delivered Israel’s fugitives to the enemy and looted Israel’s country side.  The reasons for God’s judgment was their blatant arrogance toward God and their persecution of Israel.

This book began with the announcement that disaster was coming to Edom.  In spite of living in clefts of rocks in mountain heights, they would not be able to escape God’s judgment. The prophecy ended with a description of the day of the Lord when judgment will fall on all who have harmed God’s people.

DISASTERS THAT BEFALL EDOM:

  1.  Edom will be small among the nations and be despised. 9v. )
  2.  They will be brought down by the Lord. (v. 4)
  3.  They will be ransacked, their hidden treasures pillaged. (v. 6)
  4.  All their allies will force them to the border. (v. 7a)
  5.  Their friends will deceive and overpower them. (v. 7b)
  6.  Those who eat their bread will set a trap for them and they will not detect it. (v. 7c)
  7.  The wise men of Edom and men of understanding will be destroyed. (v. 8)
  8.  Their warriors will be terrified and everyone in Esau’s mountains will be cut down in the slaughter. (v. 9)
  9.  They will be covered with shames and destroyed forever. (v. 10)
  10.  They will stand aloof while strangers carried off their wealth. (v. 11a)
  11.  Foreigners will enter their gates and cast lots for Jerusalem. (v. 11b)

SINS OF EDOM:

  1.  They look down on their brothers in the day of their misfortune. (v. 12a)
  2.  They rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction. (v. 12b)
  3.  They boast so much in the day of Israel’s trouble. (v. 12c)
  4.  They march through the gates of Israel in the day of their disaster. (v. 13a)
  5.  They look down on Israel in their calamity and disaster. (v. 13b)
  6.  They seize Israel’s wealth in the day of their disaster. (v. 13c)
  7.  They wait at the crossroads to cut down Israel’s fugitives. (v. 14a)
  8.  They hand over Israel’s survivors in the day of their trouble. (v. 14b)

SCENE OF MOUNT ZION:

  1.  Mt. Zion will be holy and delivered.  And the house of Jacob will possess its inheritance.
  2.  The house of Jacob will be a fire. (v. 18a)
  3.  The house of Joseph will be a flame. (v. 18b)
  4.  The house of Esau will be stubble. (v. 18c)
  5.  There will be no survivors from the house of Esau. (v. 18d)
  6.  People from the Negev will occupy the mountains of Esau. (v. 19a)
  7.  People from the foothills will possess the land of the Philistines. (v. 19b)
  8.  They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria, and Benjamin will possess Gilead. (v. 19c)
  9.  The exiles of Israel in Canaan will possess the land as far as Zarephath. (v. 20a)
  10.  The exiles of Israel from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will posses the towns of the Negev. (v. 20b)
  11.  Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau.  And the kingdom will be the Lord’s. (v. 21c)

THOUGHTS:

When Babylon invaded Jerusalem, the Edomites rejoiced and helped them instead of helping their brother.  It was a repetition of the ancient conflict between Esau and Jacob.  The Edomites were guilty of pride, violence, indifferent, looting and revengeful.  What they had done to others will be done to them without escape.  In the same manner, we are not to rejoice over the misfortunes of others.  If it is in our power to help, we must do it.

The Jews of Amos’s day had lost sight of God’s care and love for them.  The rich were carefree and comfortable, refusing to help others in need.  They observed their religious rituals to appease God but they did not truly follow His commands.  Amos warned them of destruction for their evil ways.  May Amos’s words inspire us to live faithfully according to God’s desires in all areas of our conduct.