Vengeance and Victory

 

Obadiah 1-21

God shows favor to His people, and takes vengeance on His people’s enemies

The book of Obadiah is the shortest among the 39 books of the Old Testament, and it consists only one chapter with twenty-one verses. The name “Obadiah” means “the servant of the Lord.”

Most Bible interpreters agree that the book was written in the post-exilic times, a work composed after the destruction of Judah. This is because the book mentioned about the destruction of Jerusalem, so most likely it was written after 586 BC. What then are the key messages of Obadiah?

God is in control of history and He reigns over the whole earth

The vision that prophet Obadiah saw was about the nation of Edom. In the first verse, it says, “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”—

So, Edom would one day be attacked by nations. Edom was neither a big nor a strong nation, yet it was extremely hard to be conquered because of its rugged terrains. It was situated at the south-east of the nation of Israel, and today it is within the borders of Jordan.

The Edomites lived in Mount Seir which was covered with many cliffs and wood. Their cities were built in the mountains that were chiselled out from the rocks. Hence, they were shaded by natural protection which made them hard to be invaded by their enemies.

The Edomites were secured in their place, and they never expected that they would be invaded by their enemies in the future. Thus, they became very arrogant because of this false sense of security.

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?’ Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” declares the Lord. (vv. 3-4)

Edom was arrogant and proud towards God, and they oppressed the Israelites too. Hence, God wanted to judge her. Those who have openly resisted God and harmed His people shall be judged by Him, though they may seem to be invincible.

When Obadiah heard God saying this, he could not understand how a secured nation of Edom would be destroyed. It was impossible to human reasoning. However, the prophet saw such a vision, and he declared it by faith. It was a kind of faith that had complete trust in God.

 Alexander the Great conquered the capital city of Edom around 300 BC, and Edom was weakened from then on. In 164 AD, Edom was officially ruined by the Jewish Hasmonean Dynasty. The whole nation of Edom has ceased to exist by the first century. Now it is left in ruins, an ancient city of Petra, where tourists come and visit. However, Israel still exists.

The prophecy of God for the Edomites was completely fulfilled. God raises a nation and He destroys a nation. God’s punishment will ultimately come upon those nations who are arrogant and disdain God, and harming God’s people.

Today, the Church is the people of God and the Holy nation of God. God loves and cares for His people, and He takes revenge for His people against those who oppressed them. The vengeance He takes is not a revenge over some personal hatred, but a fulfilment of justice and righteousness in the social realms. The evil doers shall reap from their own wickedness.

History is held in God’s hand. God is the God who is in control from eternity to eternity. This means that our encounters, our families, our lives, and our health, etc., are all under His control.

The things that we perceive with our physical eyes are not necessarily our safety nets nor does it bring us absolute security. Our faith should be built on God who is in control of everything. He holds today and tomorrow, and our future.

Do not sin like the Edomites

The Edomites were arrogant and confident of themselves, and disdained God in their hearts, and hence, they openly resisted God. They were deceitful and self-deceived. Nothing could offer permanent stability except those that are provided by God.

God did not take pleasure in the Edomites’ attitude, and He wanted to constrain their unruliness, and so He eventually wiped them off from the earth. In addition to this, verses 10 to 16 put down the reasons why the nation of Edom was punished by God.

God punished Edom because she had acted violently against her own brother, Jacob (v10). Jacob was the grandson of Abraham and the son of Isaac. The elder twin brother of Jacob was Esau, who turned out to be the Edomites’ ancestor. The descendants of Esau were the Edomites, and the descendants of Jacob were the Israelites.

The relationship between the Edomites and the Israelites were exactly like the relationship between Esau and Jacob. They were brothers, siblings of each other. Nevertheless, the Edomites did violence against their own brothers.

First, they took their back seats when their brothers were in troubles. They paid no attention, took their back seats and be indifferent to all these (v 11).

Second, they gloated over their brothers in the days of their misfortunes. When they saw their brothers in need, they rejoiced over their destruction and boasted of their troubles instead of showing their cares externally (v 12).

Third, they took the advantages of the Israelites’ misfortunes and did them harm. Not only did they take their back seats, they also had evil intention in their hearts and took a further step to seize the wealth of their brothers in the day of their disaster (v13).

Last but not least, they intensified the plight of the Israelites and drove them to their dead end. Judah could have survived in their escape, but the Edomites informed their enemies and they blocked Judah’s only way of escape. (v14)

The Edomites did not show love to their brothers. Instead they treated their brothers with indifference, cunningness, wickedness, and violence. The Lord was raged at the Edomites because of their wicked deeds, and destroyed them completely.

We should not commit the sins of the Edomites, by thinking that we could rise above heavens and thus offend God who rules and reigns over the whole earth. Whoever disdains God shall share the same fate as the Edomites.

God will overturn any nation that is insolent, and those who oppress others with power, wealth, skills, or knowledge. The proud shall be shaken, and no one can run away from God’s righteous judgement.

Now it seems that evil still prevails, but God is in control of everything. We must persevere in our fight against the evil. For we are confident that God is still the Lord over all heavens and earth after these happenings, and our trust in Him shall not be in vain.

Let us do some reflections:

God has given us our family in this world, and they are our next of kin who share the same bloodline as us. But how is our relationship with them? Do we behave indifferently to them like the Edomites? Do we turn a blind eye and a deaf ear when we become aware of their needs? Do we take a back seat? Do we gloat over their mistakes and misfortunes? Do we long for them to suffer and even make their situation worse by giving them a kick?

The Bible says, “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” (1 Timothy 5:8)

Let us love our family members and our brothers and sisters in God’s family and care for them in accordance to the teaching of the Bible. This is something pleasing to God, for family is established by Him.

Victory and revival will finally come to the people of God

The book of Obadiah was written after the destruction of Judah, the southern kingdom. At that time, the nation of Israel was literally destroyed, and the people lost their homes. You can imagine how fearful, angry, and frustrated they were as they encountered such predicament and brokenness.

They might be reminiscent of their powerful military strength and their magnificent palaces and Temple. But they had lost all these by then! Are Babylonian gods more powerful than their God? I’m afraid that this could be the question we will raise when we are in troubles.

In fact, we all know that the Israelites were wicked themselves and violated the covenant of God. Hence, they ended up miserably.

However, prophet Obadiah did not rebuke them either in his manner of speech or message. He just made the Israelites, who were then trapped in their adversity, know that God was still in control of everything even when they were in the most miserable state. Victory belongs to the people of God forever.

The prophet used the ultimate destiny of Edomites to enable the people of God to see that God rules and reigns over the whole earth. The hearts of the kings and the political situations of all nations are in the hand of God. The Lord will take vengeance for His people with justice and righteousness, and victory will always belong to the people of God.

The prophet prophesized that Israel was then in their adversity, but they shall prosper, and the house of Esau shall be destroyed (v18). The prophet foretold the future victory of Israel (v19-20), “Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will be the Lord’s.” (v21). 

No matter how desperate our environment seems to be, there will be song of victory that the Lord has prepared for His people. The Lord is the Deliverer, and all things belong to Him, and all things are held in His hand. The victory will always belong to God’s people who put their trust in Him. Do you believe these words?

Whatever condition we may be in, let us follow our Lord closely, for those who rely on Him shall be victorious! God loves and cares for us and He will surely revive us and execute justice and righteousness on earth.