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There are many things that we can suffer in this world, but none is worse than what we can suffer from our fellow human beings. Animals may fight for food, territory, and mates, but the imagination of human beings can come up with endless ways to inflict cruelty on one another. The injustice of humans toward one another is truly astonishing.
Once people get their eyes on something, they can commit almost any cruelty in order to achieve it. They can harm anyone without mercy. I spoke to a person not too long ago who started a business after years of hard work. Then, their spouse left them for another person and stole everything they had. The business collapsed. They went to court, but there was no way to get it back because both their names were on the account. The world is filled with things like this.
These things justly make us angry. Anger is a legitimate response to injustice and prepares us for action. However, in many, many cases, there is nothing we can do about it. Then, it just sits in our hearts. When it does this, it eats away at us and can embitter everything in our lives. We know about some of this anger, but we also have a lot of anger hidden in the depths of our spirit.
The question is, what do we do with it? How do we keep the wrong-doer from harming us twice? From the wrong that they commit against us and from turning us into bitter, angry people? The prophet Obadiah provides for us a vision of God that can enable us to move past the injustices of the past, not by ignoring the wrong but by committing it to the God who rights all wrongs. We will see this here in the wrong of Edom, its reckoning with God, and the restoration of Israel. So, we will see the wrong, the reckoning, and the restoration.
The Wrong of Edom
The kingdom of Edom was to the south of Israel. There lived the descendants of Esau, the twin brother of Jacob. If you read the book of Genesis, you will find that Jacob and Esau wrestled with one another. Even in the womb, they were so active that Rebekah, their mother, considered them to be wrestling in the womb. This continued throughout their lives, and this wrestling manifested itself in their descendants and their nations. Just look up the word Edom in a concordance or on Biblegateway.com, and you will find that their relationship was not a good one.
We do not know anything about the prophet Obadiah. We do not know the specifics of these historic events, though they fit in with the larger context of the relationship of the people of Edom and Judah. What we can gather from the prophecy is that Judah was or would experience a significant attack by a major power. At that time, Edom did not or would not help them. Instead, they took advantage of Judah’s weakened state to plunder and attack them. Let’s consider how Obadiah describes it.
First, they joined with the attackers. “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” (Obadiah 11). So, they saw an opportunity in Judah’s weakness and joined with those attacking them to increase their own wealth.
Second, they gloated over Judah and mocked them. “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” (v. 12). They rejoiced when they saw their brother suffering wrong.
Third, they had no mercy on the victims. “You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives, nor hand over their survivors in the day of their trouble” (v. 14). They actually killed those fleeing. If they didn’t kill some of them, they would seek to make a profit on them by selling them into slavery.
Edom committed a great wrong against Israel. And what wrongs have you experienced in your life? What are you carrying with you? Do you have complaints like this? I don’t doubt that many of you do. I have heard some of your cries for justice. I know there are many more in your hearts.
In the midst of this, we might ask, does God care? Does He see what’s going on? How could He let this happen? Is He asleep? Why won’t He wake up and do something about this? To this, Obadiah’s prophecy gives us a vision of God that assures us of God’s care.
Edom’s Reckoning with God
Whatever it may seem like in the moment, God sees. God hears. God knows. He will act in the right time to bring retribution and judgment. There will be a day of reckoning for all who have done wrong and gotten away with it. “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” (v. 15). God is going to make things right! A day of reckoning is coming.
In the case of Edom, this might have seemed implausible. They said, “Who can bring me down to the ground?” Edom lived in the desert mountains to the southwest of Judah. It was hard to even get there. There were likely hidden cisterns that only the Edomites knew. If you could get to their habitation, their mountain fortress could only be approached by narrow winding paths. It was as secure a position as anyone could have asked for.
You can get an idea of what this was like by going to the ruins of Petra in modern day Jordan. This was where Edom lived. The ruins and buildings you see cut into the rock are not the ruins of the Edomites. They are the buildings of the Nabateans who lived there after the Edomites. They made Petra into a beautiful city, but it probably reflects something of what was there. Commentator Albert Barnes said, “It was a city single of its kind amid the works of man.” You can see why they would boast that no one could take their city. As Barnes said, “In man’s sight Edom’s boast was well-founded; but what before God?”
But there is no ultimate security in this life. We rely on many things for security such as armies, savings, homes, and people. None of them provide ultimate security. At the same time, we put more confidence in these things than we should. Like Edom, we can say, “who can bring me down to the ground?” (v. 3). This is our pride. Much of our struggle comes when we try to find ultimate security in that which only provides relative security. Our ultimate security is only found in our loving heavenly Father. However, because this is true no army, no fortress, no amount of savings, and no person can keep us secure if God decides the day of reckoning has come. As with Edom, the pride of our heart often deceives us.
For Edom, the day of reckoning would come, and their mountain fortress wouldn’t save them.
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 (3–4).
When God decides that the day of reckoning is here, then no earthly thing can deliver us from His hand. God even intimates how this would occur, “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” (7). The highest gates cannot protect from treachery within.
That’s what was coming for Edom. God was going to judge them for what they had done, and nothing was going to stop them.
“In that day,” declares the Lord,
“will I not destroy the wise men of Edom,
those of understanding in the mountains of Esau?
Your warriors, Teman, will be terrified,
and everyone in Esau’s mountains
will be cut down in the slaughter.
Because of the violence against your brother Jacob,
you will be covered with shame;
you will be destroyed forever (Obadiah 8–10).
God was not going to let the injustice of Edom go unpunished. He would deal with it in His own time. He did do so. The kingdom of Edom came to an end, and another nation took its place. This reminds us that the judgment of the Lord is true and right and sure.
Obadiah says that this is true not only for Edom. “The day of the Lord is near for all nations” (v. 15). In other words, all wrongs will be dealt with. Every wrong that cuts us to the heart is one that God will make right. That day is coming, and it will be completely satisfying. What wrong against you keeps bothering you and making you angry? What are you carrying with you? You can let the Lord carry it for you. You can be sure that He will deal with that person in His own time. No matter how great the wrong, the Lord is preparing a satisfying day of judgment to settle all accounts.
Now, you might say, this doesn’t sound like the New Testament, but I tell you that you have not read the New Testament carefully enough. The Bible teaches us to forgive not simply because we should love. The Bible teaches us to forgive because we should trust God with righting all wrongs and not seek to deal with it ourselves. Forgiveness can occur in part because we trust God’s government of the world and do not need to take that upon ourselves. Listen to what the Apostle Paul says in Romans 12. “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord” (v. 19). In other words, we can forgive even great wrongs because we have total confidence in God’s government of the world. That’s just what Obadiah is saying. God is going to take care of it. We can trust Him. That’s how we can let go of the wrong and not let the wrong-doer harm us twice. That person may have done us wrong, but we don’t have to let it make us bitter. We can leave it with the Lord.
The Restoration of Israel
Obadiah does not look merely at what God will do to Edom. He also sees a vision of the restoration of Israel. He says that Edom will be judged and dealt with but Israel restored. In contrast to Edom, “on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy, and Jacob will possess his inheritance” (17). He gives this promise, “Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will be the Lord’s” (21).
This came to fulfillment in several stages. First, God brought the people back to the land. After they were exiled in Babylon, they returned to the land and possessed it. Read about this in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
Second, after the return, God brought deliverers in the form of the family of the Maccabees. They delivered the people from the Greeks and defeated the Edomites. God brought the deliverers.
Third, God brought this to fulfillment in Christ. We have already seen that the Apostles explain these types of prophecies in Joel and Amos as being fulfilled in Christ’s ascension into heaven and reign over the nations. So, the prophecy is being fulfilled now in the church. He is the deliverer who is giving His people possession of the world.
Finally, this will be fully fulfilled when Christ returns. Then, we will say truly and finally, with Obadiah, the kingdom is the Lord’s. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15: “Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. . . . When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all (24, 28).” This is what we are seeing occur now as people come to Christ and what will be fulfilled when He comes again.
At that day, we will see the full restoration that we are looking for. We will see all accounts settled. However, we should not think that this simply occurs at the end of time. God deals with people in history. Read the book of Acts, for example, chapter 12. Herod put James to death, and then he put Peter in prison. Herod seemed to be on top of the world. But God brought him down in the midst of his pride. God is still doing that. He brings down those who oppress His loved ones like he toppled the Soviet Union. God brings restoration in history. That’s the God that Obadiah sees. He is a God who deals with wrongs and brings restoration to the oppressed in His own time and at the right time and not just at the end of time.
That’s a vision we need. When we see the wrongs around us and grieve over those committed against us, we need to see the God who will deal with them in His own time. As we suffer wrongs, we also need to see the God who restores. It is the vision of Jesus Himself who was crucified by His enemies but was raised by God to His right hand. That’s what God is also doing for all His loved ones. We follow in Jesus’ steps, and if we experience sufferings like His for a time, we are sure to share in Christ’s glorious resurrection. That’s what we would expect from the God of Obadiah. Amen.
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Photo by Ahmad Qaisieh on Unsplash