Obadiah 1:1-14 Series

Postcards: Obadiah (Part 1)

Pastor Jefferson M. Williams

Chenoa Baptist Church

02- 04-2024

Obadiah?

If you have read the book of Obadiah, you get a million points. If you have heard a sermon on the book of Obadiah, you get ten million points!

Obadiah is the shortest book (only 291 words) in the Old Testament and commentators agree that it is one of the most neglected books in all the Bible.

Obadiah was one of the minor prophets. This doesn’t mean they are less important but simply shorter than the major prophetic books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.

We are continuing our Postcards sermon series on the shortest books of the Bible and after Obadiah we only have Jude left to study.

It is a unique book in that it is not written to the Jewish people but to the people of Edom.

It is a prophecy of doom and destruction for the descendants of Esau because of their behavior toward the Israelites.

Maxine and I spent the last week in Texas at her stepmother’s celebration of life.

And something you see everywhere, on bumper stickers, billboards, shirts, and hats, is the phrase “Don’t mess with Texas.”

This morning, we are going to see that the same thing can be said about God’s people.

The main lesson of this book is don’t mess with God’s people.

Turn with me to the book of Obadiah.

Prayer.

The Vision

The vision of Obadiah.

This is what the Sovereign Lord says about Edom—

We know nothing about this man named Obadiah except that his name means “worshipper of God.”

It was probably written around 586 BC with the ruins of Jerusalem still burning from the Babylonian invasion and conquest.

It is the Sovereign Lord who speaks through Obadiah. The God who is ruling and reigning over all nations and kings.

This book is directed toward “Edom.” Who is Edom?

Let’s do some Biblical review.

How many of you fought with your siblings?

My brother and I were playing video games and I was losing so I turned the game off. That started a fight that moved into the kitchen. He shoved me hard and my shoulders went through the glass door.

Our parents had just left and Mark ran down the street to tell them I had broken the glass. He didn’t even stop to see if I was okay!

Issac and Rebecca had twin boys named Jacob and Esau who even fought in the womb. God told Rebecca that two nations were in her womb and they would be in conflict with each other.

Esau was born first and Jacob was born holding on to Esau’s heel. That’s why he was named Jacob, “grasper of the heel” or more simply, “deceiver.”

Two incidents from their lives help us to understand the bitterness of the feud.

“Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom. Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.”  Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.” (Gen 25:29-34)

The birthright meant that Jacob would receive twice the inheritance, the blessing of the firstborn, and at the death of their father, become the patriarch of the family.

Near the end of Isaac’s life, Rebecca encouraged Jacob to trick his father into giving him the firstborn’s blessing.

Esau was “red and hairy.” He probably drove a F-250 pickup, listened to Chris Stapleton, and had a gun in his truck.

Jacob probably played a lot of pickleball, loved Taylor Swift, and drove a Prius.

They couldn’t have been more different.

Issac was ready to give the boys their blessings and told Esau to go out and hunt some game, and prepare a meal for us to eat before he died.

While Esau was out on the hunt, Rebecca told Jacob to go get two young goats and she would prepare a meal for him to take to his father.

Jacob knew that his dad’s eyesight wasn’t good but Esau smelled like jerky and he smelled like fake Polo.

Rebecca had Jacob kill a goat and put the goat hair on his arms and neck and Jacob slipped into his father’s tent and pretended to be Esau.

It worked. When Issac felt the hair on his arms and smelled the “smell of a field,” he gave the blessing of the firstborn to Jacob instead of Esau.

Not long after, Esau came in with the meal that he had prepared and they both figured out that Jacob had stolen the blessing.