Let’s break some new ground and learn what God has for us to know from Obadiah.
I. The man
Nothing is known about this prophet outside of his name. Although there are 10 men by the name Obadiah named in the Old Testament, scholars are in agreement none of them was this man.
Many prophets share a little about themselves in the course of sharing their prophesy, but Obadiah doesn’t.
II. Time of writing
There is only one indicator of timing in the text – verse 11 presents the fall of Jerusalem.
11On 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.
The time of the destruction of Jerusalem and captivity of Babylon around 586BC.
III. Written to
The nation of Edom. Edomites are the descendants of Esau.
Let me remind you of their story:
Jacob and Esau were twins, with Esau being born first. This meant he would get the birthright from his father. A double portion of the inheritance. However, one day Esau came home so famished he was ready to eat tree bark. Jacob had made a pot of stew. Seizing the moment of weakness, Jacob told him he could have the stew if he would give up his birthright. Jacob was wrong to do this to his brother and Esau was wrong to value the birthright so little. This escalated the tensions between them.
With the help of his mother Jacob later deceives his father into giving the blessing. They made Isaac believe he was giving it to Esau. After this Jacob had to leave home and lived in fear of Esau.
Sometime later in Genesis 33 the two brothers do meet and some level of forgiveness is restored.
IV. Purpose in writing
His message was one of warning judgment was coming on them from the Lord God. Strangely, there is no appeal for repentance.
Secondly, the purpose was to inform the people of Israel that God would restore them to the promised land someday.
Some people look at the book of Obadiah and question, it is not directly about Israel; it is a negative theme – judgment; it is not great literary work, so why does it belong in the Old Testament.
One of the questions asked by scholars is why does the prophesy of Obadiah belong in the Holy Bible?
1. It shows God’s judgment on Israel’s enemies. Try to put yourself in the sandals of a Jew in 586BC. You have experienced not only the horror of invasion by the Babylonians and the killing of friends and love ones, the loss of everything you have worked for – then to see some people from Edom come loot and steal what was left instead of defending you – you would gain satisfaction at God giving them punishment for their selfishness.
2. It promises restoration of Israel to its land after captivity.
As of tonight, the outline I will be using:
I. Verses 1, 2 - introduction
II. Verses 3-9 - Edom’s false security
III. Verses 10 – 18 – judgment on the nations
IV. Verses 19-21 – restoration to Israel
V. Verses 1-2
Verse 1 - 1 The vision of Obadiah.
Historians are always interested in how a prophet gets his message. How? Obadiah answers this question in his first statement – it was the result of a vision from the Lord God. Prophetic visions were widely accepted among the Jewish people. It is unclear whether the vision was a trance like state or God revealed insightful understanding to the prophet of current and future events.
Other prophets declare:
• Hosea 1:1 “the word of the Lord that came to Hosea during the reigns of Uzziah …”
• Nahum 1:1 “An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum”
• Habakkuk 1:1 “the oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received”
- an oracle is a divine utterance delivered to man in response to a question or seeking guidance
This is what the Sovereign LORD says about Edom—
In this phrase Obadiah states where his vision came from: The Sovereign Lord is the NIV. All other translations used “Lord God”. Notice that Lord is spelled with all letters capitalized to indicate the person name of God.
We have heard a message from the LORD:
NIV and Holman have “message”, NAS/ESV “report” and KJV “rumor”. This is Obadiah continuing to let people know what was revealed to him. Key words are “Lord says” and “heard a message”.
One part of the message given to Obadiah was that Israel’s enemies are gathering against her.
An envoy was sent to the nations to say,
What the NIV calls “envoy”, ESV has “messenger” and KJV “ambassador”.
Instead of nations KJV has heathen.
“Rise, let us go against her for battle”—
By context we have to clarify who “us” and “her” are. US would refer to the heathen nations against “her” - Edom. Not that God needed any help, but it is His common practice to use people and nations to do His work.
2 “See, I will make you small among the nations;
See or behold KJV, I is God speaking. What does God say to Edom? “I will make you small among the nations”. Edom is a small region. It starts at the bottom of the Dead Sea and goes south. It is modern day Jordan.
Scholars share the insight that the word small isn’t really about geographical size of the nation – but it’s insignificance. In contrast to the pride of the Edomites, God saw them and other nations viewed them as insignificant.
you will be utterly despised.
KJV greatly despised
Holman deeply despised
Edom will be despised by the other nations so much they want to destroy her completely – eliminated her from the earth completely.
VI. Spiritual application
1. God may not have given you a vision of the future, but He has given each of us a message to share – the gospel of Jesus to a lost and dying world.
2. All those who oppose the Lord and His church and people, can expect to received harsh judgment. This is good news for those of us who are God’s people. That doesn’t mean God will spare us from persecution or hardships, but those who do it to us – will be judged with greater severity.
3. If the world has made you feel small and insignificant, know that God doesn’t make mistakes. You are loved and valued by Him. You have purpose in your life and for His kingdom.
Prayer
