So maybe you’ve heard it said, ‘read your bible’ so you tried and failed. Our hope as leaders is that all of us will pick up God’s word and come to understand the true nature of God. After all, the bible is God’s Word curated over centuries detailing His nature, His will, the meaning of life and humanity’s historical interactions with Him. The Bible details the hidden keys to the Kingdom. Hence, the reason we are reviewing a new book each week.
This week we move ahead to the book of Obadiah. Obadiah means servant or worshiper of the Lord. He was a prophet we don't have a lot of background on, but we know he preached a single message between 500 to 600 years before Jesus arrived. Obadiah's message was for the distant relatives of Jacob's brother, Esau. A group so numerous they grew into a small nation or tribe called Edomites.
God knew the edomites. They were part of the blessed line of Abraham. They were counted as the offspring that would be too numerous to count. However, Edomites had a generational chip on their shoulder that stemmed from their forefather Esau. His mother favored her other son Jacob. It couldn’t be denied. All you have to do is read Genesis 27, to read the infamous moment in which his mother, Rachel cajoled his twin, Jacob to steal Esau's firstborn birthright. While the relationship between the fraternal twins would get worked out after a few years because Esau figured out how to be successful without a family inheritance, the damage was done. You can read all about that in Genesis 32.
It would be 1400 years after the injustice and reconciliation that the hillbilly jealousy, and pride in self determination, would cause Esau's descendants to ignore God’s warning not to add to the justice being done to Judah. It was part of God’s redemptive nature to bring His people back. A fact they failed to see. It was motivated by selfishness, disobedient to God’s leading, and a desire to get even for a past event.
Their generational hatred against Jacob's descendants was so great, they cheered when they conquered. And when the non violent fled, they also turned over their refugee relatives. How cold hearted do you have to be to turn over relatives? refugees? And conspire with the enemy?
As a prophet, Obadiah spoke for the Lord. He said in verse 15-16:
The day of the Lord is near for all nations.
All you have done will be done to you;
Your deeds will be in your own head.
Just as you drank on my holy hill, so all the nations will drink continually;
They will drink and drink and be as if they had never been.
The edomites had apparently joined the Babylonians in their pagan rituals as they destroyed the temple on Mount Zion. Obadiah was assuring them they would disappear as a nation and it would be like they never existed. By the first century, the Edomites no longer existed as a nation and the few who were left were considered just as arrogant as Obadiah was referring too. King Herod was rumored to be of Edomite descent but by the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD they disappeared from history.
Obeye warned the Edomites about mistreating the Israelites because God would destroy them for their actions and He did. So what is the lesson we are to take from this fulfilled prophecy?
God hates rivalries? Parenting favoritism will lead to generational destruction? Family Feuds destroy nations?
There have been a number of famous feuds over time. The two that come to mind are the Scottish Chattans and German Dasslers.
Then there's the Chattan clan in Scotland around 1400. The history of which is sketchy. Many believe the two clans were actually relatives when a struggle for leadership separated the two. The hatred was so great and so many had died on both sides that the leaders agreed to the first large cage match whereby 30 of each sub clan were chosen to fight to the death with primitive weapons. They then entered a field area the size of a couple of football fields and who conceded first won the leadership of both clans. The ‘Cay’ or ‘camerons’ clan lost 29 before it was over. The Chattan lost 19 but won control. It was called the battle of the North Inch.
There’s the Dassler feud between brothers Adolf and Rudolf. They were shoemakers who became famous for outfitting Jesse Owens for the olympics in 1936 but couldn’t keep their egos in check. They would eventually split very publicly from which we get the Adidas and Puma athletic brands.
Anger is experienced at different emotional intensities depending on a number of factors
It reminds me of a story about two friends (Bill and Tom) having a couple of adult beverages late one night having a discussion about the difference between irritated, angry and rage. Finally, Bill said I will show you the difference. He picked up his burner phone and called an unknown number. It was about midnight. When the person on the other end answered it, he asked if Jones was available to talk? The sleepy man on the other end said, there is no one here by that name. You have the wrong number. After the call, Bill said the man was irritated. An hour later at 1am he called again asking for Jones. The man hearing the request again was a little more adamant about the fact there was no Jones at his home and angrily yelled to not to call again. At 2:30am, Bill called the number again. This time the man answered more than a little annoyed when Bill said, “This is jones. Did I have any calls that left a message?” when Bill returned to Tom at the bar, he said that the man was full of rage.
Hurt turns to anger. Over time, anger turns to resentment and when left unattended, it turns to rage.
While anger has multiple levels, we should not diminish the significance of any anger. We can use innocent-sounding names to dismiss what might be sinful anger. For instance, we may excuse our anger by saying, “I’m not angry, I’m just…”:
Aggravated or frustrated or irritated or impatient or annoyed
Although those verbs might describe mild anger, which is not sinful, they are a gateway to an increasing severity and sinful anger. Where anger is concerned, denial is deeply dangerous
Paul was clear when he wrote to the new church plant in Ephesus. “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.” Eph 4:26-27
From these verses, we learn to recognize anger, quickly deal with it, and understand how ignoring anger increases temptation. An initial angry reaction is not necessarily sinful; it’s what we do with the feelings. All our anger must be recognized and contemplated. If we think we can ignore it, we will be sadly disappointed. Anger seeps out in both our current and future interactions. Anger affects everyone who is exposed. It’s corrosive to relationships by heightening others' emotional response to fight or flee. As such, it becomes ungodly. Ungodly anger is motivated by selfishness, showing disobedience to God’s leading, and a desire to destroy whatever is blocking our desires. It is also a rejection of the original goodness of humanity as well the value of God’s creation. After all, we all are created by God and in God’s image. It seems we lost this truth along the way.
We, as a culture, are experiencing a heightened encouragement and demonstration of anger and aggression, both verbally and physically. This can best be described as supporting a culture of anger. Increasingly we hear about anger expressed by passengers on airlines and by patrons of restaurants. Election workers as well as those seeking office have increasingly become the target of personal threats—directed at them and their family. And even in the classroom, teachers have increasingly reported incidents of verbal or physical abuse (Will, 2022). PSYCH Today
Just last week a neighbor shared an incident that happened while picking up their child from summer camp. A man verbally assaulted because she was asking questions of the teacher while picking up her child. The other parent felt the questions were delaying him from picking up his child so he unleashed verbal swear word laced tirade in front of the children that was followed by threats of bodily harm. The police had to be called. The kids were scared. The teacher was shaking. My neighbor felt victimized. Anger is a sin when unleashed without reflection.
In contrast, righteous anger stems from love. It recognizes that someone’s actions or words hurt another and the error needs to be made right. Not in a punitive way but in a corrective manner.
Jesus was angry a few times. The first time it was at the religious elite for prioritizing the sabbath over helping someone in need. In this case it was a man with a need for healing on his shriveled hand. (Mark 3:4)
The second time it was when the disciples were keeping the children away from Him because the disciples thought they were a bother. When Jesus saw what was happening, he was “indignant.” The Greek word actually means “to shudder or quiver.” He was angry. No one has the right to restrict who comes to the Lord. Mark 10:14-16
The third and fourth time was his turning over of vendors' tables. It’s detailed in John at the beginning of his ministry (John 2) and on Monday of his last week in the other gospels (Matthew 21; Mark 11; Luke 21).
John 2 is one of my favorite verses in scripture.
John 2:13-16 describes the scene - The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade."
Jesus was upset. The people were being overcharged. They were required to come to passover. They couldn’t use Roman money in the temple area to buy sacrifices. So the religious elite changed their money for them. They would charge a fee for this of course. Then they would charge higher prices for the animals to be sacrificed as well. Picture it this way. Go to a ball game. Buy your tickets in another currency and add a surcharge. Think broker with a handling fee. Then go into the park and be required to buy an official jersey because only an official Jersey can get a seat. Imagine the prices and then if that isn’t enough buy a soda. Seriously, 10 bucks for a lemonade! Don’t you just want to throw a fit but you don’t. Why? Because you don’t want to get kicked out. Jesus did though. He threw an all out rager. It went viral. That's why all the gospels feature these stories.
The fifth and sixth time he was angry he was upset because of an untimely illness and death. The first happened when a leper came up to be healed of the disease (Mark 1:4). The second happened when he stood before Lazarus tomb after he had passed (John 11).
The seventh time it happened was when the fig tree didn’t bear any fruit. Many will ask, was he Hangry? No. The curse of the tree by Jesus was an object lesson about Israel’s fruitfulness. The fig tree was often the chosen image for the nation of israel. When Jesus came, He wanted to see the fruit of those he commissioned: the chosen people.
Finally, Jesus got upset regularly with the religious elite for their disregard for faith over religion. He called them a number of names - white washed tombs, broods of vipers and even satan himself.
God hates injustice. It is upsetting to Him. as a result, we should all recognize when an injustice happens, and have confidence that all will be made right in the end so we are not to gloat, or participate with those doing evil.
Creative: https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/Obadiah
References: Quest Bible Overviews p1345-46, NIV compact bible commentary (Sailhammer), bible gateway (niv), https://www.christianity.com/wiki/christian-life/what-does-the-bible-say-about-controlling-anger.html
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/overcoming-destructive-anger/202211/5-major-contributions-our-culture-anger
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