Story: Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson went on a camping trip.
They set up their tent and fell asleep.
Some hours later, Holmes woke his faithful friend.
"Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see."
Watson replied, "I see millions of stars."
"What does that tell you?" asks Holmes
Watson pondered for a minute.
"Astronomically speaking, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets.
Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo.
Horologically, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three.
Theologically, it's evident the Lord is all-powerful and we are small and insignificant.
Meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. “
Then after a pause, Watson says: “Well, Holmes, What does it tell you?"
Holmes was silent for a moment and then he said
.
"Watson, you imbecile, someone has stolen our tent."
Like Dr Watson, we can get so caught up with the Blessing of Obed Edom that we over look the more down to earth problem.
And so I would like to look at the Enigma of Obed Edom
Intro: As we read in our first Old Testament lesson (1 Samuel 7:1-2 and 6-12) Obed-Edom was the head of the household where the Ark of God was housed for 3 months, when King David decided that it must come back to Jerusalem
But King David was spooked when Uzzah, the son of Abinadab, who had looked after the Ark for 20 years was killed when he reached out his hand to steady the Ark of God.
And so the Ark of God was taken into the house of Obed Edom
Scripture tells us that he and his household were blessed by God for the three months that Obed Edom had the Ark of God with him. Contrast this to Abinadab who had the ark for 20 years and was not blessed by God.
So what is unusual about that.
1. Obed-Edom means servant of Edom, sworn enemies of Israel
2. He is described as a Gittite, meaning he came from Gath. It is the same city that Goliath came from
And here comes the puzzle.
When the Ark of God was in Gath (the home town of Obed Edom) the people in Gath broke out in tumours, possibly the bubonic plague and could not get rid of the Ark of God quick enough.
So the puzzle begins with
1. Blessing of a Gittite
Why did God bless a Gittite from Gath who housed the Ark.
After all when the Ark of God was in Gath his home town of Gath bubonic plague broke out
2. Was Obed Edom really a Jew.
He was because in I Chronicles 26.4-8 as well as I Chronicles 15:16-24 and 16.37-38 tells us that Obed Edom was a Levite.
So how come
3. His Name was Obed Edom
His name was no neutral name.
Very much like our oldest child’s name Jonathan means “Gift of God”
Obed Edom had a clear meaning.
It meant a servant of Edom
If his parents were indeed Jews, surely you might ask no Jewish woman would name her child Servant of Edom.
Just as no Jewish woman in WW2 would have given her son a name meaning Servant of the Nazis.
I found the answer to the enigma in the book of Ruth!
4. Going native
During the time of the Judges a Jewish family from —Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their sons Mahlon and Chilion — emigrate to the nearby country of Moab.
Elimelech dies, and the sons marry two Moabite women: Mahlon weds Ruth and Chilion marries Orpah.
That the two boys marry Moabite women something that is strictly forbidden in the Old Testament.
In Deuteronomy 23:2-3, God forbids the Israelites from having illicit marriages, such as marrying a Moabite.
In other words Elimelech and Naomi’s family goes “native”
And I wonder if the key to understanding how Obed Edom was a Levite. That his father - a Levite and his mother a Jew “go native” in Gath.
So much so, that to ingratiate themselves to the Philistines around them they name their son Obed Edom – a servant of Edom, (a Philistine kingdom)
And with time, (perhaps even at the time when David fled to Gath to get away from King Saul and feigned madness in front of the King of Gath) that Obed Edom found his way back to his Jewish roots and faith in Yahweh
And as you often see when people come to faith later in life Obed Edom is very keen to put the God he has met and worships , in this case the God of of his ancestors, to the front of his life.
When Abinadab had the Ark, he got the men of Kiriath Jearim consecrated Eleazar his son to guard the Ark of God.
You don’t get the feeling that Abinadab was madly excited to have the Ark with him.
So he passed looking after the Ark of God over to his son.
Yet we see that Obed Edom was happy to have the Ark of God at his house.
And God blessed him so much so that King David got jealous and took the Ark of God to Jerusalem.
It is an enigma, on the face of it that
i. Obed Edom a Gittite from Gath who was blessed by God when the Ark of God came to his house and
ii. That he was a Levite as we read further in the Old Testament..
I believe I have made the case that both are true
So perhaps we can leave it to Sherlock Holmes to have the last word on the enigma of Obed Edom
'As that great detective Sherlock Holmes is reputed to have said, "eliminate the obvious and whatever remains, however improbable, must be the answer." (The Supreme Court and Constitutional Theory by Ronald Kahn. 1994.)'
So what can we learn from this
1. It doesn’t matter who your parents were. Stalin’s daughter became a Christian despite her evil father. It matters only WHO you are. It doesn’t matter what your parents did or who they are. Even if they were great Christians. You have to decide for yourself
2. God welcomed Obed Edom back to his roots in Judaism very much like the Father welcomes the Prodigal Son back in the parable of the Prodigal Son from Luke 15 in closing
In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, it was the son who moved away. How could he find his Father?
Because the Father was where he has always been.
The story of Obed Edom is this that it is up to you to find God for yourself.
This we can only do through his Son Jesus (a process we call salvation)
And it is up to you to keep living for Him (a process we call sanctification)
