The Retribution Of God And Combatting Injustice – Retribution Both Swift And Delayed – Part 2 Series

{{Numbers 20:19-21 Again, the sons of Israel said to him, “We shall go up by the highway, and if I and my livestock do drink any of your water, then I will pay its price. Let me only pass through on my feet, nothing else,” but he said, “You shall not pass through,” and Edom came out against him with a heavy force and with a strong hand. Thus Edom refused to allow Israel to pass through his territory, so Israel turned away from him.”}}

Nevertheless the Edomites not only refused the request but also threatened physical violence against them. {{Numbers 20:18 “Edom however said to him, “You shall not pass through us, lest I come out with the sword against you.”}} It did not take them long to make good their threat and after Moses’ second reasonable request we read, {{“But he [king of Edom] said, “You shall not pass through.” And Edom came out against him with a heavy force, and with a strong hand.}} BUT GOD HAD NOT FORGOTTEN! We now see retribution delayed, for nothing that could be said to be the judgment of God came upon Edom at that time.

The above passage showed Edom’s true attitude but what was the attitude of Israel to them. Just a few decades passed and before the entry into the Promised Land, not long before the nation crossed the Jordan, the Law was spelled out to the people again. (Deuteronomy – second Law; the Law twice). A remarkable verse is found in the restatement of the commands and instructions to the nation. {{Deuteronomy 23:7 says, “YOU SHALL NOT DETEST AN EDOMITE, FOR HE IS YOUR BROTHER; YOU SHALL NOT DETEST AN EGYPTIAN, BECAUSE YOU WERE AN ALIEN IN HIS LAND.”}} Here we have clearly spelled out to the nation what their attitude to the Edomites was to be. Yes, they had been wronged, insulted, shamefully treated by the Edomites when they needed relief but God is commanding that there be no detesting or implied revenge against Edom. What a suggestion of forgiveness demanded by God of the people. But God had not forgotten the event with Edom.

The Israelites did not take vengeance against the Edomites. Vengeance belongs to God alone. You know, I think half the movies would not exist if you took out the theme of vengeance from them. Movies just reinforce the validity of vengeance I think.

Around another 550 years pass and because of its perpetual sin, Judah is taken into captivity by the Babylonians headed by Nebuchadnezzar. Edom, though, had a sinister part in this and the prophet Obadiah writes of the wicked role Edom played in the overthrow of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. {{Obadiah 1:10-14 “Because of violence to your brother Jacob, YOU WILL BE COVERED WITH SHAME, and you will be cut off forever. On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth, and foreigners entered his gate and cast lots for Jerusalem - YOU TOO WERE AS ONE OF THEM. Do not gloat over your brother’s day, the day of his misfortune, and do not rejoice over the sons of Judah in the day of their destruction; yes, do not BOAST in the day of their distress. Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their disaster. Yes, you, do not GLOAT over their calamity in the day of their disaster; and do not LOOT their wealth in the day of their disaster; and do not stand at THE FORK OF THE ROAD TO CUT DOWN THEIR FUGITIVES; and do not IMPRISON THEIR SURVIVORS in the day of their distress.”}}