The story of Obadiah begins in Genesis 25 with the birth of the twins: hairy (Esau) and heel-grabber (Jacob). Rebekah was told that two nations were in her womb — more, I think, than most women are wanting to hear. The older would serve the younger.
Fast forward to Deuteronomy (2:1-8; 23:7) and you learn that this relationship still mattered centuries later when the Israelites were about to enter the Promised Land after the exodus. The Edomites (descendents of Esau) were to be treated respectfully, because they were relatives.
This area of Edom was just south of the Dead Sea — about 70 miles north-to-south and just 15 or 20 miles east-to-west. It’s a hilly area that felt to the residents like secure protection.
One famous Edomite in the New Testament was (apparently) Herod the Great. His father, Antipater, was an Idumean, or an Edomite. Herod married into the Jewish royal family and kept the Jewish law. Ok, some of the Jewish law. He had minor lapses like the propensity for killing off family members.
Despite the warnings to treat the kinsmen Edomites well, when you move ahead many centuries later, the Edomites are roundly condemned. Check out Psalm 137, Lamentations 4, Ezekiel 25 and 35, and Jeremiah 49.
There’s something vile the Edomites did when Neduchadnezzar and the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem. But what was that?
It’s in Obadiah that we find out.
For the most part, their sins were not sins of commission but of omission. While Jerusalem was attacked, they kept their distance from the south, up in their mountainous crags, and cheered on the defeat of Judah. They are the nanner-nanner-nanner people of the Bible.
Their central offense appears to be that they stood by when they should have stood with their relatives being attacked.
If that’s true, then could this, the shortest book in the Old Testament, be a piece of prophetic literature that has a fresh word for the church today?
It invites us to ask how we are standing by rather than standing with. Wasn’t that what offended so many religious types about Jesus? He kept stepping into the messes of the world. He refused to stand at a distance condemning.
The conflict at his home town synagogue (Luke 4:16ff) was over his examples of how God wants his people to move beyond their own safe, gated communities. His story of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16) highlights the evil of standing by while another is in need. (Note that there’s no evidence the rich man was actively doing harm. He just stood by.) When he talked of judgment (Matthew 25), the key questions weren’t about obtuse questions of doctrine but about standing by or standing with. When you see him naked, thirsty, hungry, and in prison, what is your response?
Obadiah says that the moutains of Seir would not protect the Edomites: “‘Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,’ declares the Lord.”
Apparently God takes this seriously. His final evaluation isn’t based on the edict: “Do no harm.” It goes beyond that: when we see Lazarus . . . when we see the person beaten along the road to Jericho . . . when we see someone hungry, hurting, or lost — what is our response?
Do we stand by? or stand with?
Ancient words…so relevant…so convicting. Being involved in peoples’ lives is messy. If I’m not messy, perhaps I’ve drifted a great deal from the heart of God.
It’s my first visit to your site. Enjoyed the message of Obadiah, very timely words. Thanks.
The message of Obadiah is that pride leads to a downfall. Pride was the sin of Edom. They were too proud to help their brothers. There is definitely a message in that for the church as we too easily get caught up in pride ourselves. There is also a message in this for us in the United States not to get to prideful in our position in the world because God can take us down.
…before church starts there’s a huddle of men by the coffee pot. They are eating donuts and drinking lattes. In their enjoyment of each other, they miss the stream of hurting, dying people that are coming to church looking for answers. Sometimes it is not maliciousness or pride that keeps us from standing with others in need. It’s just that in our self foucused joy we miss our true mission in life…seeking, serving, and saving….
I get chills when the Old Testament is shown to be so relavent (SO relavent) to us. After all, how much have we really evolved since Obadiah’s time? Our hurts, emotions, ego, desires…we are still so very self-involved, aren’t we?
Sounds like a pretty compelling reason to leave the safety of our suburban communities and combat the evil that plagues the inner city. Or to stop focusing on our own security and comfort here in America and take up the cause of justice, mercy and love wherever people are being oppressed.
todd
This is a great post, and it makes me think of Shane Claiborne’s Irrestible Revolution. He is someone who is truly standing with the hungry, hurting and lost.
It is so easy to insulate ourselves and just stand by.
Good post Mike! and no “but.” You once told me (during the Rwanda genocide) to do what you can in your own corner of the earth. Some of the best advice I have been given.
I have since narrowed it down to what I can do for one person over and over again (found at my workplace). But that was some good advice. Thanks.
I like it when I agree with you.
A good reminder. Thank you.
Brother:
Is it then true that our doctrine . . . or dogma . . . or proper wording . . . or patterned prayer is not as important as where (and with whom) we are standing?
Steve
One thing that I think is important not to forget from Obadiah, is that we should first stand with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Satan is not attacking the lost. The attack is directed toward believers in Christ. Divorce, despair, and disbelief have breached the doors of our churches and while the person sitting next to us in bible class is at war, we offer them a doughnut.
Great point Tom - there is a tremendous opportunity to be Jesus to those actually walking through our front doors on Sunday morning that often goes wanting.
Next to you posts on your kids, this is your best ever.
Good point Troy… that’s what I was thinking as I read Mike’s post, about the times I’ve watched a brother or sister attacked and simply stood by. Jack Reese’s book The Body Broken deals with that issue so very well. There comes a time when silence is complicity.
What a great dissucussion.
Mike, I like Obadiah.
OK, very well. These are the primary messages of Obadiah. But so what? Give me an example of what “being convicted” by Obadiah means for us. Is it a stinging word of correction to the neoPharisees in regard to parochialist doctrine? Is it yet another soapbox for the social-gospelaires to stand on and hold forth? Is it a word to my oldest son to stand up for his younger brothers in the face of a playground bully? Is it a call to throw that doughnut in the trash and go stick my nose in someone else’s business even if I don’t have a relationship with them in this cavernous megachurch that we “share?”
qb
qb - Excellent question. For me, “being convicted” by Obadiah means being willing to forsake life, limb, health, and wealth for our brothers and sisters in Christ. The church has drifted so far from what is was in Acts 2, that we don’t even know the people we worship with. We’ve been far too concerned with what church can do for us, that we are blind to the needs of our siblings in Christ. Satan is not afraid to stick his nose into someone else’s business, why should we be? If we continue to pass people in church with only “hi” and “fine” on our lips, we may be unintentionally handing them a live grenade. We need to get into their lives and ask about their marriage, their finances, and their souls. The only reason we don’t, is that we may have to throw ourselves on that grenade.
I agree with Troy. So many of us come to church for a self help seminar, instead of looking around and noticing what is going on around you. Both can be fulfilled–self and others.
Mike-loved the lesson Obadiah. Made me think about somethings. I just recently came across this blog (via Stream Franklin). I have always loved your talks. I remember sitting in the auditorium at Harding on Wednesday nights college class…I can still hear your voice. Thanks for all you do!
In my mind, it reminded me of the people who went through our son’s terminal illness with us. They could have just said they’d pray for him and left it at that. Instead they sat at the hospital with us, brought food, sent money, babysat his siblings and mourned with us when he died. Having people stand with us helped us to survive it. We saw many people on that oncology ward struggling through the same thing with their children without any support. It was doubly difficult for them, I think.
I was going to make a snide remark but reJoyce ruined that.
Wow, Mike. What a fine exposition of Obadiah. So much of what I come across in print is either history for history’s sake (”biblical scholarship”) or devotional material that doesn’t bother much with the Bible (examples abound). Thanks for bringing the good parts together. Your gift of study and expression is a real blessing.
Regarding the church in Acts 2: who could deny that the contemporary church is far from the ideal? But even with Luke’s pro-Christian intentions, the author of Acts has to admit that the Jerusalem church contained not only folks like Barnabas, but also lying pretenders and ethnic tension.
I honestly don’t undersatnd how this message is rejected by our churches today. It floors me. Love your heart, bro.
PS: I sang at a funeral today where the preacher told a story about an old “Negro” preacher who was a former slave. I was squirming with every reference back to “Negro”. And then…as he quoted the man, he went into dialect. I am NOT lying. I swear, I am going to mount a video camera to my person to capture all these moments.
B
Didn’t Hillary pull that stunt at a black church?
This makes me respect the one-chapter book of Obadiah a whole lot more.
Sorry Clint. ;-P
HI Mike
We have so much stuff coming between us and our relationship with God it blurs our vision. Here at Namwianga Mission I am constantly reminded of that fact. I struggle to see the world I inhabit from the perspective of the Zambians. We have no choice here but to help each other. The need is so great and the things that would keep us from sharing ourselves and our stuff are not here. No TV no movies no starbucks and not a lot of busyness of important things which steal our time. Here there is always someone you can get to know and help. It may be as simple as listening to the story by a father about his sick child, or offering tea and toast to the students we support who are working off their tuition by helping in our garden. No place here for self absorption or satisfaction on all we have done by our own efforts. Instead we are grateful God allows us to participate in the work He already has begun.