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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy
word.
“In that day,” declares the Lord, “will I not destroy the
wise men of Edom, those of understanding in the mountains of Esau? Your
warriors, Teman, will be terrified, and everyone in Esau’s mountains will be
cut down in the slaughter.”
“Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you
will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever. On 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. You should not gloat over
your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah
in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their trouble.
You should not march through the gates of my people in the day of their
disaster, nor gloat over them in their calamity in the day of their disaster, nor
seize their wealth in the day of their disaster. You should not wait at the
crossroads to cut down their fugitives, nor hand over their survivors in the
day of their trouble.”
Obadiah 8-14
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks
be to God.
Do you have any siblings?
I have been blessed with four, three sisters and a
brother. We’re a bit spread out in age as I am the oldest followed by the three
girls and then my brother who is the youngest and a generation apart from me.
As we’ve grown up through the years, our relationships
have run hot and cold as we’ve gone through living this thing called life in
our respective ways. Those relationships have not always been what they ought
to be and maybe there aren’t many out there that are but there is a way the
Lord expects for siblings to relate to one another and we will see a glimpse of
His expectation within our verses as we continue to look at the Book of
Obadiah.
You’ll remember from yesterday’s message that we don’t
know much about Obadiah outside of him probably serving the Lord either during
the time of Elisha or Jeremiah, prior to the Lord’s judgment coming upon the
northern kingdom of Israel and southern kingdom of Judah. Regardless of the
exact time the events of this book took place, what’s important is that Obadiah
was given a vision from God about the nation of Edom, a vision that brought bad
news regarding coming judgment.
Again, in reviewing what we covered yesterday, the nation
of Edom got its name from its founder, Esau, who was born an Israelite, the son
of Isaac and Rebekah. After losing his birthright to his younger brother Jacob,
Esau bore a grudge and actually wanted to do him harm, later relenting and
moving his family south of Israel to the hill country of Seir where he
established his own nation bearing the nickname he gained because of the
delicious red stew he made (Edom actually means “red”).
Although Esau didn’t go back and renew his grudge with
Jacob, the nation of Edom adopted a hostile stance toward the nation of Israel
and was a perennial enemy, although the two nations were essentially related.
This was something that didn’t sit well with God, especially when Edom stood
pat and didn’t show any concern for Israel and Judah as they were attacked by
the Assyrians and Babylonians respectively. It wasn’t exactly a brotherly thing
to do and we learn more about Edom’s actions and attitudes toward Israel as we
look at today’s passage again here:
“In that day,”
declares the Lord, “will I not destroy the wise men of Edom, those of
understanding in the mountains of Esau? Your warriors, Teman, will be
terrified, and everyone in Esau’s mountains will be cut down in the slaughter.”
“Because of the
violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will
be destroyed forever. On 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. You should not gloat over your brother in the day of his
misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their
destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their trouble. You should not march through the gates of my
people in the day of their disaster, nor gloat over them in their calamity in
the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster.
You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives, nor hand
over their survivors in the day of their trouble.” Obadiah 8-14
We know judgment was coming on Edom. God leaves little
doubt about that and He gives us a window of insight into the sins of Edom in
relation to the Israelites. They included:
1. Violence against their brother.
“Because of the
violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will
be destroyed forever.”
“You should not
wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives, nor hand over their
survivors in the day of their trouble.”
2. Failure to support their brother.
“On 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.”
3. Rejoicing in their brother’s misfortune.
“You should not
gloat over your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people
of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their
trouble.”
4. Stealing from their brother.
“You should not
march through the gates of my people in the day of their disaster, nor gloat
over them in their calamity in the day of their disaster, nor seize their
wealth in the day of their disaster.”
All these add up to Edom abusing and neglecting their sibling
Israelites and for this, God promised to destroy, terrify, and annihilate the
Edomites, a fate just like what befell their brother.
“In that day,”
declares the Lord, “will I not destroy the wise men of Edom, those of
understanding in the mountains of Esau? Your warriors, Teman, will be
terrified, and everyone in Esau’s mountains will be cut down in the slaughter.”
Hopefully, we’re paying close attention to this big word
of God from one of the Bible’s smallest books. For God is sending a message, telling
us to love our brother (and sister too). If we truly do this in obedience to
God’s calling, then we can be assured we won’t be like the Edomites because the
Lord will not lead us to invoke violence on our brother, to turn our support
away from Him, to rejoice in his misfortune, or steal anything from him.
Instead, He will guide us to where we can live with our siblings in the light
of the Lord’s love and validate these words from John’s first letter:
Anyone who loves
their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to
make them stumble. 1 John 2:10
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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