Chapter 12 OBADIAH
What is a Prophet? A Prophet is “One who hears from God and speaks for God”. They were also called seers because they usually heard from God in the form of a vision or a dream. That form gives God the ability to communicate in a world not confined to the time laws and physical restraints of our existence. Through pictures, we can bridge a gap between our existence in time and what will happen in the future. Although not always understandable in the meantime, when the time of fulfilment gets near it becomes clearer. We will speak more of this when we get to the difficult prophetic books like Ezekiel, Daniel and Revelation.
I speak in the past tense, but I will remind you Paul says, “I would that all believers prophesy. In that he is quoting Moses who was challenged by some of his elders complaining to him that the people in the camp were prophesying.
But Moses said to them, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!’156
It must be said, as you read scripture there were periods of time when there seemed to be no prophets about at all. That does not mean there was nobody prophesying, just that they were not prophesying at a national level. Anna and Simeon were not national prophet figures, they were faithful believers of God who only happened to be mentioned and recorded because they were present at the presentation of Jesus. It does appear that national prophets only seemed to turn up when national things are going wrong, but that is because God never punished without having warned the people first. One other misconception about Old-Testament prophets, is they only spoke to Israel and Judah. Obadiah is the first in a group of minor prophets sent to the neighbouring country of Edom.
Obadiah is deduced by many to have been Ahab’s steward who hid one-hundred prophets from Jezebel.157 We are told he feared the Lord from his youth158 an
Figure 42: Obadiah’s counterparties
d that he may have also been one of two Obadiah’s around at the time who were sent by Jehoshaphat to teach the law in Judah159
Remember, one of the themes we are looking at from Genesis is “What has gone wrong and how will it be put right”. Obadiah introduces the Phrase “The day of the Lord is coming”, which refers to the day when God will put things right. It becomes a common phrase from here on in scripture. Peter who writes of that day, in which the whole world will be judged160. The name Obadiah means “servant of Yahweh”, or “worshipper of Yahweh”. These are the same thing in Hebrew eyes.
Edom ( page ) is situated almost at the cross roads of world. Two trade routes cross here, Africa to Asia crosses the Europe to Arabia route. So why was Obadiah speaking to Edom? Under David Edom became a satellite of Israel. It was part of the promised land but had never been captured until David became king. There are two cites Bosrah and Sela, today we know Sela better as Petra one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. The people of Edom were a proud people and thought they were invincible. They had an impenetrable town on a very high mountain from which they could look down on Israel – both physically and in attitude. They actually boasted “God himself could not bring us down”. Obadiah prophesied differently, “You will be brought down and your line will come to an end! It did, but not until one-hundred-years after Jesus, which reminds us that prophesy is about God and His timing, not ours. Obadiah had seen all of this in his vision. But as with all dreams and visions, past or present, the actual time is rarely discernable.
The hatred Edomites had for Jews went back a long way. The people of Edom descended from Esau, Jacob’s twin. As brothers Esau and Jacob struggled in their mother’s womb. This sibling rivalry developed into full-blown hatred between Esau and Israel which festered through the ages. By now it must be clear a spiritual battle is taking place much of which continues in Israel and the Palestine today. Once again you may remember from Genesis why it started, Jacob had been chosen by God for the seed line between Adam and Messiah, Esau allowed this to turn to hatred and Jealousy and then to fester. Edom means “red” and although the land has red clay, the name came from Esau’s ginger hair. Haman in the book of Esther was from the line of Esau and his hatred is clearly deep-seated. In the Exodus story, Edom refused Israel rites of passage through their land. Although they were small in number and could not attack Israel alone, any time a larger nation attacked Israel, Edom would join in taking spoils and plunder. This gave rise to God’s judgement:
When thieves come at night, they take only what they want. When people gather grapes, they always leave a few. But your enemies have wiped you out completely.
Edom was finally subjected by David, but during the reign of Jehoram, Edom revolted again.
The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart,“Who will bring me down to the ground?’ Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the Lord. 161
Edom’s destruction began with the Babylonian invasion under Nebuchadnezzar162 It continued into the fourth-century-BC. It began with the invasion of the Arabs known as the Sabbatarians who forced them to a small region south of Judah. In the second-century-BC, Judas Maccabees slew twenty thousand of them and John Hyrcanus163 then forced the remnant to accept circumcision and the Law. But Obadiah prophesies God would wipe Edom out completely.
Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.164
How did that happen? We must take a look here at the seed line from Adam to Messiah. It was safe by the time of Jesus because the sceptre had been firmly placed in the hands of Messiah. Edom had not realised that, so one descendant of Esau went to Julia Caesar and asked to buy the throne of Israel which Rome had captured. His name was Herod the Edomite, or Herod the Great, as he is better known. Esau who sold his birth right to Jacob at last thought he could buy it back. He had just paid out a massive amount to buy the throne when wise men arrived and asked to see the king of the Jews.
Now can you see why Herod was so angry and why he killed every boy in Bethlehem. He thought he had bought title deeds of the Messianic line to pass on to his sons, but he had been sold a pup. His son was the Herod who killed John the Baptist. His grandson was eaten by worms according to the book of Acts. His great-grandson was Agrippa who died without children in one-hundred-AD. That ended the Edomite line, just as Obadiah had seen in his vision of five-eighty-BC.
Obadiah ends his message by applying the same principle to all nations including Israel. God hates the proud because pride leads to false security in self and a contempt for every one around. God will bring the proud down no matter who. The destruction of Moab was also prophesied by Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Malachi. But the principles are applied to all nations by Obadiah.
But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune; do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; do not boast in the day of distress. Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their calamity to gloat over his disaster and do not loot his wealth in that day.165
156 Numbers 11: 29
157 1 Kings 18: 3-4
158 1 Kings 18: 12
159 2 Chronicles 17: 7
160 2 Peter 3: 7-13
161 Obadiah 1: 3-4
162 CA. 600 BC.
163 134-104 BC.
164 Obadiah 1: 1
165 Obadiah 1: 12 -13.