Minor Prophets

Obadiah
GOD’S JUDGMENT OF PRIDEFUL EDOM
Do you recall the story of Jacob and Esau? They
were the grandchildren of Abraham, the patriarch of
Israel. Their father was Isaac, the child of promise,
who had loved and married Rebekah (Genesis
24:67). When she became pregnant, Rebekah felt a
struggle going on in her womb and was concerned,
so she prayed to the Lord and asked Him what was
happening. The Lord answered, revealing that she
would bear twins and, “Two nations are in your
womb, two peoples shall be separated from your
body; one people shall be stronger than the other,
and the older shall serve the younger.” These twin
brothers were Esau and Jacob.
In those days, it was the eldest son who received
the birthright, a double portion of the inheritance and
the blessing, which was of spiritual value and made
him head of the family when his father died. Esau was
the eldest of the twins, but he despised his birthright
and sold it to Jacob for a bowl of stew one evening
when he returned home hungry from working in the
fields (Genesis 25:29-33). He also lost the blessing
because Jacob, through the plan and encouragement
of his mother, tricked his father into giving him the
blessing. (Isaac loved Esau and planned to give the
blessing to him, but Rebekah loved Jacob (Genesis
25:28). She remembered God’s words that the older
would serve the younger and exerted her influence to
make sure the younger Jacob received the blessing.)
Because of this, Esau hated his brother Jacob and
planned to kill him (Genesis 27:41). He also defied his
father and God’s command by marrying a Canaanite
woman. The writer of Hebrews calls Esau an immoral
and godless person (Hebrews 12:16).
Jacob had a heart for God and for spiritual things,
always desiring, searching after, and following God,
even though sometimes in the wrong way. He
attempted obedience but didn’t always succeed. On
the other hand, Esau sought his own pleasure from
the beginning. As he grew older, he didn’t get any
better — he only got worse—until God proclaimed
through the prophet Malachi, “Jacob I have loved, but
Esau I have hated” (1:2-3).
It is the prophet Obadiah, the fourth of the Minor
Prophets, who tells us about the sort of people Esau’s
descendants became and the sinful pride of the
nation that arose from him. Obadiah is the shortest
of the Minor Prophets, just one chapter, 21 verses, and
it is all about the descendants of Esau —the nation
of Edom, also called Mount Seir in the Bible. Obadiah
tells us how Esau’s descendants treated the people of
Judah, the descendants of Jacob. Edom should have
treated Judah like a brother, but like Esau, the man
they descended from, the Edomites were immoral
and godless people. They were prideful and arrogant
(Obadiah verse 3). They were violent (verse 10). They
stood aloof and refused to help when invaders carried
off the wealth of Jerusalem (verse 11). They gloated,
rejoiced, and boasted over Judah’s destruction. They
joined the invaders in looting the wealth of the city
(verse 13). They killed the Jews who were trying to
escape and captured the survivors and turned them
over to the enemy invaders (verse 14). The pride and
arrogance of Esau had grown into full-blown evil in
those descended from him.
Through Obadiah, God announced that Edom
would be judged for their sin and that judgment
would be total destruction. There would be no survivor
left from Esau’s descendants (verse 18). You may be
familiar with Petra, the famous archaeological site in
the deserts of Jordan. Petra, called Sela in the Bible
(both names mean “rock”), was carved into pink
sandstone cliffs and was once a great fortress and
capitol of Edom. Today, in fulfillment of prophecy,
only the ruins of the city remain. Petra is uninhabited,
a desolate spot for tourists to visit.
But most important
is God’s view of pride.
Proverbs Chapter 6
lists seven things
God hates and are an
abomination to Him
The story of Esau
and his descendants
is not a happy one,
but it is one from
which we can learn
important lessons.
First of all, pride is
a sin and God will
judge it. Esau shows
us that pride is a root sin from which other terrible sins
emanate and grow. When we are prideful, thinking
we’re better than others, it is revealed in the way we
speak about them and the way we treat them. When
we are arrogant, we set ourselves up as little gods who
make our own rules with no regard for the thoughts,
feelings, or opinions of others. But most important
is God’s view of pride. Proverbs Chapter 6 lists seven
things God hates and are an abomination to Him. The
very first is a proud (or haughty) look (some versions
of the Bible use the word arrogance). Pride is all those
things. In the New Testament, both James 4:6 and 1
Peter 5:5 quote from the Book of Proverbs (3:34) to
warn us that God opposes the proud but gives grace
to the humble. Furthermore, the apostle John tells us
that the pride of life is not of God but of the world (1
John 2:16).
Our Lord Jesus Christ, the only perfect man who
ever lived, is our greatest example of humility. The
apostle Paul wrote, Let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of
God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form
of a servant, and coming in the
likeness of men. And being found in
appearance as a man, He humbled
Himself and became obedient to
the point of death, even the death
of a cross (Philippians 2:5-8). The
apostle Peter wrote that Christ left
us an example, for us to follow in
His steps (1 Peter 2:21).
Obadiah is a tiny book in the Bible but proclaims a
powerful and important message from God. Pride is
deceptive. Pride deceived the hearts of Esau and his
descendants to the point of destruction (verse 3).
God speaks to us through His Word and He has
been gracious to give us a guide for living and also
examples for living, both negative and positive. May
we always be encouraged and inspired to emulate the
positive examples and heed the warnings of those like
Esau and his descendants, Edom.
12 INTRODUCTION TO MINOR PROPHETS DISCIPLERS BIBLE STUDIES 13