Tuesdays at 5:00 pm, my church, Cornerstone Valparaiso, says Evening Prayer in Valparaiso University's Gloria Christi chapel. In our order for Evening Prayer is a two-minute homily on one of the daily lections. The lections for today are Obadiah 1 and Matthew 1:18-25. Here are my notes on Obadiah 1.
What distinguishes Obadiah's prophetic voice. Of "The Twelve" minor prophets, Obadiah is the only one who offers no criticisms of Israel, only a denunciation of Edom.
Obadiah takes and develops Jeremiah. Jeremiah 49:7-22 begins with the words, "Concerning Edom," and prophesies Edom's destruction. Obadiah 1-5 reproduces parts of Jeremiah 49 nearly verbatim. All that Jeremiah says will happen to Edom, Obadiah confirms, but he connects these things to "the Day of Yahweh," and then applies it to other nations: "the day of Yahweh is near upon all the nations" (15).
Obadiah 1
Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom:
We have heard a report from the Lord,
and a messenger has been sent among the nations:
“Rise up! Let us rise against her for battle!”
Behold, I will make you small among the nations;
you shall be utterly despised.
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.
If thieves came to you,
if plunderers came by night—
how you have been destroyed!—
would they not steal only enough for themselves?
If grape gatherers came to you,
would they not leave gleanings?
How Esau has been pillaged,
his treasures sought out!
All your allies have driven you to your border;
those at peace with you have deceived you;
they have prevailed against you;
those who eat your bread have set a trap beneath you—
you have no understanding.
Will I not on that day, declares the Lord,
destroy the wise men out of Edom,
and understanding out of Mount Esau?
And your mighty men shall be dismayed, O Teman,
so that every man from Mount Esau will be cut off by slaughter.
Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob,
shame shall cover you,
and you shall be cut off forever.
On the day that you stood aloof,
on the day that strangers carried off his wealth
and foreigners entered his gates
and cast lots for Jerusalem,
you were like one of them.
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;
do not gloat over his disaster
in the day of his calamity;
do not loot his wealth
in the day of his calamity.
Do not stand at the crossroads
to cut off his fugitives;
do not hand over his survivors
in the day of distress.
For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations.
As you have done, it shall be done to you;
your deeds shall return on your own head.
For as you have drunk on my holy mountain,
so all the nations shall drink continually;
they shall drink and swallow,
and shall be as though they had never been.
But in Mount Zion there shall be those who escape,
and it shall be holy,
and the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions.
The house of Jacob shall be a fire,
and the house of Joseph a flame,
and the house of Esau stubble;
they shall burn them and consume them,
and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau,
for the Lord has spoken.
Those of the Negeb shall possess Mount Esau,
and those of the Shephelah shall possess the land of the Philistines;
they shall possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria,
and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.
The exiles of this host of the people of Israel
shall possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath,
and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad
shall possess the cities of the Negeb.
Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion
to rule Mount Esau,
and the kingdom shall be the Lord's.
Observations about God's judgment of the nations. That's the theme, so it's what we'll preach. Here are a few observations:
Yahweh has his own names for each nation, and he takes their historical relationships seriously. Edom calls their nation "Edom," but Yahweh calls them "Esau." He remembers Jacob and Esau, and he remains invested in both judging and reconciling (cf. Eph. 2:15) the nations, as if they are brothers. We all know that Yahweh has a special relationship with Israel, but Obadiah reveals that Yahweh has a special relationship with (and name for) Edom. What are his names for the United States? Or for the factious groups within our populace? Surely he has names for us, too, and he judges us and reconciles us, too.
Edom's sins. Obad. 10-14 describes what they did, in order. (1) They sat on their hands while Judah was infiltrated. (2) They even cheered. (3) They took part in Judah's pillaging. (4) They helped other armies chase, kill, and enslave Judahites.
A nation's crimes shape their punishment. Obad. 15: "As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head." Lincoln, reflecting theologically on the Civil War as God's punishment for American slavery, famously quoted Psalm 19:9 to the same effect: "Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
This sounds like the Magnificat, which we (will have) just sung together. Jesus "regards the lowly." He has "scattered the proud." He has "set empty away" the rich. And he has "helped his servant Israel... as he promised."
The exhortation. It's clear. God sees other people groups (nations, denominations, affiliation groups) are our brothers. Don't stand idly by them in their distress, and neither rejoice nor facilitate their downfall. God is reconciling nations, and when he judges a nation, he will distribute their land and resources to his people (Obad. 19-21), the meek (Matt. 5:5).