Title: Edom, the Man of the Flesh
1:1
This is the vision of Obadiah: This is what the Sovereign LORD says of Edom: We have heard from the LORD, that an angel has been sent among the nations, saying, Arise, and let us rise and fight with him.
There are twelve Obadiahs in the Old Testament. So there are many speculations as to which Obadiah wrote this book. A historian named Josephus thought that Obadiah might have written the book of Obadiah instead of King Ahab's palace. Since then, Jews have traditionally believed that Obadiah wrote the book of Obadiah instead of Ahab's palace.
1 Kings 18:16 “After many days, the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go and show Ahab, and I will send rain on the face of the earth. Elijah went to show Ahab, and the famine was severe in Samaria at that time. I called Obadiah, who feared the Lord greatly, and when Jezebel destroyed the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifty in a cave and fed them with bread and water. Ahab said to Obadiah, "All the Let us go to the well of water and all the rivers, and perhaps we will find some pasture. Then we will save the horses and the mules, so that no animals are lost.” So they divided the land between them, and Ahab went this way alone, and Obadiah went that way alone.”
If you look below it, you can see the scene where this Obadiah meets Elijah. Obadiah, the minister of Ahab's palace, was a man who feared God well. It is believed that Obadiah, who protected a hundred prophets when Jezebel tried to kill the prophet of the Lord, wrote the book of Obadiah. Find another Obadiah in another passage.
2 Chronicles 17:7, “In the third year of his reign, he sent his princes, Benhail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah, to go and teach in the cities of Judah.”
In 2 Chronicles 17:1, “he” refers to this king Jehoshaphat, who became king. Some say that Obadiah, one of Jehoshaphat's princes, may have written the book of Obadiah. One more Obadiah is found.
2 Chronicles 34:12, “These men did it in truth, and their overseers were the Levites, Jahath and Obadiah of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Musullam of the sons of Kohath; all of them were Levites who were accustomed to music. together.”
It is said that Obadiah, one of the many men who worked hard to repair the temple during the reformation of King Josiah, wrote the book of Obadiah.
However, when this Obadiah wrote the book of Obadiah, he did not record at all what age he was, who his father was, and where he was from. It was simply called “the vision of Obadiah.” Why? Meaning it doesn't matter who I am. Obadiah does not introduce himself at all in order to teach us that it is not the one who preaches the word but that the word he preaches, that is, the word of God, is important. As I said yesterday, this book of Obadiah is like a telegram that God has sent to us. Where is the space to write chores on the telegram? Record important and urgent things. The message that Obadiah is conveying now is important, but it does not matter who is preaching it.
There is one thing we need to remember. It is unknown who Obadiah wrote the book of Obadiah, but the meaning of the name Obadiah should be remembered. Obadiah means Obadiah, and the word “Jah” when it should be Obadiah means Yahweh, Jehovah. Obed means servant. Thus, the name Obadiah means “Servant of Jehovah.” After Obadiah's parents gave birth to Obadiah, he said, "Whatever you do, be a servant to God! Be a faithful worker!” He named his son Obadiah. So Obadiah became a servant who served God well according to his parents' wishes.
“Give wisdom to my children. make me successful Please study well.” That's good too, but "Please help me to serve God well and become a child who fears God right from an early age!" If we pray like this, God will take care of all our children. We should pray so that we can become children who serve God well.
It's called Obadiah's Apocalypse. The word apocalypse is a word used a lot by prophets.
Isaiah 1:1, “The vision that Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.”
The above is also an apocalypse. Vision. After Isaiah, Jeremiah. Jeremiah also had a vision.
Jeremiah 1:11, “The word of the Lord came to me again, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” He answered, “I see a branch of an apricot tree.”
Jeremiah 1:13, “The word of the Lord came to me again, saying, “What do you see?” He answered, “I see a boiling furnace, its face inclined from the north.”
Seeing the branches of an apricot tree, seeing the boiling furnace, or seeing visions. In Ezekiel chapter 27, Ezekiel saw dry bones rising from the valley and forming a great army. This, too, is seen above.
If you look at Daniel 7 and below, do you see the visions Daniel saw? Amos also saw more than five things. We saw the vision of locusts, the vision of fire, the vision of plumbing lines, the vision of summer fruit, and the vision of the temple threshold falling down.
In this way, the prophets received visions from God.
The important thing is not to write that Obadiah saw it, but rather Obadiah's vision. Apocalypse is what I see, but someone has to show it. This is what God shows you. So who is the owner of this apocalypse? that you are God. In other words, the book of Obadiah says that Obadiah did not arbitrarily record the grace he received while meditating on the Word. Nor was it that Obadiah had any wisdom or had a good political eye to judge the situation. Obadiah simply wrote the apocalypse just as God had revealed it to him and showed it to him. The Word has divine authority. The word that expresses that authority is the apocalypse.
As long as we obey God's word in our lives, there is no way to perish.
“Moses, stretch out your hand!”
As the saying goes, if you reach out your hand, the Red Sea will be parted.
“Joshua, take the people and go around Jericho!”
It's a strange saying, but if you follow the word, the walls of Jericho will fall.
“Peter, go out into the deep and cast your net!”
If you throw it according to the word, you will catch enough fish to tear the net. If you obey the Word, you will never perish. If you do not follow the word of God, but do it according to your own wisdom and your own counsel, you will perish. The words of the Bible were given to believe, not for us to understand. Whether you understand it or not, if you believe and obey the Word of God, there is no way to go wrong. Why? Because God is in charge. I hope that you will stand firm in the Word and live with the Word.
Matthew 4:4, “Jesus answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
As you pray today, please pray, “Lord, give me the Word that I can hold on to and live today.” You told us to live by the Word, but how can we live without the Word? I hope that you will continue to live by holding on to the word of the Lord while praying today.
The title of the book was so general that it was given a subtitle.
“Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom.”
What does Edom mean?
Genesis 25:30, "And he said to Jacob, "Let me eat the red thing, for I am weary." So Esau's nickname was Edom."
What did Edom mean? Is there an expression for “red”? A bowl of red bean porridge is served. Esau's nickname is Edom. It means red. Who is the ancestor of this Edom? Edom is a descendant of Esau. Whose brother was Esau? This is Jacob. Israel was Jacob's nickname. From the womb of their mother, Rebekah, the two fought with each other. Throughout their long history, Israel and Edom continued to fight and fight.
According to the Bible, Edom is the representative of the fleshly man. Have you ever seen the record in the Bible that Esau built an altar and offered sacrifices in Genesis? There is not.
Let's read another verse.
Genesis 26:3435, “When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basmath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and they became grievous to the hearts of Isaac and Rebekah.”
God told him not to marry a Gentile, but Esau took two Hittite women and married them. They grieved their parents and broke the heart of God.
However, Jacob knew how to fear God and value God's blessings, although he lacked many things. It is the representative of the spirit man. From this point of view, it can be said that the battle between Israel and Edom was a continuous battle between the man of the flesh and the man of the spirit.
Edom was supposed to help his brother Jacob when he was in trouble, but he was rather mean. This fact is also found in the book of Amos.
Amos 1:1112, “For three or four sins of Edom, says the LORD, I will not undo the punishment, because he pursues his brother with the sword, and forsakes mercy, and his wrath is always fierce, and his wrath is endless. I will send fire to Teman. I will burn up the palaces of Bosra.”
As we see above, Amos also warned of judgment against Edom. Look at Obadiah 10, 11.
“You will be shamed for your violence against your brother Jacob, and you will be destroyed forever. On the day when you stood afar off, when strangers plunder his wealth, and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. .”
“You” is Edom. What did you do that could not help your brother nation, Israel, suffer hardships? At the end of verse 11 it says, “You were like one of them.” It was like an aggressor.