Title: Panorama from Obadiah
Contents
Obadiah Panorama
Theme: The kingdom shall belong to the LORD (1:21).
Obadiah is the shortest book in the Old Testament with only 21 verses in total. So there's no need for a "panorama" to help you see the whole book at a glance.
① As the book of Obadiah begins, “Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom” (1), the main content of the book is “Edom,” that is, a prophecy of judgment against the family of Esau.
㉠ Then this question arises. What is the purpose of God's prophetic prophecy of Edom's judgment? “The Book of Obada” was not written for Edom. This was written to comfort God's people who are suffering because of Edom.
㉡ Because God's people are in tribulation and affliction, the Edomites who oppose them, "Who can bring me down to the earth?" (1:3) were arrogant and full of pride.
In Zechariah 1:11, there is a report saying, “We went through the land, and the whole land was at peace and quiet.” Unbelievers are living in peace, but it means that only they, God's people, are suffering.
② The book of Obadiah is divided into three main parts.
㉠ The first part, verses 1-9, is a warning to judge Edom, saying, “The inhabitants of Mount Esau will be slaughtered and destroyed” (9).
㉡ The second part, verses 10-14, explains why the Edomites will be judged. He says, “Because of the violence you have done to your brother Jacob” (1:10).
㉢ The third part, verses 15-21, says, “The day of the judgment of the Lord is at hand” (15), and the revelation extends from the judgment of Edom to the “judgment of the nations”. And the conclusion is, “The kingdom shall belong to the Lord” (21), which is the structure of the book of Obadiah.
③ First, it is the judgment against Edom. According to Genesis 36, when Jacob returned from Haran, “Esau, even Edom, dwelt on Mount Seir” (Genesis 36:8) and tells the dwelling place. The text also says, “You who dwell in crevices of rocks and dwell on high places” (3).
㉠ Even at the time of the Exodus, the Edomites refused Moses' request (Numbers 20:14-20) to allow them to pass through, and instead resisted them. While living in a fortress, they said, "Who is able to bring me down to the earth?" (3) And he spoke proudly.
㉡ But God says, “I will bring you down from there (4), and because of this, the inhabitants of Mount Esau will be slaughtered, and all will be destroyed” (9).
④ The following is the reason why Edom was judged. In a word, he says, “You will be put to shame and be destroyed forever because of the violence you did against your brother Jacob” (10). Then what were the atrocities they did? Verses 11-14 list things the Edomites were not supposed to do, but what they did.
㉠ “You are not to stand by on your brother’s day, the day of disaster,
㉡ I will not rejoice in the day of the fall of the children of Judah.
㉢ You must not open your mouth wide on that day of trouble” (12), that is, on the day Jerusalem was destroyed, you must not “stand by, rejoice, and like”, but the Edomites did that.
“You will not enter the gates of my people in the day of tribulation.
㉤ I will not touch the riches,
㉥ I will not stop those who flee,
㉦ They should not have given the remnant to the enemy” (13-14), but they did so. So you will be judged. So in Psalm 137 there is an appeal to the Edomites.
O LORD, remember the day that Jerusalem suffered
Strike the children of Edom
Destroy our words, destroy them
Destroy it even to its foundation (Psalm 137:7).
⑤ What on earth did the Edomites have against Israel, so they were so violent that they had an ancestral enemy?
㉠ The enmity between Edom and Jacob goes back to Genesis as far back as the mother Rebekah's womb. “The children were fighting each other in his womb, and he said, “What shall I do if it is like this?” He went and inquired of the Lord, and the Lord said to him, “Two nations are in your womb, and two nations will be separated from your womb” (Genesis 25:22-23). ) is what you said.
㉡ The tragic cause of this division and hostility is revealed in the “original gospel” (Genesis 3:15) declared by the sin of Adam, the first man of mankind. He said, “I will make enemies the offspring of the serpent and the offspring of the woman.” This is a conflict that is taking place on the same line in the book of Obadiah, which we are considering.
㉢ And these two lines eventually lead to a confrontation between the two. In the genealogy of Jacob, “Jesus” is born, and in the genealogy of Edom, Herod appears, leading to a battle over who is the real “King of the Jews” (Matthew 2:2). This “share and conflict” is still continuing in one “womb” of the earth. The Bible says that in any age, “those who are born after the flesh will persecute those who are born after the Spirit” (Galatians 4:29).
⑥ By the way, the third part (15-21) begins by saying, “The day of the Lord's punishment of all nations is near” (15). This shows that the central theme of Obadiah is not limited to the judgment of Edom.
㉠ God does not only judge Edom. The nations of the world such as “Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon” have been judged by God, and eventually the nations will be judged. Therefore, the theme of Obadiah is to speak of the “judgment of all nations” using the judgment of Edom as a type.
⑦ However, Obadiah is not only warning of “judgment”, but “only in Mount Zion there will be escaped” (17), and he is speaking of “salvation”.
㉠ Because if it is a “problem” committed by human beings to be judged, “there will be someone to escape” is the answer that God will give. The Bible is the answer to the problem. And the only one God has given us as an answer is Jesus Christ, who said, “I am the door, I am the way.”
㉡ In verses 19-20, the word “obtain” is emphasized 6 times in the two verses. It is not only about “fleeing”, but also saying, “You will gain your inheritance and enjoy it” (17b).
⑧ The book of Obadiah, which began with the Edomite violence against the descendants of Jacob, says, “The saviors will come up on Mount Zion and judge the mountain of Esau, and the kingdom shall belong to the Lord” (21), and the day of reversal will come. It ends by saying something.
㉠ The prophet Joel also said, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, for there will be some who will flee from Mount Zion and from Jerusalem, as the Lord has spoken” (Joel 2:32). Please note the expression “Mount Zion and Mount Esau”.
㉡ The book of Revelation says, “And I saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him four and forty-four thousand” (Revelation 14:1). Even if there are many countries and many peoples on this earth, if we use spiritual logic, we are standing on one of the mountains of “Mount Zion and Mount Esau” (21).
Those who stand on “Mount Zion” will participate in “salvation,” and those who stand on “Mount of Esau” will perish. It is the unchanging truth spoken through the book of Obadiah.