Obadiah (Letter 31, Larry Crabb’s 66 Love Letters)

Celebrate! I Will Defeat Evil

Never exact vengeance on another. Only one who is not worthy of judgment himself can administer just retribution without sinning himself. Vengeance is God’s prerogative, not ours. His vengeance is always rooted in redemptive desire. He kills to resurrect.

Forgiveness builds community. Getting even destroys it.

Book Name: OBADIAH – Death to Edom!

Click here for entire Bible Summary from Ray Stedman

This is the shortest book in the Old Testament, the pronouncement of doom against an ancient and long-forgotten nation, the land of Edom.

Israel is still Jacob and Edom is still Esau. Jacob and Esau were in perpetual antagonism.

In Galatians 5:17 we are told that the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh; they are opposed to one another.

The trouble with Esau is pride. Pride is the root of all human evil.

In many areas of their lives Christians live as though God were dead, they believe in God, but live as though he were dead, they live without any sense of dependency upon His wisdom and His strength.

Another form of pride found in this book is violence (Verse 10).
Here is another form of pride – Indifference (Verse 11).

There is yet another form of pride that we read about in Obadiah – gloating (Verses 12-13).

Another manifestation of pride is exploitation (Verse 14).

We all have this problem of the flesh within. Well, that is not the end of the story (Verses 15-16). What God is saying about the flesh – He will never make peace with it.

And finally (Verse 21): Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.
This is what you might call the ruthlessness of God. He has his heart set to destroy Esau. After all, that is the whole story of the coming of the Holy Spirit into the human heart; he has come to destroy Esau and all these characteristics of the flesh. He will destroy them in those who are his and bring Jacob into the full inheritance of all his possessions – and the weapon he uses is the judgment of the cross.

Isn’t it interesting that when you get to the New Testament you find these same two principles personified again in two persons who meet in the pages of the Gospels face to face. Jesus before Herod – the representative of Jacob and the representative of Esau face to face.

Do you know about this ruthless cross that denies you any right to self-sufficiency, to selfexpression, to self-advantage, to self-exploitation, to all these things – denies you indifference, gloating, or self-righteousness?

OBADIAH – David Jeremiah (Understanding the 66 Books of the Bible)

Key thought: Those who are cruel like the proud leaders of Edom will be judged, but the nation of Israel will eventually be restored in triumph.

Key Verse: The day of the Lord upon all the nations is near… but on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness. Obadiah 1:15,17

Key Action: When you feel mistreated by others, leave it with God who sees everything; and rest your case with Him who deals justly with His people.