Come Together Sunday Screen 1 All Out: With The Rock Screen 2 Obadiah 1:1-21 August 26, 2018
Begin with pictures of rock from Global Student Camp this year (Abby asked me Screen 3 to take the picture and send it to Dwayne.) Screen 4
Today, we are going to go all out with/of the Rock in Obadiah!
Pray here
Obadiah means “one who serves YHAWEH” (good name). We know absolutely nothing about him except that he wrote the book that bears his name.
We don’t really know exactly when the book was wri en, but it makes perfect sense that it was probably wri en a er 586 BC but before 553 BC (more on why this me period later in sermon). The most likely situa on is the first half of the Babylonian exile. ( Israel/Judah: Assyrians —> Persians —> Babylonians).
The place of wri ng is Jerusalem.
The purpose, background, etc - let’s discuss that as we read and study it together.
Obadiah 1:1 The vision of Obadiah. (Edom Will Be Humbled) Thus says the Lord Screen 5 God concerning Edom: We have heard a report from the Lord, and a messenger has been sent among the na ons: “Rise up! Let us rise against her for ba le!”
Obadiah never refers to himself as a prophet or priest (just like Amos, last week, was a shepherd). We don’t know exactly what Obadiah was or did. He is a visionary. (You don’t have to be a voca onal minister to be a visionary of God.)
1 “Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom” -
(Talk about some of the history of Edom and Petra here.) Screen 6
Edom had a long and mostly bad/troubled rela onship with Israel/Judah.
“Edom” - represents an alterna ve name of “Esau,” the brother of Jacob and also denotes the descendants of Esau whose blood rela onship with Israel is invoked repeatedly in the Old Testament (see Amos 1:1; Malachi 1:2) and it also descries the land inhabited by them (see Numbers 20:23; 21:4).
God is speaking first in this verse.
“a messenger has been sent among the na ons” - as in Jeremiah 49:14 - a messenger/envoy, or a person, has been sent out.
Human history moves at two levels:
1. The Lord is the ul mate mover
2. Human interna onal/poli cal alliances
Who is really in charge? God - though He is not responsible for human sin - He weaves everything together toward His purpose in history.
Obadiah 1:2 Behold, I will make you small among the na ons; you shall be Screen 7 u erly despised.
Con nue to put in some history of the wealth and power of Edom/Petra. Screen 8
2 Obadiah 1:3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the cle s Screen 9 of the rock, in your lo y dwelling, who say in your heart, “Who will bring me down to the ground?” Screen 10 Obadiah 1:4 Though you soar alo like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the Lord.
“cle s of the rock” - have pictures of where people lived in this na on and city Screen 11 on screen.
Edom’s natural defenses were imposing. Its main center of civiliza on were Screen 12 situated in a narrow ridge of mountainous land southeast of the Dead Sea. This ridge exceeded a height of 4,000 feet throughout its northern sector, and it rose in places to 5,700 feet in the South. Its height was rendered even more inaccessible by the gorges radia ng from it toward the Arabah on the West and the desert eastwards. Such was Edom’s refuge in the “cle s of the rock” (Song of Songs 2:14; Jeremiah 49:16) - that they believed that they were invulnerable. Edom was virtually impregnable to human forces. BUT it was/is not an invincible force to God.
Obadiah 1:5-7 5 If thieves came to you, if plunderers came by night— how you Screen 13 have been destroyed!— would they not steal only enough for themselves? If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings? 6 How Esau has Screen 14 been pillaged, his treasures sought out! 7 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 Screen 15 understanding.
3 Obadiah 1:8-9 8 Will I not on that day, declares the Lord, destroy the wise men Screen 16 out of Edom, and understanding out of Mount Esau? 9 And your mighty men shall be dismayed, O Teman, so that every man from Mount Esau will be cut off by Screen 17 slaughter. Edom's Violence Against Jacob
Edom was known for its wisdom (1 Kings 4:30; Job 1:1; 2:11). Job was from Edom - his friends were from Edom, as well.
“Teman” - was extremely close to Petra
Obadiah 1:10 Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall Screen 18 cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.
SAD! “violence done to your brother Jacob” - both Jacob and Esau/Edom were the sons of Isaac - brothers, literally and they hated each other. This hatred emerged again with Edom’s hos lity toward Israel a er the Exodus (Exodus 15:15; Numbers 20:14-21; Deuteronomy 2:4; Judges 11:17-18), Edom is numbered among Israel’s enemies who had plundered them before they were defeated by Saul (1 Samuel 14:47-48). David had many skirmishes/ba les with them (2 Samuel 8:13-14; 1 Kings 11:15-16; 1 Chronicles 18:11-13; Psalm 60). All of this culminated in Edom’s exulta on over the destruc on of Jerusalem (Psalm 137:7; Lamenta ons 4:21-22; Ezekiel 25:12; Joel 3:19).
Obadiah 1:11-14 11 On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers Screen 19 carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. 12 But do not gloat over the day of your Screen 20 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. 13 Do not enter the gate
4 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. 14 Do not stand Screen 21 at the crossroads to cut off his fugi ves; do not hand over his survivors in the day of distress.
The explana on of the charge: There are eight nega ves within these four verses. The emphasis here lies in the fact on Edom’s cruel role as a spectator when Jerusalem was invaded (586 BC in Babylon)- all of its wealth was taken wholesale deporta on of its popula on, the city was burned to the ground, the Solomon’s Temple (which stood from 900’s BC - 586 BC) was destroyed and many inhabitants were massacred (2 Kings 24:13-16; 2 Kings 25:9-10; 2 Kings 25:8-21). This was all the result of a 1,500 (Abraham 2000 BC -586 BC) year old un-forgiveness that started between two brothers.
Why did the brothers feud? Genesis 25:24-34 Screen 22
Obadiah is prophesying against Edom a er 586 BC but before 553 BC. You should have “Come Together” with your brother na on Judah, but you did not and here’s what’s coming for you.
Obadiah 1:15-21 15 For the day of the Lord is near upon all the na ons. As you Screen 23 have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head. 16 For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the na ons shall drink con nually; they shall drink and swallow, and shall be as though they had never Screen 24 been. 17 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. 18 The house of Jacob Screen 25 shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble;
5 they shall burn them and consume them, and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken. 19 Those of the Negeb shall possess Screen 26 Mount Esau, and those of the Shephelah shall possess the land of the Philis nes; they shall possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria, and Benjamin shall possess Gilead. 20 The exiles of this host of the people of Israel shall possess Screen 27 the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad shall possess the ci es of the Negeb. 21 Saviors shall go up to Screen 28 Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.
Verse 15b “as you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head”
Edom was displaced from its country East of the Arabah just a er the me this was wri en, at the beginning of the Babylonian cap vity. So, this jus ce was executed by foreigners, culmina ng in Nabatean possession of their land. At the same me, Edomites were se ling west of the Arabah, in the Negev. The Edomites had se led in Hebron (north - about 300 miles south of Jerusalem) a er the babylonians took Judah away (Obadiah prophesied from Jerusalem). By the end of the fourth century BC, Edom was called Idumea (i.e. Edom - ada). However, Judah and the Jews took the land back under Judas Maccabees (d. 160 BC). Within 30 years of Judas Maccabees, the Jews had all of their land back from the Edomites/ Idumeans. The Edomites/Idumeans con nued to haunt the Jews for a while (Herod the Great was Idumean), but a er the second century BC they had virtually been consumed by the house of Jacob and today, they do not exist. They never thought they could fall because of their impregnable rocks, but they did! They came out of those rocks because they would not come together.
6 Screen 29 PRAYER & INVITATION Screen 30
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