COMPASSION FOR LOST PEOPLE

MARCH 22, 2015

FIRST THOUGHTS 

Simon Wiesenthal dedicated most of his life to tracking down and gathering information on fugitive Nazi war criminals so that they could be brought to trial. In 1947 he co-founded the Jewish Historical Documentation Center in Linz, Austria, where he and others gathered information for future war crime trials and aided refugees in their search for lost relatives.

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“Simon Wiesenthal faced an agonizing decision and describes his dilemma in a book entitled The Sunflower. This young Polish soldier watched helplessly as German soldiers killed his grandmother on the stairway of her home and then forced his mother into a freight car filled with elderly Jewish women. Eventually, Wiesenthal counted eighty-nine relatives whom the Nazis had slaughtered.

Then one day on prison detail in a Nazi hospital, Wiesenthal received a summons. A nurse signaled him to accompany her up a stairway and down a hallway to where a lone Nazi soldier lay swathed in bandages.

In that musty hospital room, the soldier compelled Wiesenthal to listen to his story. “I must tell you of this horrible deed—tell you because you are a Jew,” the soldier began. Long separated from the lifestyle and faith of his Catholic upbringing by Hitler's Youth Corps, he found his military attachment in battle in the Ukraine village of Dnyepropetrovsk. Boobytraps killed thirty members of his unit. In revenge this soldier and his squad herded three hundred Jews into a three-story house, doused it with gasoline, and fired grenades into it. Drawn guns ensured that no one escaped.

The wounded soldier[…]” 

Excerpt From: Max Anders & Trent C. Butler. “Holman Old Testament Commentary - Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah.” B&H Publishing Group, 2010-02-15. iBooks.

This material may be protected by copyright. 

UNDERSTAND THE CONTEXT 

·        Shortly after Jerusalem fell to Babylon and the population of Judah was exiled, the prophet Obadiah appeared in Judah to condemn Edom, Judah's treaty partner and brother turned traitor and enemy.

·        In so doing the prophet also caught Judah's ear.

·        Obadiah's message is brief but biting.

·        Pride, self-confidence, betrayal, and picking on the fallen summon God's justice and punishment as quickly as anything.

·        Judah may be exiled, but Judah will still overcome.

·        Their victory, however, involved going back to the days before Saul and David and letting God be king, celebrating the kingship of God, not the kingship of Judah.

·        Obadiah is the  shortest book in the Old Testament.

·        We cannot be sure when it was written.

·        It was written during s time when Judah was experiencing betrayal and suffering.

·        It proclaimed the downfall of Edom.

·        Verses 1-9 are an oracle of the Lord declaring Edom’s judgment.

·        Verses 1-4 shows that arrogance deceives people into thinking that they can evade God’s judgment.

·        Verses 5-7 tells us that deceitful people will themselves be deceived.

·        Verse 8-9 tells us that human intellect snd physical strength will be consumed by Devine wrath.

·        Verses 10-14 present a catalog of Edom’s sin against Judah.

·        15-16 says that Edom will be destroyed.

·        17-18 God will deliver His people.

·        19-20 God’s people will be returned to the land that God gave to them.

·        21 The restored kingdom belongs to Yahweh and Yahweh alone. 

EXPLORE THE TEXT 

OBADIAH 1-4, 10-17  NASB 

VERSES 1-2:

1 The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord GOD concerning Edom-- We have heard a report from the LORD, And an envoy has been sent among the nations saying, "Arise and let us go against her for battle"--

2 "Behold, I will make you small among the nations; You are greatly despised.  

“When nations went to war in the ancient Near East, it was necessary to call on all covenant partners and vassal states to send troops and supplies for a combined effort. Messengers would be sent to call on them to honor their treaty commitments and conscript the specified number of soldiers…”

IVP Bible Background 

·        Obadiah means “the servant of Yah” (or Yahweh), and the prophet's name represents his task.

·        Obadiah introduces his prophecy as a vision.

·        Obadiah shares the message of verses 1–5 with Jeremiah 49:9,14–16.

·        For Edom, the message was not good.

·        Edom was big only in that it had tall, rough mountains.

·        Otherwise, it was a nation that controlled a small territory and exercised minimal influence in international affairs. 

Excerpts From: Max Anders & Trent C. Butler. “Holman Old Testament Commentary - Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah.” B&H Publishing Group, 2010-02-15. iBooks.

This material may be protected by copyright. 

VERSE 3:

"The arrogance of your heart has deceived you, You who live in the clefts of the rock, In the loftiness of your dwelling place, Who say in your heart, 'Who will bring me down to earth?'  

·        Edom thought of themselves as dwelling safe and secure in their craggy, rocky heights.

·        Their mountain stronghold in the city of Petra seemed impregnable. 

Excerpt From: Max Anders & Trent C. Butler. “Holman Old Testament Commentary - Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah.” B&H Publishing Group, 2010-02-15. iBooks.

This material may be protected by copyright. 

“The region of Edom is a mountainous land, dominated by ridges that extend from the Zered River south to the Aqaba. The area is filled with mountain peaks rising as much as fifty-seven hundred feet above sea level,”

IVP Bible Background 

VERSE 4:

"Though you build high like the eagle, Though you set your nest among the stars, From there I will bring you down," declares the LORD.  

·        They could become like an eagle, spreading their wings and soaring high into the mountains—even higher among the stars of heaven—to build their nest.

·        But God declared, From there I will bring you down. 

Excerpt From: Max Anders & Trent C. Butler. “Holman Old Testament Commentary - Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah.” B&H Publishing Group, 2010-02-15. iBooks.

This material may be protected by copyright. 

VERSES 10-11:

10 "Because of violence to your brother Jacob, You will be covered with shame, And you will be cut off forever.

11 "On the day that you stood aloof, On the day that strangers carried off his wealth, And foreigners entered his gate And cast lots for Jerusalem-- You too were as one of them.  

·        The relationship of Esau/Edom and Jacob/Judah is a common reference in Obadiah.

·        This heightens the awfulness of Edom’s reaction and treatment of Judah.

·        No treaty should be necessary to enforce this kinship!

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·        God lists the specific charges against Edom.

·        The list goes all the way back to the feud between Jacob and Esau (Gen. 27:1–45).

·        From then on violence characterized the relationships between their descendants.

·        Finally, Edom would get the shame they deserved for the way they had treated Israel.

·        They would lose all national identity because God would see that they were destroyed forever.

·        The main charge against Edom revolved around the events surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon in 586 B.C.

·        Edom stood on the other side from Judah at that time, aloof while strangers carried off his wealth.

·        As Babylon burned the city and carried away temple treasures (2 Kgs. 25), Edom made no effort to respond as a treaty partner or ally of Jerusalem.

·        Instead they were like one of them.

·        They acted like foreigners who had no relationship to Israel. 

Excerpts From: Max Anders & Trent C. Butler. “Holman Old Testament Commentary - Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah.” B&H Publishing Group, 2010-02-15. iBooks.

This material may be protected by copyright. 

VERSE 12:

"Do not gloat over your brother's day, The day of his misfortune. And do not rejoice over the sons of Judah In the day of their destruction; Yes, do not boast In the day of their distress.  

·        This begins a series of “do not…in the day of their…(destruction, distress, disaster)”  statements.

·        Each of which Edom has violated.

·        They should have mourned for Judah’s loss and felt compassion for them.

·        This is a warning to us today not to rejoice in the downfall of a anyone; even our worse enemy. 

Proverbs 24:17-18. NASB

17  Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles;

18  Or the LORD will see it and be displeased, And turn His anger away from him. 

VERSES 13-14:

13 "Do not enter the gate of My people In the day of their disaster. Yes, you, do not gloat over their calamity In the day of their disaster. And do not loot their wealth In the day of their disaster.

14 "Do not stand at the fork of the road To cut down their fugitives; And do not imprison their survivors In the day of their distress.  

·        Edom took three steps against Judah:

1.     They entered the gate;

2.     they examined the evil done to Jerusalem; and

3.     they found and sent away anything of value for their personal use.

·        They forgot one thing.

o   God declared that these were his people.

·        Babylon defeated Jerusalem.

·        Babylon did not defeat Yahweh, the God of Jerusalem.

·        He remained to fight another day. Edom, beware!

·        Edom stood at the highway intersections and captured the few surviving escapees from Judah.

·        Edom participated as a full ally of Babylon, not as a friend, relative, and ally of Jerusalem. 

Excerpts From: Max Anders & Trent C. Butler. “Holman Old Testament Commentary - Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah.” B&H Publishing Group, 2010-02-15. iBooks.

This material may be protected by copyright. 

VERSES 15-16:

15 "For the day of the LORD draws near on all the nations. As you have done, it will be done to you. Your dealings will return on your own head.

16 "Because just as you drank on My holy mountain, All the nations will drink continually. They will drink and swallow And become as if they had never existed.  

·        Again the prophet turns to that glorious day of the LORD when people expect victory, celebration, and joy.

·        This Day of the Lord is not just a local event with some community or country having reason to celebrate.

·        Obadiah has expanded the Day of the Lord into international dimensions.

·        All nations will participate whether they want to or not.

·        Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth will prevail.

·        As you have done, it will be done to you.

·        Retribution will return on Edom's head.

·        The Lord's marching orders are about to sound.

·        The Edomites will face the Day of the Lord in all its horror.

·        God's punishing wrath would be so severe that the nations would leave no trace of their existence.

·        They would drink continually until God's wrath had made them vanish. 

Excerpts From: Max Anders & Trent C. Butler. “Holman Old Testament Commentary - Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah.” B&H Publishing Group, 2010-02-15. iBooks.

This material may be protected by copyright. 

“drinking on the holy hill. Edom initially drank in celebration of Jerusalem's fall along with her allies. Ultimately, however, it will be Edom, along with the nations who have participated in Jerusalem's destruction, who will be forced to drink perpetually from Yahweh's ‘cup of wrath’”

IVP Bible Background 

Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land

Who said: 'Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.

And on the pedestal these words appear --

"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.'

Percy Bysshe Shelley 

·        The greatness of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Assyria, Babylon, and such is a matter of ancient records recovered from the sand.

·        The world continues on as if these nations never existed. 

Excerpts From: Max Anders & Trent C. Butler. “Holman Old Testament Commentary - Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah.” B&H Publishing Group, 2010-02-15. iBooks.

This material may be protected by copyright. 

VERSE 17:

"But on Mount Zion there will be those who escape, And it will be holy. And the house of Jacob will possess their possessions.  

·        The prophet had another side of the picture for Jerusalem.

·        World history would center on Mount Zion, God's earthly dwelling (Lam. 5:18).

·        This would again be a holy place where God's people would live in holiness, obeying his word. Jacob, not Esau, would possess the inheritance. 

Excerpts From: Max Anders & Trent C. Butler. “Holman Old Testament Commentary - Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah.” B&H Publishing Group, 2010-02-15. iBooks.

This material may be protected by copyright. 

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS: 

·        Pride goes before a fall and brings God's wrath.

·        Turning traitor against your own people is always wrong.

·        Attacking people who are down and out is wrong.

·        Helping the enemy is wrong.

·        God punishes people in the way they have punished others.

·        God has a plan of deliverance and renewal for his people.

·        Change your self-confidence to God-confidence.

·        Obadiah preached to two parties who had become violent enemies.

·        He showed where Edom had let pride, self-confidence, and greed lead to hatred and betrayal of their treaty partner and relatives.

·        His message can sound like a get-even speech of hatred, jealousy, and revenge.

·        But it is not Obadiah's message.

·        It is God's.

·        God did not call on Israel to take revenge.

·        He did not call Israel to arms. God promised to win the victory himself.

·        Meanwhile, Judah needed to learn the lessons Edom had not learned. So do we. 

Excerpt From: Max Anders & Trent C. Butler. “Holman Old Testament Commentary - Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah.” B&H Publishing Group, 2010-02-15. iBooks.

This material may be protected by copyright.