Edom
neighbor,
origin
other gods
Obadiah
prophet, around the time of the exile
Jeremiah 49
Exile
Over time - 605, 597, 586
First, making them pay
Then installing their own king
Finally, destroying the
During this time, they were weakened
Edom took advantage
Raids, plunder, land grabs
vs. 11-14
We hear what they did
Judah was weak, and Edom took it to them
God isn’t
Edom has been seen, and God isn’t happy
Ob. 1-9
Edom will also be plundered
All nations
vs. 15
Little book packs a punch
What does this mean for us?
Two takeaways
1). Who is God?
God is against the abuse of
Judah was beaten up.
Edom should have said - we are little too. If Babylon had come for us, we would have been decimated too
Instead, they just yelled, “Free Stuff!” and went to town.
In fact, we know that Judah was facing the consequences for their sin
Edom might say, “their God is finally giving it to them”
We are just joining in
In our time, our greater culture is terrible at this
We don’t surround the weak, we jump on the bandwagon to go after them
Celebrities
..and every one else
Social Media
Obadiah - what not to do
Jesus - what to do
love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you
Ideas aren’t relative…but humans are
Your brother Judah
2). Other nations
Israel had this special relationship with God
Chosen
Insider/Outsider mentality
Do the outsiders matter?
Are the outsiders even fully human?
Throughout history, religious people have struggled with that.
God sees all nations. He alone is their judge.
They matter
Abe to Jesus to Revelation 7:9-10
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” —Revelation 7:9-10
Now, as the Church, let’s go tell them they matter
God knows them
Christ has come for them