HEBREW WORD STUDY – THE VISION OF OBADIAH – OVADIAH CHAZON עבדון חזוה Cheth Zayin Vav Nun Ayin Beth Daleth Yod Hei

Obadiah 1:1  The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumor from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.

My first year in Bible College the upperclassmen put on a program for the new freshman. They had a sketch where a student played a reporter interviewing students impersonating the faculty. When they came to the Old Testament Professor, Dr. Goldberg (who was Jewish), he announced that he was teaching a 5 credit hour semester class on the Book of Obadiah. When asked if he could teach such a small book (28 verses) for 5 semester hours he said: “Well, it will be hard, we will only scratch the surface, my secretary is bringing the syllabus out now. A student came out struggling with a 3-foot high stack of paper. When the freshman laughed, the student impersonating Dr. Goldberg grabbed the mic and said: “You can laugh, but it is true.”

To understand this book you really need to study the history of Edom from the time of Esau to its final destruction by the Roman general Titus in 70 A.D. Edom, as we all know, are the descendants of Esau, the old boy who sold his birthright to his brother Jacob. The family settled in what is now the Sinai Peninsula and bordered the Kingdom of Judah in the South. Our first major encounter is when the Hebrew children were making their way to the promised land through the Edomite territory during the Exodus. They had to take a longer route as Edom threaten to destroy them if they passed through. They later went to war against King Saul and prevailed over King Saul. 40 years later David and Joab made short work of Edom and they became a vassal state to Israel. Sort of like Puerto Rico is to the United States. Israel appointed its governors and leaders.

When the civil war between Israel and Judah broke out Edom was spun off and they appointed their own king. When Jehoshaphat tried to re-establish their control over Edom by appointing a king, the leaders appealed to Ammon and Moab and the three kings prepared to march against Judah. You remember the story, Jehoshaphat ordered his army to just worship God and God caused confusion to fall on the camp of the three kings and they destroyed each other. God would not allow Judah to personally kill their own brethren. War again broke out under Jehoram and Edom were partially defeated, but never again subdued by Judah. God had a history of trying to unit the two brother nations, but it was never to be.

Now we get to the occasion of Nebuchadnezzar who attacked Judah from the South. Of course to do that they had to pass through Edom. Verses 1-11 in Obadiah tell us what happened. Rather than unite with their blood relatives to defeat Nebuchadnezzar, they joined up with him and the combined force ransacked Jerusalem. For this God prophesied through Obadiah that Edom would cease to exist, which was fulfilled after 70AD. Here is the twist. Edom did finally come to the aid of Israel during the Roman Jewish wars and they were wiped out in the process, too little too late we often say.

Here is the rest of the story. The Talmud teaches that Obadiah was an Edomite himself who converted to Judaism. He was the Obadiah who served under King Ahab and Jezebel and protected the 128 prophets. He was a confidant to Elijah and because he risked his life to protect God’s prophet, God made him a prophet as well and he went to his people and gave them this prophecy warning them of what would happen if Edom sided with a Godless nation of Babylon against their blood relatives. His mission was to once again plead for peace between the brother nations. He failed and the nations failed.

I see this message of Obadiah as a warning to the church. Edom was of the same family heritage as Judah, descendants of Isaac and Abraham. They had different beliefs and doctrines yet they were still of the same family. They were warned to not rejoice when their brothers in Israel came under God’s judgment. They not only rejoiced but joined in on the destruction. As a result, Edom’s destruction was total while Israel lived on. The message is one of unity. If we are all of the same family of Christ joined by the common blood of Jesus Christ, we have a real obligation to not “war” against those who may differ with us in doctrine or theology, not to rejoice in their defeat or even to participate in their destruction, lest our fate becomes worse than theirs.

Obadiah’s message is a call to peace among the brethren, being good neighbors who will help and support each other. God will handle the differences and smooth them out to His perfect will. If we are indeed living in the last days, the message is all the more important to be at peace with those who also love and worship Jesus and not let some minor doctrinal interpretation cause war to come between us.