Obadiah 1
Love your Brother!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, September 11.
Do not work for your brother’s destruction, or destruction may come upon you. That is the warning and reality of the shortest book of the Old Testament. Obadiah is a twenty-one-verse war oracle, prophesying judgment against the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s twin brother, who actively worked for the destruction of Israel at multiple times in its history. This short prophetic work regarding Edom fits in the canonical order after Amos because Amos ends with a reference to them, “That they may possess the remnant of Edom …” (Amos 9:13). Obadiah adds his prophetic voice to not only Amos, but also to Psalms 83:4-8, 137:7-9, Isaiah 34:5-8, 63:1-6, Jeremiah 49:7-22, Lamentations 4:21, and Ezekiel 25:12-14, 35:1-15. The united voice of God’s prophets calls out the descendants of Esau for betraying their brother Jacob, as described in Obadiah 10-14:
Because of violence to your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame, and you will be cut off forever. 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. 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. 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. 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.
Seize the moment and love your brother (1 John 4:20-21). Pray for your brother then reach out to him today, passing on the peace of Christ.
God bless you!
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