Obadiah 840 B.C. or 586 B.C.

The Minor Prophets considered chronologically

Something completely different for the coming weeks. I want to fly quickly through the Minor Prophets in chronological order, starting with the most ancient and ending with Malachi.

We are beginning with Obadiah who is generally regarded as either the first of the Minor Prophets (2 Chron21:16-17) or the last (2 Kings ch24&25).

In support of the early date we see the use later prophets made of this writing. Compare Obadiah 11&12 with Amos 3:3-6 and Obadiah 1-9 with Jeremiah 49:7-22 although Who was this prophet? Where was he born? Where did he come from? At what time did he prophesy? Who were his parents? When and where did he die? All of these are questions asked about Obadiah from the earliest times and to this day, there has not been a satisfactory answer. There is a multitude of opinions concerning these points but their number and the discrepancies in them are the strongest proofs that we really don’t know.

Who was this prophet? Where was he born? Where did he comefrom? At what time did he prophesy? Who were his parents? When and where did he die? All of these are questions asked about Obadiah from the earliest times and  to this day, there has not been a satisfactory answer. There is a multitude of opinions concerning these points; and their number and the discrepancies in them are the strongest proofs that we really don’t know. What we do know is that he prophesied concerning the destruction of Edom . Obadiah foretells the subjugation of the Edomites by the Chaldeans, and finally by the Jews. This book tells how they took their revenge when Israel was brought low by other enemies. The prophecies in this book were literally fulfilled and the Idumeans, or Edomites, as a nation, are totally extinct.

The Edomites gave what help they could to Nebuchadnezzar, and exulted in the destruction of Jerusalem , stirring the bitterest indignation in the hearts of the Jews (Lam 4:21 ; Ezek 25:12; 35:3 ff; Obad 10 ff). The Edomites pressed into the now empty lands in the South of Judah. In 300 BC Mt. Seir with its capital Petra . 

Let us think now, a little more particularly, of the contents of his prophecy. It presents two pictures to our gaze, the one dark and terrible the other bright and beautiful in the extreme. The dark picture is that of the sin and destruction of Edom . Edom felt no fear, the prophet says, and anticipated no doom. Its people were proud and confident and did not dream of any future disaster. They relied partly on the inaccessible position and the impregnable strength of their capital Petra , the famous rock-city high up among the cliffs, the town which was one of the wonders of the world, excavated as it was out of the mountain-side. Had they not exalted themselves as the eagle? Had they not made their nest among the stars? Did they not live in a peaceable habitation?  They leaned, too, on the wisdom of their sages and teachers Their wisdom, was widely recognised. "The mount of Esau, with its curious and stable rock-houses, was known to be the home of "understanding. If danger were to arise  and the improbable should happen, the enemy would soon be compelled to depart; the skill of the wise men of Teman would not be long in devising a way of escape from defeat and disgrace.. But it was the mission of Obadiah to foretell the entire ruin and desolation of the haughty empire. God was going to bring it down, he declared, from its home among the rocks. There was a reason for this doom so fearful. Edom richly deserved all that it was to receive. Obadiah details its sin in strong and burning words. He sees Jerusalem sacked by the heathen king, his own home spoiled and laid in the dust, the house of his God destroyed. Strangers carry away captive the young and the old; foreigners enter the gates and tread the streets of the city dear to his heart. And there, not only refusing to help, but triumphing with malicious joy, uttering words of scornful contempt, committing deeds of robbery and violence, was the Edomites. The prophet gives a vivid narrative of their cruelty and his eye could hardly turn away from the strange and piteous sight. He beholds them rejoicing in the gate of Jerusalem , and intercepting the escape of those who would have fled down to the Jordan valley They betrayed the fugitives to the Babylonian conqueror. These are the things which make the cry for vengeance break from his heart.

Edom was conquered soon afterwards by Nebuchadnezzar, whom it had helped to destroy Jerusalem ; the inhabitants of Petra were expelled from the clefts of the rock; and a colony from Chaldea took their place. Further on in the stream of history, the Jews themselves were permitted to triumph over their former enemies. Judas Maccabaeus attacked and defeated the Edomites who had settled in the towns of Southern Palestine after Petra was wrested from them. He recovered the cities which they had taken away. He drove them forth homeless and helpless, as they had done to their kinsfolk four centuries before. So sin finds the sinner out, even after many days. But Obadiah's second picture is a bright and pleasing one. It is the picture of the restoration of Israel . God's banished, the prophet saw, were to regain their former possessions, and to overcome their ancient foes, and to spread abroad in all directions. They were to prosper and advance, until the grand consummation - "the far-off Divine event" to which the whole creation moves  was reached, and the empire of God was set up over the entire earth. "The kingdom shall be the Lord's" - that is Obadiah's last word.

Obadiah was a voice thundering at midnight . The prophecy is short but terrible in its fullness. It is a single shout, but the cry rends the rocks of Edom . The Edomites were famed for sagacity, prudence, and general mental skill, but God here comes forth (ver. 8) as the monarch of the mind, and says He will destroy their wisdom and understanding. The high priests of wisdom come together to take counsel against the Lord, and the Lord blows upon their brain, and their counsels are confounded. The Lord touches their tongue and they babble the jargon of insanity. Looking at this vision as affording a glimpse of Divine purpose in relation to humanity, we may take our stand on two distinct facts.

 The Divine superintendence of human history. In all Bible history we find God upon the circle. God is in ultimate control of all human history.

Divine sanctification of human history. This vision of Obadiah is summed up in words which might well form the concluding sentence of the history of the whole world. These words are: "And the kingdom shall be the Lord's." As we look at this as the ultimate object of Divine government we see that a great sanctifying process is in reality continually operating in human history. God is working in the midst of her moral gloom, and He will work until the last shadow has forever departed. This leads us to the inspiring truth, that all our hopes are founded in Jesus, and all our energies sustained by the mighty power of the Holy Spirit.

The prophet speaks out of the need of his own heart, and to the hearts of the people. What creates his vision and compels his utterance is an indestructible sense of the eternal justice and of the Divine destiny of Israel in building up the kingdom of God on earth. The tragedy of Edom is just a part in the great drama. Within the rivalry of Edom and Israel there was wrapped the eternal antithesis of truth and falsehood, good and evil. The vision of an earthly kingdom on Mount Zion is finding its fulfilment in the silent, slow, but sure advent of the kingdom of God and of our Christ.

 God now sent a messenger to the nations to stir up the Assyrians and Chaldeans -- both bad people -- to wreak vengeance on corrupt Edom . Why does He employ bad men for this awful work of retribution?

1. He reveals in the most powerful way to the victim the enormity of his sin.

2. He reveals His own absolute power over the workings of the human heart. Thus "He maketh the wrath of men to praise Him," etc.

3. This gives us reasons for continuing to preach the Gospel in spite of modern day objections.

4. The inquiry to each individual should be “To which of the two parties will you join yourself?” Shall it be God and the Lord Jesus or the devil and his followers.

Vers. 17-20. But upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness. An undoubted truth, the penitent sinner, coming to God in truth, by faith, for pardon, is made holy, becomes a new creature and experiences real holiness; -- holiness of life, as well as of heart.  This cannot be found anywhere else. They who will not come to Christ may sometimes have human virtue; they cannot have Divine holiness. Look at this mount, well fortified and well supplied because God is there. You live in peace. He is preparing you for the higher blessings. There is the heavenly Zion.

Mount Zion and its blessings:

The coming of the Lord in glorious majesty to judge the earth is the burden of the Church's message to-day. Throughout the writings of the prophets the choicest promises concerning the Christian Church follow close upon God's terrible threats against His enemies. The Kingdom of God's dear Son is for the whole world. It was the great design of our Divine Redeemer to produce the fruits of holiness in His Church. The kingdom of God is not only the manifestation and free offer of Christ's pardon to penitent sinners, but it is holiness of heart and life. When the tree is made good, the fruit will be good also.