Obadiah Chapter 1

3/30/25 2:33 PM
Solitary Man
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Oba 1:1  The vision (khaw-zone – sight, dream, revelation, oracle, from a root meaning prophesy) of Obadiah (o-bad-yaw – servant, slave, worshipper of Yah). Thus saith the Lord (ad-o-noy) GOD (Yeh-ho-vee) concerning Edom (red, Idumea); We have heard (shama – to hear intelligently with the intent of obedience) a rumour (shem-oo-aw – announcement, news, report, tidings) from the LORD (Yehovah), and an ambassador (tseer – herald, messenger) is sent among the heathen (go-ee or goy – Gentiles), Arise (koom) ye, and let us rise up (kkom) against her in battle (mil-khaw-maw’ – warfare, fighting).

I wonder which book of the bible would hold the distinction of being the least read.  Leviticus perhaps, with the endless descriptions of the various blood sacrifices, and the most excruciating details of how to treat various forms of leprosy.  Maybe Numbers, where verse after verse of duplicated offerings

and various enumerations of census takings.  Certainly 1st Chronicles, with all its seemingly tedious and meaningless genealogies would be up there.  But then we get to some of these minor prophets.  The often obscure language employed by some of these visionaries leaves the average believer baffled and maybe a bit disheartened in thinking that they could ever make heads or tails out of it.

Remember the first time that you slogged your way through the bible?  While the stories in Genesis fascinated, the history of the kings were instructive, the Psalms and the Proverbs served as wonderful inspiration, by the time you made it through the Old Testament, I am sure that several of the book’s contents were forgotten almost as soon as they were read.  Moses speaking of incomprehensible offerings, and then some of the prophets using obscure phraseology, speaking of times and places that had no meaning to our modern ears.  We patted ourselves on the back, and told everyone how blessed we were that we had read the entire word of God, and most of us then promptly never went back to those dark, cryptic corners of the old covenant, and generally focused our energies on the gospels and the epistles.  If we ever did gather up our courage to make another visitation to that mysterious, ancient place that we know as the Old Testament, it was usually just to make a brief pit stop at the Psalms, or the Proverbs (maybe Ecclesiastes, if we were feeling adventurous), and then quickly, breathlessly race back to the comfort of the gospel of John and congratulate ourself once more at this magnificent display of our exceedingly wondrous spiritual diligence that caused us to reenter that almost forbidden destination of the first three quarters of holy writ.

While I may exaggerate for comedic effect, sadly, what I say is not too far off the truth for most believers.  Pastors do not dare cross these primordial pages, so how do we expect the congregations to do so?  And when they do venture to take a peek at what is really out there, without any sound teaching to guide them, zeal gives way to bafflement, which leads to discouragement, which gives way to running away from all things old!

Well, I hope I am playing a small part in alleviating this malaise of the modern western church.  I hope that like myself, you have found much solid meat in our studies of these precious foundations that God has given us in the Old Testament.  We have now studied several of the prophets, and I certainly have been blessed exceedingly.  I pray that the same may be said for yourself.

So now we come to perhaps the most obscure of the obscure books of the bible.  Obadiah.  A name that is used of 13 different individuals in the bible.  But this Obadiah is only spoken of in this one chapter.  And thus he is about as anonymous as the solitary man himself!

Obadiah’s name comes from 2 words, and his name means a servant, a bondslave, or a worshipper, of Yah.  What a name!  What a legacy!  Would you not want to be known as a slave and/or a worshipper of Yehovah!  Can you ask for much more of an epitaph?  You would be hard pressed to be gifted with a better designation than that.

We will find that nothing is known about the man himself, as was discussed in the introduction.  I find this fact noteworthy.  Compare the introductions to these 2 prophetic works:

Amo 1:1  The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

Zep 1:1  The word of the LORD which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.

Amos really wants us to know exactly when he prophesied.  Since he had no real noble lineage, he does not go into his ancestry.  But he does want us to know that he was a real person, though he was a simple herdsman, so he gives us enough information to pinpoint the exact time in history that he spoke.

Zephaniah takes great pains to list his genealogy, since he can date his ancestry back to king Hezekiah (Hizkiah).

But here, Obadiah does no such thing.  By the sovereign will of God, in this case nothing of the man was recorded for posterity.  Why is that?  Well, I am sure we could come up with several possible theories, should we desire to do so.  What comes to me is that while God may choose to honor sometimes in a very public and permanent way, by including facts about that person’s life, there are others where he so chooses to bring the message to the forefront, and downplay the particular messenger used.

This teaches us that God’s will is, well, God’s will!  He chooses to use us as he sees fit, not as we might desire.  And is this not the central message that Jesus brings to his body?  That we are called to live the crucified life, where our expectations, our desires, our preferences, must be nailed to the cross?  We may fantasize about how we want God to use us.  Maybe some of us daydream of being a great evangelist.  Or the possessor of some gift of healing, to bless the masses.  Maybe we dreamed simpler dreams, perhaps of being recognized by our pastor and chosen for some greater responsibility.  And more often than not, our hopes, our dreams, and our desires were not met.

And why is that?  Could it be that Jesus is looking for those disciples who are willing to nail it all upon that old rugged cross?  Because he desires that man of God to hold nothing back, to be willing to be used by him in any and every way that he desires, and not ourselves?  Are we willing, like Obadiah, to toil in near total obscurity?  At least Obadiah’s name was remembered for all time.  How about the prophet in 1st Kings, whom God used, but chose to never preserve his actual name:

1Ki_13:11  Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel: the words which he had spoken unto the king, them they told also to their father.

Three times in one chapter was a prophet’s words recorded, but the name was never given:

1Ki 20:13  And, behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab king of Israel, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou seen all this great multitude? behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.

1Ki 20:22  And the prophet came to the king of Israel, and said unto him, Go, strengthen thyself, and mark, and see what thou doest: for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee.

1Ki 20:28  And there came a man of God, and spake unto the king of Israel, and said, Thus saith the LORD, Because the Syrians have said, The LORD is God of the hills, but he is not God of the valleys, therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

I include all this just to show you that you should not put God in a box.  In the case of how he chooses to use his servants, God is sovereign, and he will decide how to use you, and how to reward you.  These men of God have remained nameless, but surely their names are known in heaven.  Obadiah’s name is known, and nothing else, but that does not make his ministry of a greater or lesser import than the prophet in Kings.  Then we can look upon luminaries such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.  Great men of God charged with terrible responsibilities.  All are very well known, but that fact does not mean that they will necessarily receive the greater reward.  All reward will be given according to our level of obedience to God’s commands toward us.  If Obadiah was only supposed to deliver this one message as his main task that God had set for him, then he will have received a great reward, even as the so called ‘major’ prophets would have received theirs for their singular obedience to their calls.

Perhaps I have belabored the point, but we all need to quit placing certain people on high pedestals.  Just because Obadiah is hardly read, and hardly known, does not mean that God thinks any the less of him in comparison to a Jeremiah.  If we look at it from the proper perspective, even if Obadiah may be the ‘least’ of the biblical authors, think about the eternal honor that he will have, as being one of a very, very select company, who actually have their own book in the bible!  That is about as exclusive a membership as you can get!

Obadiah is said to have a vision.  The word is khaw-zone – sight, dream, revelation, oracle.  Thus, the message may have come in one of several different ways.  The most likely was some sort of open vision.  Obadiah saw some images, and heard some words, which he faithfully recorded.  But it could have came to him via a dream.  Perhaps it was a sudden revelation in his spirit, which he was quick to write down.  The point is that we cannot limit God.  A bit of study would show us that God speaks to man via a multitude of methods.  Indeed, as believers, we are all expected to be receiving the word of the Lord by various means, as Paul states here:

1Co 14:26  How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.

Some things, such as tongues, come via a supernatural manifestation, while other things, such as a doctrine (teaching), may be said to come via natural means, though if we are speaking exactly what God wants us to say via an anointing, then in a sense all that he gives us can be said to be supernatural.  We know of the list of the 9 gifts of the Spirit in Corinthians.  That is a very useful means of categorization.  Yet the word does not say that that is the definitive, comprehensive list of the way the Spirit manifests.  He also manifests via dreams, visions, and signs.  He can transport your spirit to heaven, as he did with Paul and the apostle John.  He can speak in sundry miracles, overriding the laws of nature, as in storms and tempests (see Jonah).  Or how about talking animals (see Balaam)?  So the conclusion is that Obadiah may have been given a dream, most likely a vision.  But the item of importance is not so much as to how the word was given, but that it was received and recorded faithfully for every generation thereafter to read and profit withal.  If God so chose to use this man to write his own book in the bible, then it behooves us to take the time and study it.  Regardless if it seems as if it is the ‘least’ of God’s word, it is God’s word nonetheless.

Or can you make the boast that God has chosen you to write a canonical book?  No?  Then let us continue.

The word rumour is a poor translation.  It actually means a report, an announcement, something that is true, not a bit of speculation, as the word rumour implies.  Ambassador is a herald, or a messenger.  Edom is the object of God’s proclamation.  The entire book is a judgment on the nation of Edom.

Esau and Edom are used interchangeably.  God has always linked this nation with its founder.  While this is not the case for every nation, Edom is singled out time and time again as the realm of Esau.  And Esau was known for his rejection of his inheritance.  We have seen in the introduction that Esau is a special object of God’s eternal displeasure.  Here is another one of those characteristics of God that has been lost to the modern church.

I was just reading George Barna’s latest surveys on the state of the church in America.  Did you know that he found that only 4% of all adults in America hold to a truly biblical worldview?  Stunning, isn’t it?  4%!  I can only imagine the fraction of 1% it would most likely be in Canada.

Yet 33% of Americans think that they are truly born again.  But only 4% adhere to the most fundamental truths of the bible, if you ask these people the right questions.  I am sure that almost all of them think that they are genuine Christians.  But you cannot be a Christian if you deny the most basic of truths.  Such as the Trinity.  The depravity of man (that’s a big one, as most think that man is born basically good).  The true character of God (no, he is not just made of love and nothing else).  The morality of the bible (sex within a valid marriage only).  Put these issues in front of the average American Christian, and you quickly whittle down the true believers to 4%.  When we speak of Gen Z, the percentage may go down as low as 1%.

In light of this, is it any surprise that just over 300 subscribe to this substack, even after 3 years?  I mean, how many so called believers can really stand true biblical theology, without any compromise?  I am in no way trying to exalt myself, but I do take great pains to ensure that I never hold back anything that the word is trying to say to us, as best as I understand it.  I am beholden to no denomination, and the constricting box that most of them shackle their ministers with.

Since most young people get their theology from people such as Joe Rogan and other syncretists such as Tucker Carlson, is it any wonder that today’s believer picks and chooses the parts of the bible that they like, and ignore the rest?  If the church has become so irrelevant that the majority are getting their theology from talk show hosts, then we are in plunging into the abyss of deceit and hellfire at breakneck speed indeed.

God hates certain people.  He hates Esau, as we’ve already proven in the introduction.  As a result, his lineage has a curse placed upon them.

I want to briefly revisit this issue.  Let us examine the relevant passage in Malachi:

Mal 1:2  I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,

Mal 1:3  And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.

Mal 1:4  Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever.

Mal 1:5  And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel.

By now we know the story.  The word says that Esau despised his birthright.  What does that mean?  It means that he considered the gifts that God had reserved for him as utterly worthless.

Think about that for a moment.  Try to picture yourself as a parent who purchases the best education, the best clothes, provides unlimited funds to meet all your child’s needs, and they turn around and tell you that it means nothing to them.  They give it all up and take up a lifestyle that they know you would be most opposed to, whatever that lifestyle may be.  Think about that pain and anger you would feel.  That emotion would be but a fraction of what God must have felt towards Esau.

Somehow God saw just how rotten the fruit would be from this man’s loins.  He declares an eternal curse upon them, not only here in Obadiah, but also in Malachi.  God promises that no matter how hard they try and recover from each and every judgment he lays upon them, they shall never succeed.  It is as if God has made it his personal mission to ensure that the lineage of Esau shall never prosper.

All this behavior, or mishpat, or judgment, ties in with God’s love for his people, as represented by the bloodline via Jacob.  Jacob could take advantage of Esau’s extreme carnality and utter godlessness to obtain the birthright.  Jacob could deceive his father for the patriarchal blessing.  He could perform whatever machinations he performed when tending Laban’s flock, in order to enrich himself at Laban’s expense.  And yet God never even rebuked him for any of these acts.  Instead, God says that he himself shall be magnified because of his eternal curse that he will execute upon Esau and his house forever.

So what gives?  Yahweh calls Edom’s territory the border of wickedness.  It’s as if God saw the depth of Esau’s initial rebellion as some sort of perfect, permanent rejection of God and everything that God desired to provide for him.  His disdain for the blessing of God could not have been communicated any more strongly than what he did.  Throwing out God’s favor not just for him, but for his bloodline forever.  Signifying this choice by trading it for one bowl of stew!  Could he have ‘given the finger’ to God in any stronger fashion than that?

We will see that Edom represents anyone or any group whose primary motivation is a hatred for God’s chosen people.  Whether Israel or the church, those that desire to throw down the commandments of God off the face of the earth can be looked upon as the true spiritual descendants of Esau.  Even as Malachi pronounces the verdict of no possible redemption for such types, so we shall see in this book that God has devoted the entire message to this most sobering topic.

God has not forgotten Edom.  God has decided to add a book to his holy word that reminds everyone that he has not changed his mind about this wicked nation.  We will come to see that God wants everyone to know that he intends to wipe this tribe out of existence.  No chance for repentance.  No mercy.  No redemption.  Nothing but death.

If there have been any ‘woke’ Christians that have managed to stay with me up until now, I know for a fact that I have now lost them!  This is an example of one of those fundamental doctrines of scripture that has been lost and forgotten.  All preachers know of the love of God.  How many sermons have you heard that no one is beyond God’s grace?  And yet here is Edom.  Not just a person, but an eternally cursed person has now become an eternally cursed nation.  No redemption for Edom.  Nothing but the infallible word of God promising total destruction.

So what gives?  How can God say that Jesus dies for all, yet exclude certain people?

Well, we need to accurately divide the word.  While God desires that none perish (2 Pet 3:9), that does not say that God’s desires will come to pass.  While Jesus was sent to be the savior of the world (1 Jn 4:14), not all men will receive this great gift.  While whosoever will may be saved (Rom 10:11), God’s foreknowledge knows that most will not receive him (Jn 1:11-12).

God’s plans and purposes also makes use of the wicked.  Pharaoh was raised up, not to demonstrate God’s mercy in salvation, but his power in cursing him (Rom 9:17).  God’s foreknowledge knew that Pharaoh would never repent.  So he made use of that fact, and used him for an entirely different purpose, as the vehicle where some of God’s most memorable miracles would occur.

In the same way, God knew Esau’s heart.  The sin was of such a grievous nature in the eyes of God, that he knew his seed would be polluted forever.  And in reality, Edom became one of Israel’s most persistent adversaries.  Time and time again they opposed the people of God.  They became a type of the eternal enemy of God and his flock.  Thus this book is written to show the destiny of those who choose to oppose the people of God, those who always take the opposite side of God’s congregation.

God is speaking through the prophet that he has a message for Edom.  There is a news flash from Yehovah.  This is why it is not a rumor.  God does not deal in rumors, he does not meddle with speculations, he only deals in facts.  The message is that a herald or an errand boy has been dispatched to the goyim, or the heathen, that is, the Gentiles.  And the message, or order, is that these other heathen nations are to rise up against Edom in battle.

Oba 1:2  Behold, I have made thee small (in quantity, size, or number) among the heathen (goy): thou art greatly (vehemently) despised (baw-zaw – scorned, vile, contemptible).

Edom occupied a very small territory.  Some say it was no longer than 100 miles, no wider than 40.  their only advantage is that they lived high up in mountain crags, making them difficult to attack.  But their size, both in territory and in people, was very small.  And God is the one who ensured that they were made that way.  He ensured that they stayed that way.  No where in history do we read that they greatly expanded their territory, as other nations had done.  While nations such as Israel, Egypt, Assyria, and many others expanded and contracted in size over the years, Edom was never able to exert much influence.  Most of their history was spent in harassing and robbing their close neighbors, especially Israel.

Edom was most likely despised due to her physical situation.  In other words, their tiny size of land and paucity of people would have led most other nations, larger in size and resources, to hold her in contempt.  Just as we may look upon some backward, third world nations with derision, or at best, pity, so Edom would not have been admired by anyone.

Oba 1:3  The pride (zaw-done – arrogance, presumption) of thine heart hath deceived (naw-shaw – deluded, seduced, led astray) thee, thou that dwellest (resides) in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation (locality) is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground (eh-rets – earth)?

Yet Edom could not rightly judge his own precarious position.  Pride made him stupid.  Because of his one advantage, ie, the relatively inaccessible terrain on which he perched, he thought that he was impregnable.  He thought he was safe.

Note that pride also means arrogance and presumption.  We presume things when we are in the grip of pride.  It leads to delusion, being seduced by lies, and ultimately we are led astray.  We look at some physical thing, and put all our trust in that.

The Edomites put all their trust in their mountain range.  What do we put all our trust in?  Our pension?  Our bank account?  Our preps?  How about our good works?  The number of tracts we have handed out this week?  The number of prayers we have said?  How about the fact that we have not committed a major sin (by our own reckoning, at least), in the last however long?  Do we, in our pride, trust in our own self righteousness?  Are we at all like the Edomites – putting their trust in what they can see?  Do you trust that you are right with God because you are not as carnal as your fellow parishioners?  That you have separated yourself from Babylon far more than your friends?  Does any of that make you feel just a bit superior on the inside?

Or do you really, really, really, place your trust in the shed blood of Christ, and the shed blood of Christ alone?

Oba 1:4  Though thou exalt (gaw-bah – be haughty, proud) thyself as the eagle, and though thou set (put) thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith (nah-oom – an oracle) the LORD (Yehovah).

God has no problem engaging in hyperbole.  Edom could not fly as high as the eagle.  Their abode was not as high as the stars.  But God thinks it’s okay to use figures of speech.

So why do people tie themselves into a knot when they hear someone like Trump, who loves to exaggerate?  Christians think that he should conduct himself as a perfect man – never exaggerating, never boasting, never saying anything that those with no sense of humor can use to twist into whatever they want to twist.

I use Trump simply as an example of someone whom we all know.  Don’t bother asking me to defend or condemn each and every thing that he does, as that is not the point I am making.  The bottom line is that sometimes it is perfectly legitimate to use colorful language in order to make your point.  Exalting yourself like an eagle.  Making your home in the stars.  God is simply trying to paint us a picture as to what is really going in the average Edomite’s heart.  Pride makes him think that he is the cat’s meow, so to speak.  He thinks he flies far above all other nations.  Yet he is totally delusional.

Notice God pronounces this promise of judgment as an oracle.  This is an infallible prediction, straight from Yahweh’s lips.  Don’t think that there is any wiggle room here.  You can be as haughty as you want, you can build your home at the top of Mount Everest.  If God has decided to strike you down, then down you go!

Coming back to the idea of self deception, where does this originate?  Pride.  And what are we doing when we allow our children to be indoctrinated in the propaganda of the woke mob?  We keep trying to fill our kids with self esteem.  We tell them that they can be whatever they want to be.  We provide no boundaries or limits.  So boys now think they can be girls, and girls can be boys.  Or they can be cats, or dogs, or elves, or princesses.  Instead of teaching them humility and the fear of the Lord, we are filling their hearts with the sin of satan himself.  We make the children believe that to be a walking abomination of sexual perversion is something to be extremely proud of.  Here in Obadiah we find that pride leads only to delusion and judgment.  You don’t need to go to the words of Jesus.  God has laid out this fundamental truth very clearly many hundreds of years before Jesus walked the earth.

Oba 1:5  If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) (daw-mah – made dumb, silent, undone) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes?

God is now going to describe how utterly thorough their judgment is going to be.  He begins by telling them, if he sent run of the mill thieves to plunder you, they would normally steal much, but not every last thing.  Once they grabbed their fill, they would leave, not bothering to stay to grab every last penny, as that would be a waste of time.  Also, if you take the example of grape gatherers, the same principle applies.  It is not efficient, nor worth the bother, to stay until every last grape is picked off every branch.  They would grab the bulk, and go home.

When we stop and ponder the doings of the cabal in this evil generation, one cannot help but be flummoxed at some of the massively destructive antics that they have unleashed.  For example, what is the true purpose of geoengineering, or the spraying of chemtrails?  Hardly a day goes by without seeing these evil things in our skies, and yet no one seems to be able to do anything to stop it.  What do the ultra rich gain by doing this?  Sure, they are able to poison the entire planet, which will lead to all plants and animals dying off, making all land unsuitable for farming.  Thus, they will have accomplished the destruction of the food supply.  But what then are they going to eat?  Do they have some secret place where no chemtrails are sprayed that they get all their food from?  We know that they are not going to eat bugs.

Yet like the judgment of God, they are bound and determined to seemingly wipe out all of God’s creation off this planet.  Perhaps this is the price that satan has demanded in order to obtain the knowledge and the technology of the watchers.  Or, it is simply to blasphemously mimic the total judgments of Yehovah.  Even as God reserves the right to destroy whatever he has created, so the cabal, desiring to be gods themselves, want to try and display and exercise that same sort of power.

Oba 1:6  How are the things of Esau (rough) searched out (khaw-fas – to seek, to conceal oneself, mask, disguise)! how are his hidden things (mits-poon – treasure, only time in OT) sought up (baw-aw – desired)!

There may be multiple layers of meaning here.  First of all, God has searched the depths of this wicked nation’s heart.  When I hear of that latest survey, that only 4% of American adults have a biblical worldview, I shudder in fear.  When I see that as of today, the end of March 2025, the Liberals (now led by Mark Carney) are said to now be in the lead in the polls, and that 10 years of the most tyrannical, destructive government (under Trudeau) that Canada has ever seen, is instantly forgotten, and that the only issue of concern now is our national hatred of Trump for completely imaginary reasons concocted by our lying media, then I fear more and more.  I fear not the wickedness of man, but I fear the judgment of the Lord.  How can he stand by and not wipe out such a wicked and rebellious people?

I would be surprised if Canada even has 1% of the adults holding a biblical worldview.  Our low rate has ceased to be a surprise.  But I was shocked at America’s numbers.  You would think that people would flock to the cross in thanksgiving for the election results that God gave them.  And believe me, you holier than thou believers, who are disdainful of what God has accomplished in your midst, pronouncing wicked nonsense such as you wish Trump hadn’t won at all, do you realize that every other nation’s righteous populations would give anything to have an Elon come in and ferret out the gargantuan government waste in our own nations?  Even if he is not completely successful in eradicating all corruption, the fact that you have someone who is making the attempt is unbelievably breathtakingly positive.  God has been so good to America in giving you this one last chance.

And yet what do we see in the American church?  I think the most prevalent attitude is one of relaxation.  Trump will fix it.  The church can relax.

Have we all lost our minds?  Do we think anything has been won?  Can we not see that the apostasy continues along, unabated, unmoved by the Republican’s victory?  This is why we need to crucify our obsession with politics.  Take it to the cross.  Take it to the cross right now.  Stop being consumed with the day to day nonsense of the political arena.  Get on your face and repent!  Your children are dying!  They are being dragged to hell as we speak?  Only 1% of Gen Z have a biblical worldview.  And that is probably one of the highest percentages of any country on the planet at this time.  The rest of the west is in far worse shape spiritually than apostate America.  So, when Jesus does return, will he find true faith on the earth?

The second meaning is that when the spoilers come into Edom, they will search every cave and cranny and find every bit of hidden treasure.  Indeed, it seems as if God himself will lead them to relieve Edom of every last bit of treasure that they have stored up.

I wonder about those extreme preppers out there.  Should that evil day come, how many will lose 30 years of supplies in one day?  If you haven’t made prepping your heart your number one priority, all the rice and beans in the world will not save you.

A third meaning is the promise that God will search out all the secrets of the wicked.  That includes the cabal.  They have created the foundations of their evil plans in the shadows for many decades.  Now, at the end of all things, they are being exposed left and right.  Yet most refuse to see.  Most do not want to see.  Instead, his hidden things are said to be desired.  How many eagerly took whatever bribe or bonus was offered to them in order to play their little treacherous part in the takeover of our nations.  The frustrating part is that even as so much wickedness is now seeing the light of day, there is still absolutely no mishpat, or judgment, in any of our lands.  No one is being held accountable for anything.  I think this is one of the biggest things that we are are going to have to nail to the cross – our expectation for justice in this life.

There is a reason Jesus must return.  We will have taken our planet to the brink of total destruction, with no turning back.  Only the return of our Lord will be able to right this ship.

Oba 1:7  All the men (eesh) of thy confederacy (ber-eeth – covenant) have brought (shaw-lakh – sent away, departed) thee even to the border: the men (eesh) that were at peace (shalom) with thee have deceived (naw-shaw) thee, and prevailed (overcome, have power) against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound (maw-zore – turn aside from the truth, treachery, a plot) under (takh-ath – bottom, below, beneath) thee: there is none understanding (taw-boon – discretion, understanding, wisdom, reason) in him.

Edom had allies that they had cut a covenant with.  These allies would have even entertained him within their own borders.  He had a peace treaty with certain Gentile nations.  But Edom was deceived.  These confederate nations secretly decided to betray Edom.  They now have power over Edom.  They have treacherously formed a plot against him, right under his nose.  There was no one in Edom who had the wisdom to recognize this.

If the Liberals manage to win a 4th straight election in Canada based solely on galvanizing an entire nation around the hatred of Trump, then we too in Canada may say that there is no one with discretion or reason.  God is able to blind whomsoever he wills.  As he blinded Edom to the treachery of their allies, so he has blinded Canada to keep supporting those who have done nothing but murder and steal from us.  And I mean that literally.  From covid tyranny, to euthanasia, to transgenderism enforcement, to arresting pastors, to firing unjabbed employees, to persecuting and destroying everyone engaging in free speech that the authorities do not like, Canada is now a Marxist state.  And all without probably 90% of the nation even realizing that this is what has happened.  While many may not like many things that have happened, probably less than 10% truly realize that we have lost our freedom.  But you know what?  As a follower of Jesus, none of these things are to move us.  Our reason for being is not to change the government.  Our reason for being is to do the will of God.  Bringing the light of the gospel to as many people as the Lord sends our way.  Teaching the treasures of the true kingdom above.  Detaching ourselves from the kingdoms of this world more and more each and every day.

Oba 1:8  Shall I not in that day (yome), saith the LORD, even destroy (aw-bad – make void) the wise  (khaw-kawm – cunning, subtil, skilful) men out of Edom, and understanding (taw-boon) out of the mount of Esau?

Verse 9 shall speak of Teman, a principal city of Edom.  Jeremiah, in his judgment on Edom, ties in the concept of wisdom and Edom together:

Jer 49:7  Concerning Edom, thus saith the LORD of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished?

It seems as if worldly wisdom was highly recognized in this city of Edom.  Maybe Teman was like the reputation that Oxford once had.  But like all the wisdom of this world, it is destined to perish, even as Paul proclaims:

1Co 1:19  For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

1Co 1:20  Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

On the day of Edom’s final judgment, God promises to destroy all vestiges of whatever wisdom Edom possesses.  Note that the word ‘men’ is in italics.  It would be just as correct to say that God will destroy wisdom and understanding out of the nation itself.

God has certainly destroyed wisdom and understanding in every nation that has embraced ‘wokeness’.  Or climate change.  Or evolution.  Or transgenderism.  Or that men can have babies.  Who would have thought that we need a president to make an executive order mandating that there are only 2 genders?  How has it come to this?  And how is it that every other western nation still refuses to acknowledge what is the most obvious of truths?

But in reality, is it really surprising that we have fallen so low?  First of all, no biblical worldview means no truth will be found.  Second, we have doggedly continued to cling to the lie of evolution for over 160 years.  If we are that stupid for that long, then should it surprise us when other areas of reality are thrown away to accomplish some other design of the wicked?

When God decides to take away our ability to reason, then what we are left with is Richard Dawkins, Greta Thunberg, Kamela Harris, and Mark Carney.  Enjoy.

Oba 1:9  And thy mighty (gibbor – mighty, tyrant, champion) men, O Teman (south), shall be dismayed (khaw-thath – confused, terrified), to the end that (in order that, on account of) every one (eesh) of the mount of Esau may be cut off (kaw-rath – to cut a covenant by passing between the pieces of flesh) by slaughter (keh-tel – a violent death, only time in OT).

God says he will take away any sense out of Edom.  What that will lead to is that your strongest men will become as the weakest members of your tribe – confused and terrified.  In other words, God will take the heart out of all those who are most suited to fight.

And what is the purpose of all this?  That all men (eesh) of Edom are cut off by a violent death.  In other words God is speaking of extermination.  Man here means every human being.  Young and old.  The ancient and the infant.  Man and woman.  All are going to die.

Who preaches things such as this today?  I think it would be quite a challenge to scour the internet and find even one sermon by a modern day preacher who would ever dare to teach his flock that sometimes God chooses to exterminate everyone and everything.  Our apostasy and idolatrous re-imagining of exactly who God is, and how he behaves, leaves no room for such a concept.  He’s too loving.  Too merciful.  Too kind.

No, we are too stupid.  Too unbelieving.  Too wicked.  Too rebellious.  Because we cannot entertain the possibility that God would ever do something like this to us, we simply rewrite our theology to say that God never does such a thing to anyone, especially since Jesus came.  That is the pure definition of religion.  To create a god of our choosing, and worship that.  Just because we call that creation Yahweh or Jesus or the Father does not make that imagination real.

The only place you find the one true, holy, perfect, real God is in the bible.  And that means all of the bible.  You cannot throw out a single portion of the word.  Not even an unloved book such as Obadiah!

Rom_15:4  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

2Ti 3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

2Pe 3:1  This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:

2Pe 3:2  That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:

Rev 22:18  For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

Rev 22:19  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Not only does God promise genocide, but a violent genocide as well!  Does this make Yahweh as bloodthirsty as Allah?  This is what the fake Christian would say, those feminized apostates who mock and ridicule the true children of God who believe the entire bible.

Of course not.  All God is saying here is that he will always stay true to his essential character.  And that character is one of rewarding the good, and punishing the evil.  His mishpat, or his judgments, is the way he rolls.  It’s the way he operates.  Do good, and you can expect good things.  Do evil, and you can expect retribution, or recompense.  We are not speaking of how to be saved, but rather the fundamental moral law of the universe.  God is not mocked.  Whatever a man sows, that he will reap.  Maybe not always in this life, but most definitely in the life to come.

For those of you that still have a hard time swallowing exactly who the God of the bible is, meditate on the following scriptures:

Dan 4:37  Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.

Deu 32:4  He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

1Ch 16:12  Remember his marvellous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth;

1Ch 16:14  He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth.

1Ch 16:33  Then shall the trees of the wood sing out at the presence of the LORD, because he cometh to judge the earth.

Isa 30:18  And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.

Isa 40:14  With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?

Isa 42:3  A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.

Isa 42:4  He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.

Eze 44:24  And in controversy they shall stand in judgment; and they shall judge it according to my judgments: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all mine assemblies; and they shall hallow my sabbaths.

Amo 5:15  Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

While it may seem that I may be belaboring this point, I only do so because so few embrace God’s true nature, which is centered on the characteristic that he is a God of judgment.  We are in the trouble we are in as individuals, as a church, as a society, as a nation, as a culture, and as a planet, because we do not know or teach or believe that God must punish our sinfulness.  We cannot continue to do our own thing, doing what is right in our own eyes, and expect that we can survive without consequence.  Changing the rulers will only treat some of the symptoms.  It will not fix the root cause.  The root cause is sin.  Until and unless we reacquire the true biblical fear of the Lord, and the grace of God is poured out upon us from on high, we will still perish, regardless of who is ruling our lands.

Besides the fact that only 4% of American adults have a truly biblical worldview, the most alarming statistic was the following.  Just 40% of Americans believe the God of the bible exists and affects people’s lives.  And, out of that 40%, only 19% got their moral boundaries that they live by from the bible.  Thus, only 8% of all Americans take any of their moral directives from the word of God.  And only half of those have a genuine biblical worldview.

And America is the most Christian country of all the countries in the west.  And we still have problems believing verses such as Obadiah verse 9, where God promises to destroy all the Israel hating Edomites?  To me, if God said he was going to exterminate all Canadians, or even all Americans, that would surprise me less than if he said he was going to spare us all.  According to God’s righteous character and unchanging values, he is fully within his rights to do so.  Only the grace and mercy of God, fully expressed at the cross of Christ, has given mankind any hope of salvation and escape from the wrath to come.

Oba 1:10  For thy violence (khaw-mawce – oppression, injustice) against thy brother Jacob (heel catcher) shame (boo-shaw) shall cover (kaw-saw – clothe) thee, and thou shalt be cut off (kaw-rath) for ever (o-lawm – the vanishing point, time out of mind, eternity).

Now we come to the main reason that Yehovah is going to destroy Edom.  And guess what it is?

Jew hatred.  Sound familiar?  Is not our entire planet swamped in Jew hatred?  Disguised as sympathy for the Palestinians, as compassion for the poor oppressed muslims.  Or how about how all the cabal, all the bankers, all of Hollywood, all the media, and all the politicians, are Jewish controlled?  You know, for a tribe of just 16 million people, they sure are amazing, aren’t they?  Out of a world population of 8 billion, do you really believe that two tenths of one percent of all the people on the planet control basically everything?  And that they are all of one tribe only?  Now, we all know that the cabal is comprised of a very subset of people on this planet.  They exert an extremely disproportionate effect on the globe.  But check out the main players.  They are all not Jews.  Never have been.  Never will be.

Are there some evil Jews?  What do you think?  Are there some evil Americans?  Or Canadians?  Or anyone else for that matter?  Why is it that the only tribe that is ever spoken of as a single homogeneous group are the Jews?  Since China is communist, why don’t we ever say that every Chinese person is pure evil?  No one ever says that.  But for the poor Jew, it’s a different story.  And it always has been throughout history.

If you want proof that the Jews are indeed God’s chosen people, then this continual, universal hatred of them is strong proof indeed.  The watcher spirits that control the heathen nations would most certainly inspire their subjects to display a continual animosity over the one people group that God reserved as his very own.

Deu 32:8  When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

Deu 32:9  For the LORD’S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

According to the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament), the phrase ‘children of Israel’ was translated ‘sons of God’.  Remember that the New Testament authors relied on the Septuagint (LXX) text for most of their quotes, and some of the verses were materially different than the original Hebrew.  Sons of God would refer to the fallen angels of Genesis 6, those that seemingly escaped the flood may have been allotted overseer-ship of the 70 nations formed at the tower of Babel.  Only the nation of Israel was reserved by Yehovah as his own.  Thus verse 9 fits much better if we accept the LXX translation of verse 8.

The King James was based on the Masoretic text.  There is evidence that this one phrase may have been altered by the translators, as the church at that time (mainly because of the theology of Augustine), had rejected the fallen angels interpretation of Genesis chapter 6.  Therefore, in this one instance, the translators may have intentionally changed the manuscript.  While I am one of the most staunchest supporters of the infallibility of God’s word, and his supernatural preservation thereof, even the most perfect English translation such as the King James is not infallible, being a translation.  Without making a big deal out of this, I simply present this viewpoint of the fallen ones being given control of the heathen, while we all know that the word teaches that Israel is God’s chosen people.  Regardless of whether or not we believe in the watchers theory or not, the point is that Israel has always been hated by the Gentiles.  The church has generally acted the same way for most of its history as well.

In Edom’s case, the sin is all the greater since Israel was his brother in Jacob.  Not only shall Edom be covered in shame, but God promises to cut them off for all of eternity.  That is, this is no temporary punishment, as the Jews received time and time again.  There would be no future restoration for Edom.  Some Gentile nations such as Egypt and Assyria, do have a promise of some sort of future reprieve.  Time does not permit us to examine the pertinent scriptures.  But for Edom, the prophecies seem to be very consistent.  Edom is doomed, and there is no court of appeal for them.

Sometimes this is how God decides to judge.  Not all of the time are there second chances.  We all love to hear sermons on the God of the second chance.  And indeed, God’s mercy is unmatched by any of his creatures.  But while his mercy endures forever, it is not infinite in specific cases.  Sometimes God decrees (which is an act of judgment) that someone receives a permanent, unchangeable, eternal sentence of destruction.  Edom is one such example.

This is why it is such a dangerous thing to presume on the grace of God.  God may have given you a second, third, or a thousandth chance.  But what if the next chance is truly your last?  What if this time, if you still refuse to repent and change, the chances will have run out?  What shall you do then?  How many millions of souls are there in hell today, who thought that surely they would be given at least one more chance to get right with God.  And now they have all of eternity to regret the most foolish of decisions.  The decision to spend one more day in Egypt, rather than taking up that cross and following him.  One more day of the pleasures of the flesh, in exchange for an eternity of hellfire and torment.

Oba 1:11  In the day (yome) that thou stoodest on the other side (neh-ghed – as a counterpart, opposite), in the day (yome) that the strangers (zoor – foreigner, profane one) carried away captive his forces (khah-yil – army, substance, power, riches, strength) and foreigners (nok-ree – alien, outlandish adulterers) entered into his gates (opening), and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one (echad – united) of them.

Now we come to what I consider the main 4 verses of the text.  We will be exposed to a progression of behavior by Edom, the typical arch enemy of the people of God.  And we do no violence to the text by including the true church as the people of God, as well as the Jew.

So how did the road to ruin begin for these Edomites?  Well first of all, they were the historical enemies of the Jews.  Living right next to them, always being reminded by the stories handed down to them by their elders as to how Jacob stole from their ancestor Esau what was rightfully his, by deceiving their father Isaac.  Conveniently leaving out the part about how Esau had first despised his birthright, selling it for nothing more than a bowl of stew.  And isn’t that how the unforgiving operate?  By selective memory.  Always bringing up the hurts.  Never mentioning their part in the conflict.  They also would not have mentioned how Jacob tried with all his heart to reconcile with his brother Esau, when he came back from serving Laban.  How he gave him many gifts, but yet the rift was never healed.  Even though Esau was wealthy enough, the enmity never went away.

Each succeeding conflict rekindled the hatred.  Just as I am sure that every conflict that Israel has had to fight in order to survive since 1948 simply stirs up and rekindles the Jew hatred in the muslim heart.  Just as even today, the 8 crusades the Christians waged against the muslims over 800 years ago still is used to breed hatred of the Christian and the west in the muslim world.  They never speak of the 25,000 acts of unprovoked aggression the muslim had engaged against the various Christian nations before the west finally responded with 8 offensive actions of their own.  8 versus 25,000.  And only the 8 are ever spoken of.  Not only in muslim lands, but in western lands also.  We all have heard of the atrocities of the crusades.  But no one ever teaches us of the countless atrocities of the muslim.  Did you know that there have been over 47,000 Islamic attacks in the world since 9/11?  And what does the western media focus on during these last 24 years as the greatest threat concerning this?  Islamophobia.

But back to the text.  How does one who opposes God and his people behave?  The first thing they do is take the other side of the issue.  While Jerusalem was being attacked, they stood far away, and offered no help.  They simply kept away, saying it’s none of our business.  How many believers stood aside, when the pastors were fined and arrested and had their churches locked up during covid. For the crime of trying to hold a church service?  You could go and buy booze and marijuana.  You could go to all the big box stores.  But God forbid you tried to go to church!  98% of pastors simply stood on the other side.  They observed and said and did nothing.

These Edomites watched the enemy carry away the Jews into slavery.  They watched them strip the temple of the valuable objects.  The bible calls them zoor – profane ones that did this.  Those cops that came and shut down churches, especially in Canada, were the modern day zoors.  They were the profane ones in God’s eyes.  But not only zoors, but the nok-ree also came.  These were the aliens, the outlandish ones, the adulterous ones who breached the territories of Judah.

During covid, it was so much easier to propel all the other parts of the new world order at the same time.  Schools became more and more corrupt.  More drag queens, more SOGI indoctrination (satanic school curriculums to sexualize children), 5G towers springing up all over, vax passports, travel bans, continual mass immigration by the most unchristian tribes possible, all these things continued unabated.  Meanwhile, the adulterous churches took special payments from the governments to keep their churches closed, and many set up vax clinics on their premises, exhorting their own flocks to poison themselves with the bioweapons.  These were the adulterous pastors, who zealously joined the other side, aiding and abetting the murder of their own flocks.  Teaching them to submit without question to the new world order.  Not once ever speaking against the constantly shifting lies, the absence of informed consent, the redefinition of medical terms such as immunization, and the shifting goalposts of what the authorities said they were trying to achieve.  Our gates have been pierced.  The profane and the adulterous were in our camp.  They were inside, carving up our wealth and our freedoms amongst themselves.  And what did the Edomites do?  They were in one accord.  They were on the same page as the enemies of the people of God.

Oba 1:12  But thou shouldest not have looked on the day (yome) of thy brother in the day (yome) that he became a stranger (nok-ree); neither shouldest thou have rejoiced (saw-makh – made merry) over the children (bane – sons) of Judah in the day of their destruction (aw-bad – perishing, being undone, losing oneself, made void); neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly (gaw-dal peh – to twist the mouth) in the day of distress (tsaw-raw – tightness, adversity, affliction, tribulation).

God now supplies a stinging rebuke to these wicked souls.  God holds them accountable for standing idly by when his brother needed help.  God holds each and every church accountable that remained silent and refused to stand for the truth when the few brave souls tried to defy the wicked authorities.

Instead you treated your brother as if he were an alien.  As if you never knew him.  How many churches turned their backs on their brethren when they needed their support?  How many actually publicly condemned them, for taking a righteous stand?  How many even kicked out members of their own congregations, for questioning those wicked pastors who took the payment of Judas for their complicity in these genocidal crimes?

As if this behavior wasn’t bad enough, Edom actually celebrated as they watched the Jews be slaughtered.  They rejoiced and they spoke nothing but lies (twisting the mouth) in their pride, thinking that somehow God was on their side when the Jews faced tribulation.

Is this not exactly what the Palestinians did after October 7, 2023?  Most of their citizens celebrated the butchering and beheading of babies.  The raping of women.  The torture of the Jews.  The slaughter of 1500 mostly unarmed people, who had never done any wrong to them.  And our children in the west celebrated with all the muslims we have allowed to invade our lands.  Our very own cultures now have taken the sides of the worst of the worst of humanity.

This is what God is getting at.  The Edomites seemed to have taken the greatest pleasure when the people of God face their day of distress.  Nothing makes them more happy than the slaughter of true believers.

You wonder at what so turns on the muslims and the communists and indeed, all the tyrants of the world, when they seem to go out of their way to torture and destroy the most harmless people in the land – the Christian and the Jew.  We harm no one.  We are not tyrannical by nature or by doctrine.  We pose the least threat.  But our continual persecution simply proves the reality of the biblical worldview.  We are in a spiritual battle.  We are the only ones who truly represent the side of good.  Evil hates the good.  Eventually, evil feels compelled to destroy the good, by any means necessary.  And that means the Christian and the Jew.  Destroy their civilizations, and all the individuals will eventually disappear.

For all the talk about how evil medieval Christendom was, do you think we’re so much better off if the cabal succeeds in wiping out all vestiges of the Christian west out of existence?  Do you think the gospel will be able to go forth with greater ease, when Christianity once again becomes illegal?  Sure, God may choose to pour forth of his Spirit to create his church anew, but think of the suffering that will occur.  We are but at the outset of tasting the true persecution that is yet to come.  I for one do not look forward to the pain ahead.  If we must face it, then so be it.  But wouldn’t it be better if we simply repented, allowing God to perhaps spare us the worst of his wrath.

Not only did Edom rejoice, but he boasted about how the Jews were being slaughtered.  Needless to say, God does not take kindly when the enemies of God’s people exalt themselves.

Oba 1:13  Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate (opening) of my people (am – tribe, flock, nation) in the day of their calamity (ade – oppression, misfortune, ruin, destruction); yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction (rah – evil that is natural or moral in nature, wretchedness, adversity, sorrow)  in the day of their calamity (ade), nor have laid (shaw-lakh – reacehd out for) hands on their substance (khah-yil) in the day of their calamity (ade);

First the Edomites stood afar off and observed.  Then they agreed with the enemy.  Then they cheered.  Then they spoke of nothing else but how wonderful it was to see the Jews destroyed.  But here they actually begin to participate in the pillaging.

The temptation was too much to bear.  Here was a chance to benefit from the Jews downfall.  Why not get a piece of the action?  Just go ahead and join the thieves and grab what you can.  You don’t need to worry, God has abandoned them.  Take whatever you want.  They were at their most helpless.  Now was the time to rob them blind.

All you doctors and nurses, take the bonus money for each covid diagnosis.  Take the extra payment for each person you vent and kill.  Take the cash for everyone whom you poisoned with remdesivir and other toxic pharmakia.  While you are at it, steal the business of the small business owner, forcing them to close while his big box competitors could remain open.  Fire those employees who refused to poison themselves, and take their jobs.  Take whatever you can take off these afflicted people, they’re finished anyways.

Oba 1:14  Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway (the fork in the road), to cut off (kaw-rath) those of his that did escape (were a refugee); neither shouldest thou have delivered up (saw-gar – surrendered) those of his that did remain (survivors, remnant) in the day of distress (tsaw-raw).

Not only did Edom boldly plunder Judah along with everyone else, but they actually would seek out and prevent any straggler who had managed to escape the sword of the enemy and turn them over to their tormentors.  All refugees were rounded up and turned over to be executed.

How many reported on their neighbors when they had too many visitors, as some sort of deadly health hazard?  How many cops arrested people if they were within 6 feet of each other, or too many were in one spot?  The wicked actually went out of their way to spy on their fellow citizens, just waiting to report them to the authorities, getting some sort of perverse pleasure in seeing those who had already been abused by the tyrants suffer yet even more.  Perhaps it was a way for them to feel better about their own deprivations.  If they could make someone else suffer even more than themselves, in their mind that lessened their own pain.  That is how the wicked think.

See the progression of the envious and the cowardly.  First, you simply crossed to the other side of the street when you saw someone suffering unjustly.  Then you looked on and got used to seeing others being treated as 2nd class citizens.  Then you actually cheered the persecution, as you boasted about how you ‘followed the science’ and ridiculed the disobedient.  Then you actually participated in the plundering of their substance by taking ‘free’ money while their bank accounts were being confiscated, or by taking their jobs while they were being fired.  Then you actively opposed those who did not conform to every nonsensical edict and mandate.  Then you actually reported on and turned your neighbor, friend, and family member over to the wicked authorities for punishment.

How many in our society exhibited the identical traits of the eternally cursed Edomites during covid?  Did not covid reveal the depravity that dwells in almost everyone’s evil heart?  Why is it so difficult to accept the fundamental doctrines of the faith, such as the depravity of man, when we have just lived through the most demonstrative moment in our history that conclusively proves how depraved and utterly without true compassion for our fellow man that we really are?

Oba 1:15  For the day of the LORD is near (kar-robe – in place or time, at hand) upon all the heathen (goy): as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward (ghem-ool – treatment, recompence) shall return (shoob – to turn back, or return, to go back to the starting point, often used to describe repentance) upon thine own head.

Even in this, the shortest book of the Old Testament, the day of the Lord is prominently portrayed.  Even as Edom serves as a type of the certainly of judgment upon the godless and the wicked, so all men everywhere should fear the inevitability of the judgment which is to come upon all the earth.

All Edom had done when they took advantage of Judah’s distress was to heap more judgment upon themselves.  This verse lets us know that God sees all that we do, and whatever punishment comes our way is fully deserved.

This does not mean that all evil is due to sin (see the book of Job).  But it does mean that you will reap what you sow.  It does not matter that someone like Bill Gates seems to have experienced little or no consequence for his satanic genocidal actions, it shall be done unto him as he has done unto others.

Shoob is a wonderful word.  In Jeremiah especially, God exhorts his people time and time again to shoob.  Shoob, or turn back, to him.  Shoob, or turn away from, sin.  Here God promises that every evil deed done to his children shall shoob (turn) back upon the sender.

Verses such as these are what keep our civilizations going.  Without a belief in divine consequence, our society will eventually collapse.  Why does evil multiply at certain times?  One of the main reasons is that people lose the fear of God.  If you stop believing that someone will make you pay for your wickedness, then what is to restrain your behavior?  If people think that there is no consequence to engaging in every type of sexual behavior imaginable, then that is what they will do.  Taking away all human laws against sexual perversion simply makes most people unafraid to engage in perversion.  But the real problem is that no one believes in the sexual boundaries that God gave us.  Man made laws based on scripture help to remind us in the here and now about the eternal boundaries.  If we remove the natural laws against sin, man is so much more prone to engage in sin, since we have removed the temporal consequence.  It is much harder to convince someone to live a life of self denial when the temporal consequences are no longer there.  Thus, as we remove the temporal restraints in our culture, it becomes so much more harder to convince people that God still has those same boundaries to govern our behavior.  Opposition becomes more fierce, as the majority opposes the boundaries.  Violence against the bold believer begins to multiply.  It takes more courage to take a public stand for anything.  And the gospel message becomes more and more suppressed, as more and more principles of the bible are not preached, due to fear of persecution.

The final thought here is that even 2800 years ago, the day of the Lord is said to be near upon all the goyim.  This is a consistent, common theme of scripture.  We are to look at the times and the seasons through God’s eyes and not our own.  What seems exceedingly distant in time is but a blink of an eye when viewed through God’s eyes.  We need to keep this in mind when we are wondering about the timing of bible events.  Especially when we hear prophecies about things about to happen ‘soon’.  Soon is a very relative term, when viewed through a biblical lens.

Oba 1:16  For as ye have drunk upon my holy (ko-desh – sacred, hallowed) mountain, so shall all the heathen (goy) drink continually (perpetually), yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been (existed).

Some commentators think we are now speaking of the Jews drinking of God’s goodness upon the holy mount of Zion, since the next verse begins to switch to speak of the Jew.  But I believe we are finishing up the judgment on Edom.  One could see the drinking being the revelry of the pagan after a military victory.  I believe this verse is speaking of the drinking of the cup of God’s wrath, since the entire verse speaks of the judgment of the Gentile nations.

Edom has been judged before by God, and will most certainly be judged again.  In like fashion, all the Gentiles shall always experience retribution for their sins, and shall never escape the most just consequences due them.  When God brings judgment, he will force them to imbibe.  They cannot run from the cup of wrath.  And when they have finished drinking, it will be as though there never was a nation there in the first place, so severe will the judgment of the Lord be.

This is another example of where one could take this one verse and try to ‘prove’ a contradiction in the bible by saying that there are other places where God promises that certain nations shall survive even into the Millenium and possibly thereafter.  The first defense is of course that we need to take all the word of God into account before trying to create a doctrine.  The second point is that God often uses exaggeration to get his point across (see verse 4).  The third point, and perhaps the most telling, is that God seems to be speaking of those nations that have specifically drunk of God’s punishing wrath in the land of Israel itself.  That is, he may be speaking of those nations that had the audacity to physically invade and attack his land.  Therefore, nations such as Edom, perhaps Moab and Ammon, Babylon and perhaps Assyria, generally have negative futures associated with them.  However, you can find scriptures where Assyria, Moab and Ammon may indeed have some future, so this theory needs more study before I would become too dogmatic about it.

In any event, it is not a good idea to come against Judah.  If God has destined you for judgment, judgment you shall experience.  The verse says after judgment, it would be as though you had not been.  This does not explicitly say that every soul would be wiped out, as is promised to Edom itself (see v9,10), but your place in history will disappear.  Think about places such as Moab and Ammon.  While some people may have survived to this day, their nations certainly have not.

Oba 1:17  But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance (pel-ay-taw – an escaped portion, a remnant), and there shall be holiness (ko-desh); and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions (mo-rawsh – delight).

Ah, the wonderful ‘but’.  What would we do without the ‘but’?

Rom_3:21  But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

Rom_4:5  But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

Rom_8:11  But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

Eph_2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

Eph_2:13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

We could go on and on.

Aren’t you glad to be a Zionist?  It says that on mount Zion is where the escaped portion, the remnant shall be found.  In Zion there shall be holiness.  Our spiritual possessions in Christ shall be possessed by the members of Zion.

Something about the holy mount is very important in God’s mind.  Perhaps he knew the very word itself would be so abused and changed into something evil.  The whole world speaks of evil Zionism, as if a desire for the people of Israel to return to the land that Yehovah gave them is the most evil desire that has ever been conceived in the heart of man.  I shudder at all the so called Christians who absolutely loathe Zionism, and therefore, loathe Zionists, and therefore, truly loathe the original people of the covenant.  That age old hatred is alive and well.  It certainly is one of the most visible ways to identify the sheep from the goats.  You don’t have to like or agree with any of the non biblical behavior of any Jew, just like you don’t have to like or agree with any non biblical behavior of any Christian, but you are commanded to love your neighbor as yourself, never mind your brother in the faith.  While the average Jew has yet to have their eyes opened to their Messiah, do not forget that God promised that the last generation will experience perhaps the greatest mass awakening that the world has ever seen:

Zec 12:8  In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them.

Zec 12:9  And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Zec 12:10  And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

Zec 13:8  And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.

Zec 13:9  And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

Rom 11:25  For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

Rom 11:26  And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

Rom 11:27  For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

We can look at this verse as not only speaking of a Jewish remnant that will be saved, but I believe it confirms other passages that speak of the doctrine of the remnant of the people of God.  God seems to not be very interested in winning the battle as to who grabs the most souls.  He always was more interested in quality over quantity.  While the devil may grab the majority of souls, the ones saved by God will always be the special ones.

This concept should serve as a great motivation as to how to live our lives.  God is not interested in quantity.  In other words, the number of times you go to church, the number of tracts you hand out, the number of people you witness to, even the number of prayers you pray, is not primarily what your life is all about.   It’s about letting the Holy Spirit have total access to your entire being – spirit, soul, and body.  Letting him perfect the job began in you when you embraced the cross for the first time in your life.  God wants a few finished pieces of great beauty and perfection, not a storehouse full of half finished objects.  Striving unto perfection should be a priority.  Letting Jesus complete the work he began in us should drive our thinking and our choices:

Php 3:7  But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

Php 3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Php 3:10  That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

Php 3:11  If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

Php 3:12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Php 3:15  Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

Php 3:16  Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.

Php 3:17  Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.

I don’t know of any passage that better captures the sort of attitude that should define who we are, at all times, and in all places.

Oba 1:18  And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour (aw-kal – burn up, consume) them; and there shall not be any remaining (survivor, left alive) of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken (daw-bar – declared, pronounced, arranged) it.

Sounds like God’s people will be used to devour the enemies of God.  Perhaps it is our prayers that burn the enemy up.  Perhaps it is our love for our enemies.  Perhaps it is our evangelization of those that seem to hate us implacably.

It is interesting to note that the names Jacob and Joseph are used together to speak of Zion, which is the holy mount of Jerusalem.  Jacob represents all 12 tribes.  Joseph represents the 10 tribes.  Zion and Jerusalem represent Judah.  Man may have separated themselves, but God sees his people as one entity.

So we need to try and see our brothers and sisters in the Lord as one.  How much of our fellowship is restrained and rejected, simply because a true disciple of Jesus happens to carry a label of Pentecostal, or Orthodox, or Catholic, or Evangelical, or Baptist, etc.  We are such foolish children.  Sure, there are some theological topics that certainly divide us.  But is not our love for Jesus greater than all?  Can we not truly break bread with each other, encouraging and learning from one another, if we all are following the God of the bible as best we know how?  Are we known more for humility, or arrogance?  Gentleness, or pride?  Love, or self righteousness?

We could recount all the times that Judah defeated Edom in subsequent battles, how the Maccabees essentially conquered Edom, or how Edom eventually was permanently destroyed by the Romans around AD 70, but that would add little to the discussion.  How about we concentrate on how to become that ‘house of fire’ that burns up the enemies of God?  One more time, for the third time, God promises that these enemies will all be obliterated.  But in this verse, he says that somehow all the tribes of Israel will play a part.  If God sees the cabal as the spiritual descendants of these evil Edomites today, then perhaps the nation of Israel will play a significant part in their destruction during the tribulation.  Or, the church, which is spiritual Israel, may also play a part in bringing down the modern day Edomites by the fact that we were willing to lay down our lives for the gospel’s sake.

Rev 12:11  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

Oba 1:19  And they of the south (neh-ghab – parched) shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the plain (lowland) the Philistines: and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim (double fruit), and the fields of Samaria (watch station): and Benjamin (son of the right hand) shall possess Gilead (from a root meaning heap of testimony).

The mount of Esau was known as mount Seir.  The Jews that dwelt in the south of Judah lived next to Edom.  They are promised to possess the territory of Edom.  The Jews of the plains, next to Philistia, is promised that land.  The land of the 10 tribes (Ephraim, Samaria) shall also ultimately return to the Jews.  Benjamin, one of the smallest tribes, is promised an enlargement of land even beyond the Jordan, where Gilead was located.

Are we possibly seeing the beginning of the complete fulfilment of this verse before our very eyes today?  Rather than those countless armchair prophecy buffs, who continually try to make the current headlines fit one verse or another, I will never be dogmatic about such things.  But Gaza (Philistia) is certainly becoming more vulnerable to a complete emptying and takeover more than ever before.  Judea and Samaria are on the verge of being put under the total control of Israel, due to the countless terror attacks that keep occurring there.  And nations on the other side of the Jordan, such as Syria and Lebanon, may have some of their territory falling into Israel’s hands, due to the terror threats there becoming intolerable.  There is definitely a major change in the air in the middle east.  We all knew things must shift around, and rapidly, if more bible prophecy is to come true.

I am sure that when all is said and done, every promise in these last few verses shall be fulfilled perfectly, according to the will and knowledge of God.  Sometimes we miss a prophetic fulfillment because we do not understand exactly what is being promised.  Perhaps boundaries have changed.  Names are altered.  Facts of history may be distorted, or even lost.  But God knows.  Everything will be fulfilled exactly as it should.  Suffice it to say that some significant land restoration is promised here.

Oba 1:20  And the captivity (gaw-looth – exiles) of this host (khale – army) of the children (bane) of Israel (he will rule as God) shall possess that of the Canaanites (merchant, trafficker), even unto Zarephath (refinement); and the captivity (gaw-looth) of Jerusalem (founded peaceful), which is in Sepharad (a district near the Bosphorus, only time in OT), shall possess the cities of the south (neh-ghab).

First off, this verse clearly states that all 12 tribes will come back to possess the land.  Some commentators try to make this refer to the captivity of the Assyrians, when they conquered Samaria in 722 BC.  However that would make this prophecy well over 100 years after when it was actually written.  The captivity can be looked at two ways.  We have already surmised that this prophecy concerned the event recorded in the following passage during the reign of Jehoram (848-841 BC):

2Ch 21:16  Moreover the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians, that were near the Ethiopians:

2Ch 21:17  And they came up into Judah, and brake into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king’s house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, save Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.

Jehoram’s family was carried away captive.  This may be referring to their return.  Conversely, note that the words ‘shall possess’ are in italics.  Thus the passage may be rendered, according to Barnes notes on the bible:

And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel – (it must, I believe, be rendered,) “which are among the Canaanites, as far as Zarephath, and the captivity of Jerusalem which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the South.”

I however think the thrust of the passage makes more sense if we leave the italicized words in.  The promise is a continuation of the previous verse, ie, that whatever of the promised land that the Israelites were currently not in possession of, at a future date, they would enter fully in.  So these Jewish captives would some day possess all the land that the Canaanites currently possessed.

Zarephath was near Zidon, called Sarepta in Lk 4:26.  Sepharad, or an area near the Bosphorus, would represent a sort of limit as to how far the Jews may have been dispersed at that time.  Perhaps that is where some of Jehoram’s household was carried off to.  God promises that all the southern portion of the land not yet occupied would be theirs.

For the believer, we are all in a various state of partial possession of our own promised land.  All of us have possessed the eternal salvation provided at the cross.  Some of us have entered into the fulness of the baptism of the Holy Ghost.  Some have entered into the spiritual gift(s) that God has laid in store for you.  Some have pushed on and have gone quite a way in being refined into the image of Christ.  And of course, the greatest possession comes to us on that day when we pass over from death to eternal life, when we will be forever with the Lord.

Oba 1:21  And saviours (yaw-shah – deliverer, rescuer, preserver) shall come up (ascend) on mount Zion to judge (shaw-fat – pronounce sentence, govern) the mount of Esau; and the kingdom (mel-oo-kaw – realm) shall be the LORD’S (Yehovah’s).

I am sure Yahweh means that the above verse has experienced multiple fulfillments, but there is yet the one greater fulfilment when Christ comes to set up his kingdom upon earth.  The word yaw-shah does not just mean savior, or messiah, as our minds automatically gravitate toward, but equally deliverer, rescuer, and preserver.

This is something that we should be made more aware of.  All evangelicals preach Christ as Savior.  But equally so, he is also the rescuer, the deliverer, and the preserver.  He rescued us from Egypt.  He delivered us from the bondage of sin.  He preserves us unto eternal life.

Pentecostalism was based on the recovery of this fulness of definition.  Through the agency of the blessed Holy Spirit, Jesus is to be our all in all.  Because the church has mostly lost the power of God, eventually we begin to look to other places for these things.  We ask doctors to rescue us from physical malady.  We look to the politician to deliver us from our poverty.  We count the interest in our bank accounts to preserve us in our old age.

Where is Jesus in all of this?

Obadiah completes his document by going back to the main theme of the judgment of Esau.  God did indeed raise up deliverers from the Edomites during the time they ruled their own land.  The Maccabees would strike the most notable victory from the time of Obadiah to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 by the Romans, who once and for all destroyed the tribe of Edom off the face of the earth, never to return.

However I don’t think we do any injury to the text to also see that this new world order, headed by the so called ‘cabal’, that is so hard to precisely define, constitutes a tribe today that operates in the spirit and the power of the Edomites.  You may also consider that Islam has also inherited this pernicious spirit.  Remember that the angel and Jesus himself allowed for this type of interpretation, when they spoke of John the Baptist:

Luk_1:17  And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

Mat 17:10  And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?

Mat 17:11  And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.

Mat 17:12  But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.

Mat 17:13  Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.

God has filled his word with many wonderful types and shadows.  He has gone to great lengths to try and impart his wisdom in every manner of communication possible.  Whether factual history, or heart soaring poetry, or sublime and sometime enigmatic prophecy, the Holy Spirit is continually speaking, beckoning us to go a little further, enjoining us to persevere until the light of heaven shines upon our hearts.  He who seeks finds.  Just as righteous John would operate in a godly spirit and power of Elijah, so can others, such as our modern day cabal, operate in a demonic spirit and power of Esau.

In the same way, while Jesus shall literally return to a literal Jerusalem to judge those who operate in the spirit of Edom, ie, those who hate God’s people, so also does Jesus return to a spiritual Zion, to the spiritual house built not with hands.  He will govern by pronouncing sentence on all those who lived their lives as if there would never be any consequence for their actions.

The book finishes up by saying that the kingdom, or realm, shall be Jehovah’s.

In other words, ‘And they all lived happily ever after’!

So even in this little known volume, amid all the dire warning of destruction and total loss, God finishes speaking on a hopeful note.  And perhaps this is the main message of this brief communique.  Our kingdom is not an earthly kingdom.  It is not a carnal one.  So much of our thoughts, hopes, and dreams focus on the here and now.  And the here and now is not where it’s at!  We need to get back to the mindset of the saints of old.  If we truly want to get serious about preparing ourselves to meet the King of Kings, then we must undergo a radical transformation in focus and priority.

Can we lay aside our desire for comfort?  Our obsessions and compulsions that drive so much of what we do?  Can we put aside all the sermons out there that tell us that it’s okay to live as compromised as we live, that we don’t want to go crazy with all this God stuff?

Who is out there that is willing to sign up for something more?  Obadiah is telling us that the Edomites are out there.  They are actively working to destroy us.  They cheer and lend a hand, every time the people of God suffer a setback.  They rejoice to see us suffer and die.

But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance.  The house of God shall be a fire and a flame.  The house of Esau shall be no more.  And the kingdom will forever be the Lord’s.

Let us pause for a moment and let this glorious message of comfort and ultimate victory sink into our souls.  Let the words of Obadiah not only remind us that we are in a battle for our lives, but that the end of that battle will one day take place.  And on that day, we will be so thankful, if we have chosen to stay in the fight, and see this cosmic conflict through to the end.

May the Lord of Hosts give each and every one of us our battle assignment, and may we be courageous and faithful, until the very end.

May God richly bless you all.

Solitary Man

Photos courtesy Depositphotos

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