The Shortest Old Testament Book (Obadiah)

Edom thought it had the perfect defense: mountain strongholds, a city carved into stone, and the confidence that no one could touch it. Obadiah answers that kind of pride with a single line that still lands hard today: God knows how to bring the lofty down. We spend time in the shortest book in the Old Testament and pull out why its message is anything but small, especially if you care about justice, character, and what God sees beneath the surface.

We walk through why Obadiah targets Edom, how their family link to Israel through Esau and Jacob makes their hostility even darker, and why their “wisdom” only made them more foolish. Then the focus tightens on the real charge: violence. Not only the violence of a sword, but the violence of standing aloof while others suffer, rejoicing when an enemy falls, grabbing what you can from someone else’s disaster, and treating human pain like a chance to get ahead. It’s an Old Testament prophecy, but it reads like a mirror for modern habits of indifference and online gloating.

The final turn is hope-filled and future-facing: the day of the Lord, God’s faithfulness to his promises, and the steady promise that history ends with the kingdom belonging to the Lord. We talk about endurance when injustice seems to win, and why Scripture points us to a coming reign of righteousness under Jesus Christ. If you want a clear Bible teaching on Obadiah, Edom, pride, judgment, and the day of the Lord, press play, then subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

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Transcript

Small Book Big Message

SPEAKER_00 0:54

There's an old saying that good things come in small packages. Now, I don't know if that's always true. I think my pickup truck is a good thing and it won't fit in a small package. But the truth remains that sometimes the most important things in life, uh, they're not big, they're not loud, they're small, yet very powerful. Well, on our wisdom journey today, we we drop anchor here for just one session in the little book of Obadiah. It's only 21 verses long. In fact, it's the shortest book in the Old Testament. But let me tell you, this small package carries a very powerful message to this day. Now, we happen to know very little, in fact, next to nothing, about the prophet Obadiah, except the meaning of his name, which means servant, or you could translate it worshiper of Yahweh. We also know that the Lord gave him a message to deliver, now primarily to the nation Edom. We've already uncovered prophecies against Edom back here in Isaiah and Jeremiah, Lamentations, and some other books. But Obadiah is devoted almost entirely to declaring God's judgment on Edom. And I believe that suggests that Obadiah's prophecy was written before all the other prophets. The nation of Edom lay south of the Dead Sea. The Edomites were descendants of Jacob's brother Esau, and that explains why Obadiah uses Esau as another name of Edom. Now, despite the ancient family relationship, Edom was a longstanding, a rather unrelenting enemy of Israel. So Obadiah's prophecy begins with a pronouncement of coming destruction against Edom here in verses one through nine. In fact, he says in verse two, Behold, I will make you small among the nations. You shall be utterly despised. The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, Who will bring me down to the ground? Well how's that for humility? You see, the Edomites have become convinced that they are invincible. Their strongholds in the mountains, in fact, their most famous city called Petra, was literally carved into the mountain, and that gave them the sense that they could never be defeated. So Edom is saying here, Who's going to bring me down? Well, in verse 4, God has an answer for them. I will bring you down. In other words, what some army can't do, God says, I can do. The Lord says here in verse 7, All your allies have deceived you. Those who eat your bread have set a trap beneath you. In other words, God's going to turn their allies, the friends who've added to the Edomites' false sense of confidence. He's going to use them against Edom. He's going to use them to bring about the downfall of this proud nation. Now this will be especially humiliating to Edom because they also took pride in their wisdom. In fact, Edom was known for its wise men. You might remember Eliphaz, one of Job's friends. Well, he was from Temen, that was a city in southern Edom. Jeremiah spoke of the wisdom associated with Edom over in Jeremiah 49. Yet all of their wisdom had just made them proud and foolish. In fact, you're not going to find peace, satisfaction, and in your muscles, in your money, you know, your fame. They certainly won't deliver you from the judgment of God. Now next Obadiah says the cause of Edom's destruction here in verses 10 through 14 are for another reason. Verse 10 says, Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever. Now Edom's violence here was unprovoked. It was continual. Now we can look at these verses as listing various causes of Edom's coming destruction, but there's really one overriding cause, and that's given to us here in verse 10, and that's violence. Now we usually think of violence as physical harm done to others, but I want to point out the kind of violence God is referring to here. Verse 11 speaks of Edom as standing aloof on the day that strangers carried off Judah's wealth. More than likely, this refers to the attack of Philistines and Arabs mentioned back in 2 Chronicles chapter 21. Now the people of Edom didn't participate directly in ransacking Judah, but the Lord says to them here, Well, you were like one of them. In other words, by standing by, by doing nothing to help the people of Judah, the Edomites were, in God's mind, just as guilty of violence as the Philistines and Arabs. Secondly, Edom is guilty of gloating over Judah's fall. Verse 12 here says, Do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin. Now the verb tense here and in the following verses prohibit them from rejoicing in the future. So they're rejoicing now over this attack, but the Lord is prophesying about the fall of Jerusalem that's going to take place in 586 BC in these particular verses. And he's warning Edom against celebrating Jerusalem's destruction. That's going to happen as the Babylonians destroy the city of Jerusalem in the future. Now again, the Edomites are not directly destroying Jerusalem, but they're delighting in it. Even more than that, verses 13 and 14 indicate that they're going to take away some of the plunder for themselves. They're going to go in there and take some for themselves. They're going to turn some of the fugitives of Judah over to the Babylonians. Again, Edom isn't pictured here as actively engaged in violence, but they're vindictive, self-centered, they're calloused attitudes that ignore Israel's plight. They're gloating over their fall. They're seeking to benefit from this. Well, that's violence in the eyes of God. And it's going to call for his judgment against them. That judgment's coming. In fact, by New Testament times, Edom no longer exists as a nation. They're going to be displaced from their homeland, and the last remnant of the Edomites will cease to exist as a distinct people after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. So this is the judgment of God. Now again, Edom's sins were not as appalling as those of the Babylonians. They didn't do anything directly to bring about Judah's downfall. But you know what they did? They just stood by and they cheered it on. So let's learn this lesson today. We can't excuse sinful attitudes just because our outward actions don't seem all that bad. Oh no. God sees our heart. And what he's seeing in our hearts, you know, perhaps nobody else sees. Does he see hateful attitudes in us toward others? Does he see us rejoicing when our enemies fail or fall? Or does he seek concern and compassion even for those who might hate us? Well, now finally, here in verses 15 through 21, we find a prophecy of the coming day of the Lord. And here again, the day of the Lord refers to end time judgment of all the nations described in Matthew chapter 25, and also back in Joel chapter 3. Now, in the context here of Obadiah, Edom is presented as an example, a foretaste of the coming judgment from God against unbelieving nations. And now the final verses of Obadiah remind us that God is not only just, reminds us that God is also faithful to his promises. The people that Edom despised, well, they're going to be restored. They, verse 17 says, shall be holy. The kingdom will be restored as the house of Jacob. Well, that's Judah. They are going to be reunited. Verse 18 once again. They're going to possess the promised land, the land God promised to give them centuries ago in his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Obadiah declares that God's promises will one day come true. Now with that, this little book of Obadiah ends with a glimpse of Jesus Christ's millennial kingdom, the Messiah's kingdom here in verse 21, as the final prophecy declares, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's. You know what he's doing? He's summing up all of human history. Yes, we need to be prepared to suffer injustice in this world, but we also have the assurance from God, from God's word, from this little book, that we're on the winning team. There's coming a day when justice and righteousness will reign on earth. Why? Because Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, will reign on earth. So let's be patient, but let's be persistent. Let's be faithful in standing for the Lord and our coming King today. Well, until our next discussion together, beloved, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.