Thursday, November 12, 2015

Defending God's Judgment on Edom PT-2 (Obad. 1:12-14)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/12/2015 9:54 PM

My Worship Time                                           Focus:  Defending God’s Judgment on Edom PT-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Obadiah 1:12-14

            Message of the verses:  First we will look at verse twelve and comment on that and then look at verses 13-14 and comment on those too.

            “12 “Do not gloat over your brother’s day, The day of his misfortune. And do not rejoice over the sons of Judah In the day of their destruction; yes, do not boast in the day of their distress.”

            We may have already mentioned that the people of Edom gloated over the distress that happened to Judah, and we also mentioned that it is not certain as to when this all happened. It seems to me that this may have happened after the Southern Kingdom was destroyed by the Babylonians, but I cannot be dogmatic about that statement.  Ezekiel writes from 35:15 and also 36:5 the following:  “15  "As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so I will do to you. You will be a desolation, O Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am the LORD."’”  “5 therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Surely in the fire of My jealousy I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who appropriated My land for themselves as a possession with wholehearted joy and with scorn of soul, to drive it out for a prey."”   Ezekiel was prophesying about what was going to happen to Edom in these verses.

            There is a verse or two in the book of Proverbs that speaks to what was going to happen to Edom because of what they were doing in their rejoicing over the awful things that was happening to Judah:  “17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; 18 Or the LORD will see it and be displeased, And turn His anger away from him.”   Dr. Wiersbe writes “God didn’t spare the Jews but He did send judgment on Edom in due time.”

            Next we look at verses 13-14 “13 “Do not enter the gate of My people In the day of their disaster. Yes, you, do not gloat over their calamity in the day of their disaster. And do not loot their wealth in the day of their disaster. 14 “Do not stand at the fork of the road to cut down their fugitives; and do not imprison their survivors in the day of their distress.”

            We see a lot of “do not” in these two verses, things that Obadiah is telling to Edom, not to do.  Edom was doing things wrong against the Jews as mentioned they were doing nothing to help their brothers, they were cheering when their brother was captured, and now they are really going too far as they help the enemies of Judah to destroy them.  This is taking the family feud a bit too far.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “The Edomites entered the city and shared in dividing the spoils, thus robbing their brothers of their wealth.”  “The Edomites also stood at the forks in the roads, ready to capture the fugitive=s who were trying to escape; and they turned them over to the enemy to be imprisoned or slain.” 

            Jesus said the following in Matthew 5:43-48 in His Sermon on the Mount “43 "You have heard that it was said, ’YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ 44  "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 “If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  We have to admit that this is a very difficult thing to do, something that we cannot do on our own, but God’s Spirit living in us can help us to follow God’s Word when we submit to Him and His Word.

            There is one more sin to look at from verses 15-16 and we will do that in our next SD on the book of Obadiah.

11/12/2015 10:17 PM

No comments:

Post a Comment