08/05/07

Sunday school: Proverbs 24:13 & 14 “eat honey…”

Choruses: We worship and adore you (G); Jesus, name above all names (F); There is a river (F)

Scripture Reading: #662           

Vespers: Life of Christ

Wednesday class: Developing a Biblically consistent world-view.

Nationally - we are going to pay!!

Obadiah, verse 12 - You should not look down on your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their trouble.

13. You should not march through the gates of my people in the day of their disaster, nor look down on them in their calamity in the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster.

14. You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives, nor hand over their survivors in the day of their trouble. 15. The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.

“The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done it, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.”

“As you have done it…” the generic ‘you.’ Obadiah, there are 13 Obadiah’s mentioned in the Bible. We don’t really know much about this one. This book was probably written about the time that Ezekiel and Daniel were in Babylon and Jeremiah had been taken away by fearful Jews to Egypt - a time after 586 B.C.E.

There were no ‘name brand’ prophets left in Judah.

Who was being warned? The Edomites – Esau’s descendants! They were among the perennially dangerous enemies of Israel…along with the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Philistines.

Of those enemies, only the Edomites were related to the Jews. That made their enmity particularly hard to bear.

The Edomites lived in an area we know as Petra, in southern Jordan. By the time of Malachi, about 300 years or so before Christ, there was no more Edom. They had been conquered by the Nabatean Arabs and the area renamed Idumea.

The ‘Herods’ of the New Testament were among the last of the Edomites, or Idumeans and they disappeared off the world screen in 70 A.D. when Rome had finally had enough of the whole mess in Israel.

What does it have to do with us today?

There is a “day of the Lord” for all nations. What goes ‘round – comes ‘round.’

“God is not mocked, whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap.”

A time of reckoning does come for each nation. I think our time is upon us. Have you noticed that whatever a member of the family does affects not only him but the whole family? We can blame and deride politicians all day long, but the reality is that we vote them in and as politicians they respond directly to the squeaking wheel – the loudest voices.

It is our responsibility to be the prophetic voice in our time!

Jesus said, “In as much as you have done it unto the least of these…” we have done it unto Him.

We have looked down on people…

“12. You should not look down on your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction…”

We have not taken care of the fugitives, the survivors, the aliens…

“14. You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives, nor hand over their survivors in the day of their trouble.”

We have blamed people in their day of calamity.

                        “…nor boast so much in the day of their trouble.”

We have taken resources from them in their time of disaster.

                        “…nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster.”

“The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done it, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.”