SERIES: Major Profit from Minor Prophets
Pride Goes Before a Fall
SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus
Note: This series, done in the summer of 1999, involved one sermon each on the Twelve Minor Prophets. Obviously, since these books are of varying lengths, from one chapter to fourteen chapters, these sermons are focused on the key message of each prophet, rather than a detailed examination of their words.
Introduction: Powerful things sometimes come in small packages. That’s a good fact to keep in mind as we continue our journey through the Minor Prophets, for we arrive this morning at the smallest book in the Old Testament, the prophecy of Obadiah. I suppose preachers, of all people, ought to be reminded that one doesn’t have to be verbose to be profound.
A month ago my family was in Washington, D.C. One evening we walked from our hotel past the Washington Monument and the Vietnam Memorial to the Lincoln Memorial. I have been there four or five times before, but I never cease to be awed by this most moving of all our national monuments. There on the wall to the left of the sitting statue of Lincoln is his brief but powerful Gettysburg Address carved into a stone wall. Do you know the story behind those memorable words?
One hundred thirty-six years ago this month, the battlefield known as Gettysburg became one of the most horrific scenes in military history. Within just a few days 51,000 were killed, wounded or missing in action in what would prove the decisive Union victory of the Civil War. A national cemetery was proposed and Congress appointed a commission to plan a consecration service for the following November 19. They invited the silver-tongued Edward Everett, former congressman and governor of Massachusetts, to deliver the dedication speech.
In October President Lincoln announced his intentions to attend the ceremonies. This startled the commissioners, who had not expected Mr. Lincoln to leave the Capitol during wartime. How could he not be asked to speak? Yet they were nervous, realizing how much better an orator Everett was than Lincoln. Nevertheless, they wrote the President and asked him to deliver “a few appropriate remarks.”
Lincoln knew the invitation was an afterthought, but it mattered little to him. When the battle of Gettysburg had begun, he had dropped to his knees and pleaded with God not to let the nation perish. He felt his prayer had been answered and all he wanted to do was express his gratitude to God. Arriving in Gettysburg the night before, he wrote out his comments on two small pages and tucked them into his coat pocket.
Shortly after the chaplain of the Senate gave the invocation, Everett was introduced. At 69, the grand old gentleman knew his craft well. Voice fluctuation. Tone. Dramatic gestures. Eloquent pauses. Lincoln stared in fascination. Finally, one hour and 57 minutes later, the orator took his seat as the crowd roared its enthusiastic approval.
It was already 2:00 in the afternoon when Lincoln was introduced. Slipping on his steel spectacles, he held the two pages in his right hand and grabbed his lapel with his left. He never moved his feet nor made any gesture with his hands. His voice, was high-pitched, almost squeaky, and his demeanor was serious as he read, “Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” You know the words. Then he added, with great sadness in his voice, a tribute to the soldiers buried there: “The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.” A brief moment later he was through–no more than two minutes after he had begun. His talk had been so prayer-like it seemed almost inappropriate to applaud.
I ask you, “Can anyone today recall a single line from Everett’s two-hour Gettysburg address?” Yet Lincoln’s two minutes have become perhaps the most memorable in the history of our nation. I want us to take two or three minutes to read the words of a man of God who lived 2,500 years ago. He too may have been brief, but his message is neither unimportant nor irrelevant. Let’s read the entire book of Obadiah.
“The vision of Obadiah. This is what the Sovereign LORD says about Edom–
We have heard a message from the LORD: An envoy was sent to the nations to say, “Rise, and let us go against her for battle”—
{2} “See, I will make you small among the nations; you will be utterly despised. {3} The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’ {4} Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.
{5} “If thieves came to you, if robbers in the night– Oh, what a disaster awaits you– would they not steal only as much as they wanted? If grape pickers came to you, would they not leave a few grapes? {6} But how Esau will be ransacked, his hidden treasures pillaged! {7} All your allies will force you to the border; your friends will deceive and overpower you; those who eat your bread will set a trap for you, but you will not detect it.
{8} “In that day,” declares the LORD, “will I not destroy the wise men of Edom, men of understanding in the mountains of Esau? {9} Your warriors, O Teman, will be terrified, and everyone in Esau’s mountains will be cut down in the slaughter. {10} Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever. {11} On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. {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. Now look at verse 21: {21} Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will be the Lord’s.”
Brief, but powerful. Chances are, many of you are unfamiliar with the book of Obadiah. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are those who have just read Obadiah for the first time in your life. If so, I am hopeful that we will not only remedy your lack of familiarity, but in addition help you see that this ancient prophet has a very practical and relevant message for us today. I will even try to be brief in my exposition, but it will take longer than two minutes.
We know almost nothing about Obadiah the man except his name, which means “one who worships God.” At least 12 men in Scripture had this name, but we are unsure if any of the others can be identified with this prophet. Nor do we know for sure when the events occurred which he describes. The traditional view is that Obadiah prophesied shortly after the Babylonian invasion of Judah and the destruction of Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar. What we can be sure of is the theme of Obadiah’s message: pride and self-sufficiency and independence cannot save the strongest of nations (or the most powerful of individuals) from the judgment of God. His Kingdom will prevail. Let me begin by sharing some of the …
Historical background for Obadiah’s prophecy against Edom
The people of Edom were Judah’s neighbor and their historical enemy. They were actually Israel’s relatives, for the Edomites were the descendants of Esau while the Israelites were the descendants of Jacob. Jacob and Esau, you may remember, were twins born to Isaac and Rebekah about 2,000 B.C. They fought while still in their mother’s womb, so much so that she went to inquire of the Lord as to why this was happening. Here’s what the Lord said to her (Genesis 25:23): “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”
Esau was born first, and as such was entitled to the majority of his father’s estate. But when they were young men, Jacob took advantage of Esau at a weak moment to obtain the birthright, tricked their father, who was very elderly and nearly blind, and stole the blessing from Esau. From that point on, except for a brief time of reconciliation in Genesis 32, Esau and his descendants were inveterate enemies of Jacob and his descendants.
Esau, in an effort to get away from Jacob, settled in the desert region east and south of the Dead Sea. I don’t understand why anyone would choose to live there because it is easily one of the most God-forsaken places on planet earth. I and a group of 40-some from our church visited there a little over a year ago. We drove south from Amman, Jordan about four hours to the ancient city of Petra, smack dab in the center of the land of Edom in biblical times. As we disembarked there, we wondered, “Where is Petra?”, for one could see nothing but desert and barren hills.
But then we began to walk down a dry river gully, which led into a shallow canyon, which became narrower and steeper the further we went. I want to turn the lights off for a moment while I show you a few slides of this amazing place. Within a mile the walls of the canyon, made of red stone, narrowed to less than ten feet, yet they were hundreds of feet high. Finally, we emerged into the most astounding sight one could imagine. There about 50 yards before us was an ornate building, perhaps 50 feet high, carved out of solid rock, and over 2,000 years old. To the left and right were temples and tombs and homes and all kinds of other buildings–all carved out of solid rock. As we proceeded down the wider canyon, there were hundreds of such buildings, and we were told it continued for miles beyond.
This was the home of the ancient Nabateans, the people who defeated the Edomites shortly after Obadiah’s prophecy. While most of the buildings we saw were from the Nabatean period, the Edomites had themselves established an amazing culture in this very place centuries earlier. Their power was at its zenith when Obadiah penned the words we just read in verses 3 and 4:
{3} The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’ {4} Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.
The people of Edom not only felt secure in their nearly impregnable fortress; they were also fabulously wealthy. They were located on the great trade routes between Egypt and the rest of the civilized world, and they charged exorbitant duty to those who passed by. Caravans that would not pay were plundered. In addition, they had huge mining resources of iron and copper. The result was that Edom was one of the most secure and self-sufficient nations of the ancient world.
But God was planning the destruction of Edom, and as was His custom, He called upon a prophet to give plenty of advance warning of the impending judgment. Why was God bent on judging this nation? Obadiah mentions four reasons:
The reasons for Edom’s impending defeat
They were proud and arrogant in spirit. (3) We have just read about how the pride of their heart had deceived the Edomites. Pride is a common theme of Scripture. It can be defined as “an over-estimation of one’s self-importance, while manifesting a belittling attitude towards others.”[i] Pride can touch anyone’s life, whether it be pride of place, race, or face. The Scripture clearly states there are six things the Lord hates, even seven, and the first is a proud look (Proverbs 6, 8). Pride is an abomination (Prov. 16:5) which He will not tolerate (Ps. 101:5). He calls it sin (Prov. 21:4), and He resists those who practice it (James 4:6), warning that the proud are headed for a fall and ultimate destruction (Prov. 16:18).
They had a misplaced sense of security. The Lord says to Edom, “Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down.” Though impregnable from a human standpoint, Edom was accessible to God. They could not escape the reach of the long arm of divine justice. They asked, “Who can bring me down?” And God responded, “I will bring you down.”
The misplaced sense of security that Edom exhibited reminds us of the story of Belshazzar and Daniel. King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for thousands of his nobles, and during the banquet a hand appeared and began writing on the wall. Daniel was summoned and was offered great wealth to interpret the strange words. He refused the money but offered to interpret the writing. First, however, he reminded Belshazzar that his father Nebuchadnezzar had been the most powerful man on earth, but when his heart became arrogant and hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and stripped of his glory. Eventually, however, he bowed the knee to God and God graciously restored him to his throne.
Then Daniel said, “But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this. Instead you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven.” Then he concluded with these remarkable words: “You did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways.”How many people, how many nations could be described the same way–stubbornly refusing to honor the God who holds their very breath in His hand!
Their wisdom was worldly, allowing no place for God. In verse 8 God declares, “In that day will I not destroy the wise men of Edom, men of understanding in the mountains of Esau?” The people of the east were known for their wisdom. Located as they were on the great trade routes, the leaders of Edom could get news and views from many nations. But God had no part in their system of knowledge.
But the single greatest reason for God’s anger against Edom was that…
They practiced long-standing violence against their brothers, the Israelites. Look again at verse 10: “Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever.” Some 400 years after Jacob and Esau passed off the scene, Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, across the Red Sea toward the Promised Land. At Mount Sinai God gave Him the Ten Commandments and the Mosaic Law. Included was this commandment as found in Deut. 23:7, “Do not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother.” The Israelites largely followed that edict, but Edom continued to “harbor an ancient hostility” (that’s the term used in Ezek. 35:5) against Israel and used every opportunity to display it.
After camping at Mt. Sinai for nearly a year, the Israelites continued toward the Promised Land, but, as you know they were forced to wander in the desert for nearly 40 years because of unbelief. Eventually they camped near Kadesh as they prepared for the final leg of their journey. Their plan was to skirt the southern end of the Dead Sea, march north on its east side, and enter Canaan heading west near the town of Jericho. But Edom lay in the way. So, Moses sent messengers to the King of Edom requesting safe passage through his land.
Here are the words of Moses, as found in Numbers 20:14-21:
“This is what your brother Israel says: You know about all the hardships that have come upon us. {15} Our forefathers went down into Egypt, and we lived there many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers, {16} but when we cried out to the LORD, he heard our cry and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt.
“Now we are here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory. {17} Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the king’s highway and not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”
{18} But Edom answered: “You may not pass through here; if you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword.”
{19} The Israelites replied: “We will go along the main road, and if we or our livestock drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We only want to pass through on foot–nothing else.”
{20} Again they answered: “You may not pass through.” Then Edom came out against them with a large and powerful army. {21} Since Edom refused to let them go through their territory, Israel turned away from them.”
As a result, the Israelites had to take a tedious detour south, then east, and then north around the eastern side of Edom. The extra time and resources that had to be expended were very precious for a people already exhausted from four decades in the wilderness.
And the opposition of Edom against Israel didn’t stop there. In verses 11-14 of his prophecy Obadiah refers to a more recent event in which Edom encouraged the enemies of Judah while they were ransacking Jerusalem. This time the Edomites didn’t fight against their brothers, but they did something almost as bad. Obadiah says, “You stood aloof while strangers carried off Israel’s wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem.”
Then, in a series of seven rebukes he accuses them of other evil actions during Judah’s day of distress:
“You should not look down on your brother …
nor rejoice over the people of Judah …
nor boast so much.
You should not march through the gates of my people …
nor look down on them in their calamity …
nor seize their wealth.
You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives,
nor hand over their survivors.”
Psalm 137 is a lament over Jerusalem by the exiles Nebuchadnezzar took captive to Babylon. In verse 7 of that Psalm, we read: “Remember, O Lord, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. ‘Tear it down,’ they cried, ‘tear it down to its foundations!” There is a principle evident here. One is as guilty to tolerate and encourage evil as to perpetrate it oneself. In the sight of God, who looks not on the outward appearance but on the heart, there is little distinction in moral accountability between overt sin and an inner bias toward the same sin that permits it to go unchecked.
It might be worthwhile to stop for a moment and ask, “Is there any sense in which our nation, or we as individuals, have committed these same sins of which Edom was guilty.” Is there evidence among us of a proud and arrogant spirit? People today may not live in impregnable fortresses carved out of solid rock, but I think many are just as proud of their dwelling places. They love to flaunt their address to impress others.
My wife grew up just a few miles outside Wichita, Kansas on a 640-acre farm owned by the richest man in Kansas. He was even written up in Life magazine while she lived there. Jan’s stepmother worked for this man, and her family lived in a farmhouse on the edge of the property. But the man himself lived in a geodesic dome built by the eccentric inventor, Buckminster Fuller, on a lake in the center of the farm. He named the road to his house “Easy Street,” and he got permission from the Post Office to change the address every year to the year itself. The first time I visited Jan there, the address was 1962 Easy Street. Talk about pride in one’s dwelling!
How about a misplaced sense of security? Do we as a nation think our smart weapons can always achieve our goals with little or no risk? Do we as individuals believe our high-tech stocks or our real estate holdings are a safe buffer from the economic uncertainties of the future? It would be wise for us to realize, having just celebrated another birthday of our country, that no nation should put trust in its power or prosperity because either can be removed suddenly. Of course, the same is true of individuals.
Do we exercise worldly wisdom that excludes God? Recently I read a statement from a leading scientist who said he accepted organic evolution as fact, not because it has been proven, but because the only alternative, special creation, was clearly impossible. He simply ruled God out before scientific investigation even began. It seems the more knowledge we gain, the further God is removed from virtually every part of public life.
Do we exercise long-standing violence against our brothers? Remember, whether we perpetrate the violence ourselves or simply stand by and watch while others do it, God hates it. I fear we do not have clean hands when it comes to the treatment of Native Americans, Black Americans, Jewish people, and other racial minorities. We may not all be active in our prejudice, but we are too often passive in the face of other people’s prejudice. We should be as revolted by the murders committed by a white supremacist this past week as we were by the Columbine High School massacre.[ii]
Well, Obadiah has presented God’s case against Edom, and it is watertight. If Edom is so guilty, what is God going to do about it? He’s going to judge Edom, and it won’t be a slap on the wrist, for Obadiah speaks of …
The thoroughness of Edom’s impending defeat
They would become an outcast among the nations. Verse 2: “See, I will make you small among the nations; you will be utterly despised.” A nation without allies is as sad a situation as an individual without friends. It’s not easy to be in Milosevic’s shoes, with Boris Yeltsin as your only friend. The prophet goes on to say in verse 7, “All your allies will force you to the border; your friends will deceive and overpower you; those who eat your bread will set a trap for you, but you will not detect it.” As it turned out, a league of various Arab states turned against Edom within a generation after Obadiah prophesied.
They would suffer total economic deprivation. He employs two interesting word pictures to highlight the tragedy that will come upon Edom. He says that when robbers come in the night, they only take what they can use. And when grape pickers harvest a field, they always leave a few grapes. But, in contrast, when God ransacks Edom, nothing will be left. All its hidden treasures will be pillaged. Interestingly, that first magnificent building I showed you as we entered Petra through the narrow canyon was “The Treasury.” Nothing is left but the building itself, for all the treasures were taken centuries ago. There is nothing but sand in any of the buildings, sand and trash left by wandering Bedouins. Even the tombs have been robbed of their bodies.
They would endure humiliating military defeat. In verse 9 we read, “Your warriors, O Teman, will be terrified, and everyone in Esau’s mountains will be cut down in the slaughter.” Teman was one of the cities of Edom. History does not record for us how the Nabateans managed to defeat the Edomites. We only know they were forced out of their territory into southern Judah and, after intermarrying with some of the Jews, became known as the Idumeans (Edomites–Idumeans). Herod the Great, you may recall, was an Idumean, and, of course, he demonstrates how the enmity between the descendants of Esau and Jacob continued right up to the coming of Messiah.
They would never again rise from the ashes. “You will be covered with shame,” God said to the Edomites in verse 10. “You will be destroyed forever.” Later in verse 18 the prophet adds, “‘The house of Esau will be stubble, and they will set it on fire and consume it. There will be no survivors from the house of Esau.’ The Lord has spoken.” And indeed, the Edomite people were simply assimilated into the surrounding cultures and, for all practical purposes, disappeared from history.
There is one more issue Obadiah addresses, and that is:
The contrast of Edom’s impending defeat with the triumph of God’s Kingdom.
Look again at verse 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.” God didn’t preserve this little book for us just so we could know what happened to the one little nation of Edom. He wants all people everywhere to wake up and realize that God is in control and that history, i.e. His story, is moving to an inexorable end in which the wicked will be judged, the righteous will be delivered, and the Kingdom will be the Lord’s.
We have all heard of the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” But Obadiah tells us the obverse of that Rule is also true: “As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.” Think of some examples of this principle in the Scriptures. In Moses’ day the Pharaoh ordered all the Jewish boy babies drowned, so God drowned the Egyptian army. The men who plotted the lion’s den for Daniel were themselves thrown to the lions. The men who plotted the fiery furnace for Shadrach, Meshach, and Obednego were themselves thrown into that furnace. Haman built a gallows to hang Mordecai, but ended up being hung on it himself. The same principle is taught in the NT, for in Galatians 6:7 we read, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” This is true of individuals and it is true of nations–small or great, ancient or modern.
But while the wicked will get their due, God’s people will be delivered. Verse 17: “But on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy, and the house of Jacob will possess its inheritance.” Verses 19 and 20 go on to talk about how the people of Israel will possess the land God originally gave them. Some believe this is a promise in figurative language depicting the expansion of Christ’s church. But I believe that while it may have that as a secondary meaning, it is primarily a promise that the Jewish nation will eventually receive all the land which God originally promised them, including the mountains of Esau.
But the most important statement is the last one: “And the kingdom will be the Lord’s.” God is sovereign. He is in control. He is working out His plan through the actions and affairs of mankind. I do not lose a lot of sleep over the actions of the U.S. State Department or the United Nations, because they are not in charge. God is in charge. He will punish the wicked. He will deliver the righteous.
Now friends, if the Lord is sovereign and if the kingdom will be the Lord’s, the most important question you can possibly answer is this: Is he your king? Have you bowed the knee to Him? You know, the ultimate judgment of the wrath of God fell not on Edom, but on Christ at the Cross. Those who humble themselves before the Cross have their sins forgiven. But those with proud and arrogant spirits, those who lean on their worldly wisdom, will fall before God’s judgment.
By the way, there is no Easy Street in Wichita today. The man who was once the richest man in Kansas has been gone for 25 years. His fortune was disbursed. His family disintegrated. His house was dismantled and moved to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. His farm has been turned into a golf course. And the only one still living today on that 640 acres is a godly woman, Jan’s step-mother, awaiting the Lord’s return.[iii] “Thy Kingdom come; thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.”
DATE: July 11, 1999
Tags:
Pride
Abraham Lincoln
Edom
Violence
Security, false sense of
God’s kingdom
[i] Israel My Glory, December/January 1988/89, 28.
[ii] A terrible moral disintegration is happening in our country. Unfortunately, we’re like the frog in the pot of boiling water who doesn’t notice the water temperature going up because it’s so gradual. Stuart Briscoe shared a conversation he had with Ruth Bell Graham, wife of Billy Graham. She said to Briscoe, “If God does not bring judgment upon the United States, one day He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”
[iii] Elva Schuessler died in 2014. Today (2024) there are dozens of million-dollar homes around the golf course.