The Vision of Obadiah

When reading the Minor Prophets you have to remember that they were giving warnings to the people, because they had drifted away from the LORD and gone their own way. The path that they decided to follow, which was determined by what they wanted and not what was good, brought ruin to themselves. These warnings given so long ago can still let us know what we need to avoid doing and what needs to be done. It’s like the saying, “If you do not learn from the past then you are doomed to repeat it”. That’s why we are in the same boat as those people back then; we haven’t learned anything from the past.

Most people prefer good news over bad news. That could be the reason that people avoid these prophets and the message that they were given to share with the people. These warnings weren’t sent to condemn the people but to let them know that they have gone astray. Through these same warnings, most of the time God also puts in a message of what can and will be done to save His people from the punishment to come as in Hosea and Joel. Obadiah on the other hand is a straight-out warning, which this country and its people could take to heart.

Obadiah might be a short book in the Bible, but contains a powerful message about pride, unwise alliances and betrayal by a nation. Verses 3 and 4 speak to pride of exalting yourself up high and thinking you are above ever falling. The U.S. has become the words spoken here in Obadiah. Regardless of how far this country has turned its back on God it feels that it is untouchable. As God has brought down many nations that thought the same way we too cannot avoid their outcome. This nation if it wants to avoid what God has done too many others it should then look at Hosea and Joel to see what needs to be done to have God stay His hand. Repent, seek after God, call for a fast and weep and mourn before God for the sins of the country. Maybe then God will give us more time.

Obadiah then goes on to write in verse 7 that the allies of that nation will turn on it. God again has used other nations to punish His people for allowing the continued buildup of sin within their lands. Our country has definitely made alliances with nations that do not have our best interest in mind. These same nations that we have dealings with will also be the ones that will either turn their backs on us or be the ones that God uses to break the pride of this nation and bring it down. Our reliance should be on God and not the world and its nations. Our blessings did not come from our own hands nor those of those other nations, but from God.

Obadiah then warns about betrayal of nations. In verses 10-14 speaks of outright betrayal as well as betrayal by standing back and doing nothing. It’s also brought about in the view of turning your back on a brother. Depending on your view of things, I feel that our slow, but increasing pulling away from supporting our brother “Israel” is a form of betrayal. If we decided to not support or aide them it would be as if whatever befalls them is as if we had done it ourselves. Our media for the most part has shown the Hamas “terrorist group” in a better light then Israel, and how many people will begin to believe that and even more dangerous is how many of our so-called leader do? Betrayal can come in many forms and I fear we are already on that road of betraying our brother.

We as a country need to be aware of what we are doing within and without. In verse 15 the LORD says that all that we have done will be done to us, if we do not turn from our sinful ways. Though it speaks of the heathens, in verse 16 it opens up with, “for as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink”. That verse shows that a nation that does these things that are found in Obadiah’s vision will have the same outcome as the heathen nations.

So the word for the wise is that this nation should not try but do turn and repent or we will continue down the road that will lead us to only one outcome and that is one of punishment.