Yes, it's true, I am continuing to read through the minor prophets and recently had the opportunity to re read the one chapter book of Obadiah. The whole story of that book hearkens back to Isaac's two sons Jacob (who would later be renamed Israel by God) and Esau (whose descendants were called Edomites)
You remember the whole trading birthright for a bowl of lentil stew, right? And the follow up to that was that Jacob, with some coaching from his mom, tricked his dad Isaac out of the blessing that Isaac meant for Esau. Well fast forward a few hundred years. It seems that some of the nation of Israel's enemies were attacking and Edom was aware of it but did nothing to help except to help plunder. For this, God declares that Edom would be destroyed without a trace.
I was trying to think of a way to use this for family discussion and here's the way I pitched it. The whole book is basically a lesson in covering your brother's back and the consequences if you don't. (You'll note in my bio that I am a huge Phil Keaggy fan. On the Keaggy King Dente album Invention (now out of print) the lead song is called Watch Your Back and I really like it.) I had very good attention from the kids at this point. But it is so much bigger than blood brothers. I cannot help but see several applications to us today:
1- We are all human and therefore descendants of Adam, we should be looking out for every creation of God and especially our fellow image bearers
2- As Christians, every man, woman and child that has accepted Christ as Savior is our brother or sister. It doesn't matter how they were baptised or what they wear to church
3- As families, no one should out rank our own in terms of gaining our kind words and gifts of time and affection. Unfortunately, it seems like too often our family gets the worst of us instead of the best.
Your thoughts?
1 comment:
We read this book together Kevin last night Brent & I as neither one of us really remembered this book. It's been a long time since my OT Survey course I'm afraid! It is fascinating that God focused so much on the Edomites lack of love for their brothers. In this case it was more vile than their moral failure, more pungent than their lapse in religion. Now I'm not sure we can rate one sin above another, but it IS so true that loving your brother IS a call of God on His children be it your sibling in Christ next door, your countryman or around the world. We're also reading 1 John in small groups and there are amazing passages there (2:9-11; 3:11-24) that speak about loving our brother sacrificially. Why? Because we have been first loved by God the Father. Our brothers as beloved of God.. they are chosen and specially called of Him. Precious! Of course I fail each and every day.. SUCH a convicting book for me personally!
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