Alright, we're going to go to Obadiah tonight. Obadiah. Only one chapter. And so it's the first chapter. And the last chapter. Take your pick. But the next prophet that we're going to look at is the prophet Obadiah, who's the author of this, the smallest book in the Old Testament that carries his name. Now, the name Obadiah means servant, or a worshipper of Jehovah. And it's a very common name among the Jewish people. Among the Jewish people, many names such as the name Obadiah were common and they frequently occur in the Old Testament. In fact, there are at least 13 men in the Scriptures 13 men in the Old Testament who went by the name Obadiah. So don't get confused about your Obadiahs. Because little or nothing is known about any of the Obadiahs of the Bible. In fact, there were only two that came to my mind as I began to study this. You might remember we saw an Obadiah a little while back when we were studying Elijah. Remember Obadiah was one that was Elijah found him and said, you go tell Ahab I'm looking for him. He said, no, no, no, you come with me. If I leave you're going to disappear and Ahab's not going to be happy. That was Obadiah, a fellow by the name of Obadiah there, but it's not the same Obadiah. But he was the governor of Ahab's palace that hid 100 of Jehovah's prophets in 1 Kings 18 verses 3-16. And then there's the prophet. that we are looking at in this study. All we know about this prophet is that he was a prophet who wrote the briefest book in the Old Testament. When we try to look at his origin, his age, his life, his tribe, his parents, and grave, all of that is unknown. We don't know anything about him. We can say that his is the voice of a stranger. We don't have an opportunity to get to know Him except through what He wrote here. None of His personal history, not a single incident or even a single tradition has been preserved. But remember, one message from God in Obadiah's anonymity could well be for us to see that the work, God's work, is more important than the worker. Amen. He was about God's work. He did what God told him to do. And understand also that Obadiah's prophecy, and I didn't know this, it's always been a favorite of the Jews. I would say it was a little known to us. Because it is. You ever heard a message on small Obadiah? What we know is that It's in favor of the Jews because of its prophecy against one of Israel's bitterest enemies, a country and people that went by the name of Edom. Now let's talk about Edom a little bit. Edom was Judah's southern neighbor, which shared a common boundary. But we know that neighbors are not always friends, are they? Just not. Edom liked nothing about Judah, liked nothing about Israel either. And we're not going to turn to all these passages. I've given you a history here of the animosity going on. According to Genesis 25 verse 30 and Genesis 36 verse 1, we know that the people of Edom were the descendants of Esau, the twin brother of Jacob. Edom means red. If you remember when Esau came out, he was red and hairy. And I guess rather than call him hairy, they called him red. Anyway, Edom. Now the Scriptures reveal that from early on there was frequent conflict between the two peoples. Jacob and Esau even struggled against one another in their mother's womb. I will have you turn to this one. Look at Genesis chapter number 25. Genesis 25. Genesis 25. We see in verse number 21, Isaac entreating the Lord for his wife because she was barren. there in verse 21. And the Lord was entreated of him. And Rebekah, his wife, conceived. And then verse 22 is the telling verse here. And the children struggled together within her. I kind of get the picture of them in there fist fighting. Yeah. That's the way it felt to her. She said, if it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the Lord. The Lord said unto her, two nations are in thy womb. two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels. And the one shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger." And so, we know she had twins there, and we know as they grew up, the conflict just got greater. I mean, even when they were born, Jacob's hand reached and grabbed hold of the ankle of Esau. on the way out. That's how he got his name, being the supplanter. He was trying to supplant his brother. Now, when Esau sold his birthright to Jacob, and Jacob deceived his father Isaac into giving him the blessing of the firstborn, those two things caused family friction. I'm giving you The verses look up. If you are not familiar with the story, let me encourage you to look those scriptures up, Genesis 25 and Genesis 27, and read those on your own account. When Jacob returned home in Genesis 33, after having been sent off to get a wife, now understand he's been gone for 20 years. comes back after 120 years. But before he left, his dad, this whole thing kind of started with his dad said, I'm about to die. So he saw him going out and killing a deer and bringing that deer back and giving him meats so he could bless his son. Well, he wasn't near death. He's at least 20 years away, because it was after that Jacob got back from Pandanaram that his dad passed away. Now we know he was there 20 years. So when Jacob returned home in Genesis 33, we know that Jacob feared what Esau might do to him when he met him in the way. We know that old hatreds die hard sometimes, don't they? They really do. In Numbers 20 verses 14-22, we know the Edomites are mentioned there later on during Moses' day. The descendants of Esau there showed themselves very unfriendly to Moses and the Israelites and refused them passage through their territory when marching towards Canaan. This bitterness continued. I mean, they said, you know, we're not asking to eat anything. We're not going to pluck any grapes off. We're not going to take anything that's growing. We just need to pass through the land. We won't even drink of your water. We won't even put anything down in the well and draw up any water. And the Edomites said, uh-uh. Nobody. You're not coming through here. Well, they tried to go. And Edomites, they rose up against them. We're going to slay them. And so they backed off. That's how bad it got. Well, that was during the time of Moses. During the time of Israel's kings, I've also given you some passages dealing with the constant conflict that was going on with Edom. Saul, David, Solomon, Jehoram, Ahaz all had interaction with Edom. And you can read about those in the passages that I've given to you there in your notes. And for those that are listening online, you can take and have a PDF copy of my notes with all of this information on there. So just print that out or pull it up and you can have that yourself. Then, later on, as we know that in Psalm 137, and I'm going to read this, And Psalm 137 and verse 7 shows that Edom actually encouraged Babylon to destroy Jerusalem. And it says, Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem who said, Raise it, raise it, even to the foundation thereof. Raising it, talking about tearing it down. And so, a lot of hatred there. Up to the time that Obadiah was given this message, Edom had rejoiced over the misfortunes of both Israel and Judah. If they weren't involved in evil, they were rejoicing in the ones that were involved in evil against them. So God used Obadiah to pronounce judgment on Edom for their callous and malicious actions toward his people. We could say that Edom actually stands as the typical designation for all the deadliest foes of the house of Israel. That name just brings that picture to you, is what I'm saying. And as we look at the book that Obadiah penned, we see that his style and writing is full of individuality. His language is simple and pure. And in the Hebrew language, is very highly poetic. Now the lessons to be learned from Obadiah's description of the character and career and then the downfall and doom of Edom should be clearly evident to us in that it's not wise to mess with those who belong to God. Israel belongs to God, still does. And it's not wise to mess around. I wish the leaders of our country would grab hold of that truth. Because they forget it from time to time. God's going to get His vengeance. Edom's capital at this particular time, at the time of the writing of this, was Petra. And you know what Petra is? Rock. A city that was considered impregnable. because it was cut into a solid rock cliff and set in a canyon that could be entered only through a narrow gap. Now, they perceived that as being one of their strengths and it wound up being their downfall. So, let's take a look at the outline here that we have on page two of your notes there. We see Edom's destruction, as mentioned, Let's read verses 1-4 here. The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom. We have heard a rumor from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen. Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle. Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen. Thou art greatly despised. And we see here in verse 3, the pride of thine heart hath deceived thee. Pride does that to a heart, doesn't it? It really does. It deceives people. The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the cliffs of the rock, whose habitation is high, that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, though thou set thy nest among the stars, hence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord. Edom thought there was safety in their city. However, God said He would send them plummeting from those heights. They had pride in their self-sufficiency. But God would humble them. He would bring them down. We see in verse 5 and 6, they had some confidence. Their confidence was not in God. Their confidence was in themselves, in their wealth, in their allies, and in their wisdom. Notice in verse 5. We see in verse 5 and 6 that Edom was confident in their wealth. It says, If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, how art thou cut off? Would they not have stolen till they had enough? If the grape-gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes? How are the things of Esau searched out? How are his hidden things sought up? Thieves would wind up stealing all that they had. They were confident in their wealth. They were confident, we see in their allies in verse 7. All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border. The men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee and prevailed against thee. They that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee. There is none understanding in him. And you need to be careful who you ally yourself with. We saw that in the matter of the last one that we looked at, didn't we? A Jehoshaphat allied himself with Ahab. Not a good thing. And then at the end, he again allied himself with another wicked king. And that's what eventually brought his death. But here we see the Confederacy. And it kind of makes me think of the present day, right now we see in our own nation some of our leaders getting buddy-buddy with some of the Muslim folks over in the Middle East. And it makes me wonder, okay, we know what the other side, they're always up to something. And so I wish our nation would be more careful in those things. Edom was confident in their allies, but God would cause the allies of Edom to turn against them. Edom was also confident in their wisdom. Verse 8 and 9. It says, Shall I not in that day, saith the Lord, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau? And thy mighty men, O Timon, shall be dismayed to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter." And God was going to send them in confusion. They were confident in their wisdom, but they were going to be confused. But get to Edom's sin. It's brought out in verse number 10. And their main sin was they were an enemy to Israel. It says, For thy violence against thy brother Jacob, shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off forever. And that happened. Come in. Not only were they an enemy to Israel, but they refused to help Israel. Verse 11, And the day that thou stoodest on the other side, and the day that the strangers carried away His forces and foreigners entered into His gates and cast lots upon Jerusalem. Even thou was as one of them. In other words, they applauded that effort. They were like, go enemies of Israel. Go. They were cheering them on. They refused to help Israel. They did not lift a finger to help Israel. Verse 12, we see that Edom rejoiced at the misfortunes of Israel and Judah. But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger. Neither shouldst thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction. Neither shouldst thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress." God didn't take that too kind. They were rejoicing against those misfortunes of Israel and Judah. And we know that after the enemy left, Edom looted Jerusalem themselves. Verse 13, Now shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity, yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity. What did they do? They waited for the Babylonians to finish up with them. And they went in. Anything that was left, They made sure they tried to grab hold of it and put it to their use. We see that in verse number 14, Edom betrayed their blood brothers in times of crisis. It says in verse 14, neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway to cut off those of his that did escape, neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress. So they betrayed their blood brothers. They hated Judah and Israel's enemies there in verse 14. And we see Edom's likeness mentioned here in verse 15 and 16. For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen. He turns here from this point from looking at Edom specifically and looking at all that are like Edom. like folks in our day and time that are against Israel, that are cheering Israel's enemies. We have literally in our country folks that are cheering Hamas to murder and rape and ravage Israel. They're that way. And here's a woe pronounced upon them. For the day of the Lord is near when all the heathen, as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee. Thy reward shall return upon thine own head. For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathens drink continually. Yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been." There's going to be some sad times. God's going to treat as Eden all of those who treat God's people wrongly. And you can see And I'll leave you to read Matthew 25 verses 31-46 yourself, but that deals with the judgment of the nations. There at the end of the tribulation period, in the early millennial period, as Christ is on the throne, He's going to judge the nations. Those that were on the wrong side of Israel. It's not going to go well for them. Look at verse 17-21, and let's talk about Israel's Restoration here, verse 17. It says, But upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness, and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. Now this is talking about when the Lord is going to reign and rule and reign there. And the house of Jacob shall be afire, and the house of Joseph aflame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them, and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau, for the Lord hath spoken it. And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau, and they of the plains the Philistines, and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria. And Benjamin shall possess Gilead, and the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath. And the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sephard, shall possess the cities of the south. And a Savior shall come up on Mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's. The Edomites were actually routed by Judas Maccabeus in 185 B.C., and the nation no longer existed as a nation by the first century A.D. Now, you still might hear Edom being talked about if it was talking about those that are like Edom, okay? At the time of Obadiah's prophecy, Edom may have seemed more likely to survive than Judah, yet Edom has vanished and Judah still exists. And this demonstrates the absolute certainty of God's Word and of punishment awaiting all who have mistreated God's people. So, Obadiah brought God's message of judgment on Edom. God was displeased with both their inward and their outward rebellion. And like I say, people today are much the same as those in Obadiah's time. We see arrogance. We see envy. We see dishonesty. We see an attitude against Israel. We wonder, when is it all going to end? Well, we know when it's going to end. It's going to end when the Lord Jesus Christ comes. Regardless of sin's effects, however, we rest in the knowledge that God is in control. And as we struggle, we should not despair or give up hope. When all is said and done, the Lord will still be King, and the confidence that we place in Him is not going to be in vain. Amen? It's not going to be in vain at all. So, Obadiah. That's Obadiah. And when we get back in town, Lord willing, we'll pick up another prophet. All right, let's pull back out our prayer list. We'll pray for the needs. That's our Bible study for this evening. And we'll pray for the needs on our prayer list that we mentioned before. And we'll be dismissed with this prayer.