August 23rd, 2013
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Old Wounds Reopened

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Opening Prayer

Heavenly Father, may no dark cloud of doubt or fear turn me aside from walking with You all through today.

Read Obadiah 1:1-14

[1] 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, 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, those of understanding in the mountains of Esau? [9] Your warriors, 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 gloat over 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 gloat over 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.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Meditate

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God” (Matt. 5:9). Jesus gives us a challenging call in the face of hostility.

Think Further

“The violence against your brother Jacob” (10). Like the reverberation of thunder around the mountains, these words echo across the centuries. The pain of Edom’s betrayal of her neighbor and political relative, as well as her vicious opportunism, cut deep into the heart of this prophet–Obadiah, the servant of God. How could Edom have been so cruel, adding acid to the vicious wounds of Babylon’s destruction of Jerusalem (11)?

“Your brother Jacob” adds two theological memories at the same time. These words recall the primal fratricide when Cain killed his brother Abel. Then God said, “Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground” (Gen. 4:10). They also take us back to the birth of Israel, the struggle for supremacy between Jacob and Esau (Gen. 27-33). Jacob’s deceptive treachery over the inheritance caused a rift that would drive him from his family and his home for many years. Worse still, as this prophecy reminds us, such violence has continued down through the centuries. Around the world such bitter feuds, fueled by national memories, often intensified by religious rivalries, continue to erode humanity and erupt in endless violence. We think of Northern Ireland, where centuries of murder and sectarianism might seem to have been healed–until another bomb destroys other lives. Will the peace hold? In South Africa, will justice and reconciliation last? We think of Rwanda and Zimbabwe, Iraq and the Kurds. And we can think of others.

The prophet’s words challenge us to think deeply about the role of Christian people in such situations. Is it to highlight the injustice and pronounce the vindication of God’s rule or is it, as another servant of God suggests, to carry the suffering and bring release from the cycle of destruction (Isa. 52:13–53:12)?

Apply

How do you react to injustice, violence and oppression, especially against people you care about? Is it like Obadiah? Jesus?

Closing prayer

Sovereign Lord, in a world full of conflict, I’m daunted by the call to be a peacemaker. I ask for grace and wisdom to be one.

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