Obadiah

The wrong people are winning!

Obadiah is a promise of justice. When Israel is devoured and overwhelmed, the tiny neighbouring country of Edom gloats. Worse, they help attack Israel at its weakest moment.

They share history back to the patriarchs. Jacob and Esau were only the third generation of the promise to Abraham. Jacob’s sons became the tribes of Israel. Esau’s the people of Edom. They were ancient frenemies.

These poems about how justice will come to Edom probably weren’t read in the streets of Edom, they were comfort for Israel in their misery as their culture and society was destroyed and sent into exile, while Edom stood on the sidelines cheering and helping.

It came from pride, in their natural defences… The city of Edom was built high in a rocky fortress. And their wisdom… They had a reputation for cleverness.

It is applied in the poem as a pattern for the outcome of pride and self belief of all nations.

Kelly complains about the racial preference in the old testament. The chosen people.

But I defend it because so often it comes when the chosen people are feeling betrayed by God. This is not a promise of preference or favourable discrimination, but of simple justice.

The wrong people won’t win forever.

This one chapter book continues the idea of a season until justice comes, a temporal moment called the day of the Lord.

In big and small ways, the wrong people have won very many times in my life. Justice can become a cold, self serving obsession, yes.

But I think its promise also helps me maintain grace, more often than fuel prejudice. A helpful understanding of God’s justice makes Christianity hang together and make sense.