Day 198: Obadiah
The book of Obadiah is the shortest one in the Old Testament. In fact, the Bible I'm reading from doesn't even show that it contains chapters, only verses, because it doesn't contain more than one chapter. The book is written by the prophet Obadiah who, like most of the other prophets in the OT, speaks of the judgment of a nation and the hope that one day Judah and Israel will be restored. Obadiah speaks these truths based on a vision he had, and he proclaims to the people that "Day of the Lord" is coming. This promise was a hopeful one for people in captivity, in exile.
In my previous blog post, I mentioned how Amos seems to use the term justice to mean equality rather than judgment (or an eye for an eye). In Obadiah, however, Obadiah speaks to Edom and tells them that their role in destroying Jerusalem--how this country destroyed and betrayed their brother Jacob--will come back to haunt them. That is, what they did to Israel and Judah will be done to them. Retributive justice. God will punish Edom for its sins. They betrayed their relatives and will be punished. Opposite of Edom, however, is Israel who will prosper because God is with these people.
Here's just a bit of explanation of the book.
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