Reading through the Bible in one Year: Exodus 29-32

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters,

This is the shortest book in the Old Testament.  No one can decide when it was written, or who the prophet was.  Speculation places him around the time of Jeremiah because he seems to quote Jeremiah 49:7-22 in verses 1-16, the problem with that statement is that you really don't know who was quoting from whom.  There are several Obadiah's in the Bible, none of them can be confirmed to be the writer.  Now that it is established that we really know nothing about the background of the book, let's go on with the study.

This book is unique because it focuses primarily on Edom, the nation that had risen from Esau.  To remind you, Esau was the one that threw away his birthright for a cup of soup, and then Jacob tricked Israel into giving him the blessing, thus stealing his blessing as well.  The story went from there and there wasn't very good feelings between the brothers.  Jacob rose into a nation, that ended up in captivity in Egypt, and Esau rose into a nation as well.  During the Exodus (Numbers 20:14-21) Edom refused to allow Israel to pass through their land, and God honored their decision.  The friction between the two nations is noted in several Old Testament books where conflicts are written about.  Herod the Great was an Idumean which was another word for an Edomite, (Bible Knowledge Commentary), and after about A.D. 70 they were lost from historical records. 

Obadiah 1-7 (NASB95)
¹ The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom— We have heard a report from the Lord, And an envoy has been sent among the nations saying, “Arise and let us go against her for battle”— ² “Behold, I will make you small among the nations; You are greatly despised. ³ “The arrogance of your heart has deceived you, You who live in the clefts of the rock, In the loftiness of your dwelling place, Who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to earth?’ ⁴ “Though you build high like the eagle, Though you set your nest among the stars, From there I will bring you down,” declares the Lord. ⁵ “If thieves came to you, If robbers by night— O how you will be ruined!— Would they not steal only until they had enough? If grape gatherers came to you, Would they not leave some gleanings? ⁶ “O how Esau will be ransacked, And his hidden treasures searched out! ⁷ “All the men allied with you Will send you forth to the border, And the men at peace with you Will deceive you and overpower you. They who eat your bread Will set an ambush for you. (There is no understanding in him.) ^[1]

Obadiah means "servant of Jehovah" or "worshiper of Yahweh" depending upon the source.  A call was put forth from God for the surrounding nations to join together and go to battle against Edom.  This is a twist of events from the Numbers passage where God protects Edom. 

Proverbs 6:16-19 (NASB95)
¹⁶ There are six things which the Lord hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: ¹⁷ Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, ¹⁸ A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, ¹⁹ A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers.

Malachi 1:2-3 (NASB95)
² “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob; ³ but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.”^[2]

Apparently the great sin of Edom was arrogance or pride as is indicated by verse 3.  Why is it that God turned against Edom except the possibility that they had entered into such a great amount of thievery and wrong behavior coupled with the fact that they were proud of their lifestyle.  Proverbs talks about what the Lord hates, perhaps the Edomites checked off the entire list.

The great wealth of Edom was taken through trading and looting.  Apparently they felt that they were safe from attacks because they built their homes in caves and high on the sides of cliffs with houses literally cut out of the rock.  Their security was in the difficulty for enemies to come against them.  Apparently they were also very fierce fighters. 

Jeremiah 49:22 (NASB95)
²² Behold, He will mount up and swoop like an eagle and spread out His wings against Bozrah; and the hearts of the mighty men of Edom in that day will be like the heart of a woman in labor.^[3]

God was the one who would bring down Edom.  He makes it clear that when He comes against them, there would be nothing left.  The contrast here is that since Edom had gained its wealth from theivery, God was going to ransack and remove all their treasures from them.  He was going to give them the ultimate taste of their own medicine.  Edom had developed fertile valleys where they grew their crops by use of irrigation.  God promised to relieve them of everything, even their food.

It is ironic, God promised to use the allies of Edom to destroy them.  Human nature never changes, the ones who know your weaknesses are the ones who are close to you.  Often it is not a complete stranger who will break in and steal from you, it is an acquaintance, or someone close to the family.  The same was true during those times.  God used their neighbors to defeat them.  Returning back to verses 1-2, God used the nations to judge them.  This term generally spoke of the Gentile nations, not the Jews, so they were routed by their own kind.

For a little background, the city of Petra was included in Edom.  In order to access it there was a valley or riverbed that ran for one mile through the mountains to the entrance.  It was totally inaccessible from any other way due to the extreme terrain that surrounded it.  Once inside the city, it opened up to a huge plateau which housed around a thousand great monuments, a stadium, temples, and housing.  It was as impregnable as was humanly possible at that time in history.  The people of the city hewed temples, graves and houses directly out of the rock.  It seems that the city was considered one of the capital cities of Arabia.  Which could account for the disappearance of the name Edom.  If I am reading the reference material correctly, the name of the people was changed which accounts for the Arabians.  In the end, Edom was destroyed, the prophecy was literally carried out, and the archaeologists are still trying to piece together the puzzle.

I am going to close here. More to follow tomorrow.

Father, as we consider how Edom pushed the limits and were destroyed, let each of us evaluate our lifestyles and make sure that they match up to Your word. 

In Him,

Joe Turner.

Reading through the Bible in one Year: 2 Samuel 20-24

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters,

Obadiah 8-10 (NASB95)
⁸ “Will I not on that day,” declares the Lord, “Destroy wise men from Edom And understanding from the mountain of Esau? ⁹ “Then your mighty men will be dismayed, O Teman, So that everyone may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter. ¹⁰ “Because of violence to your brother Jacob, You will be covered with shame, And you will be cut off forever. ^[1]

When God sends judgment upon Edom, none will survive.  It is interesting that we as men think that we can prepare for every possibility.  Take the freeway retrofit for example.  Over the past few years all the bridges in the Southern California area have been or are in the process of being retrofit for earthquakes.  This is the same attitude that Edom had, they felt that with their cliff homes and secret cities they were safe from the enemies.  God was not even a factor in their lives, He was forgotten in generations past.  The wisdom of men and the securities set in place were not enough to protect them from an angry and righteous God.

Jeremiah 49:7 (NASB95)
⁷ Concerning Edom. Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Is there no longer any wisdom in Teman? Has good counsel been lost to the prudent? Has their wisdom decayed?

Genesis 36:10-11 (NASB95)
¹⁰ These are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz the son of Esau’s wife Adah, Reuel the son of Esau’s wife Basemath. ¹¹ The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho and Gatam and Kenaz.^[2]

Teman was a capital city which was named after Esau's grandson.  According to the Bible Knowledge Commentary, around the sixth to fifth century B.C. Edom had invited the Nabateans into their town for a banquet, once these people were inside the city gates they turned on the citizens of the city and wiped them out.  So much for the wisdom of Edom.  Their stronghold turned into a death chamber where they were unable to escape.

Obadiah 10-14 (NASB95)
¹⁰ “Because of violence to your brother Jacob, You will be covered with shame, And you will be cut off forever. ¹¹ “On the day that you stood aloof, On the day that strangers carried off his wealth, And foreigners entered his gate And cast lots for Jerusalem— You too were as one of them. ¹² “Do not gloat over your brother’s day, The day of his misfortune. And do not rejoice over the sons of Judah In the day of their destruction; Yes, do not boast In the day of their distress. ¹³ “Do not enter the gate of My people In the day of their disaster. Yes, you, do not gloat over their calamity In the day of their disaster. And do not loot their wealth In the day of their disaster. ¹⁴ “Do not stand at the fork of the road To cut down their fugitives; And do not imprison their survivors In the day of their distress.

Psalm 137:7 (NASB95)
⁷ Remember, O Lord, against the sons of Edom The day of Jerusalem, Who said, “Raze it, raze it To its very foundation.”

Ezekiel 25:12 (NASB95)
¹² ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Because Edom has acted against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has incurred grievous guilt, and avenged themselves upon them,”

Amos 1:11 (NASB95)
¹¹ Thus says the Lord, “For three transgressions of Edom and for four I will not revoke its punishment, Because he pursued his brother with the sword, While he stifled his compassion; His anger also tore continually, And he maintained his fury forever. ^[3]

Edom demonstrated a tendency toward evil.  They were men of violence according to the scriptures.  According to theses verses they were also without scruples.  They didn't think twice about taking advantage of their brothers. 

God warned them about taking advantage of the Jews trouble by looting their land, and slaughtering the fugitives as they flee the city.  Think about this warning for a moment, if God felt it was necessary to warn them against taking part in these kinds of activities, doesn't that indicate that they already had established a character for dishonesty and illicit gain?  Doesn't it show that they had already been looting the unfortunate, and gloating over others misfortune?  Doesn't this demonstrate that they didn't hesitate to sell their brothers into slavery?  Think further on this for a moment, Esau had sold his birthright, lost his blessing, and had basically missed out on the legal right to his heritage. 

Rather than following God, the nation chose to ignore God turning completely away from Him and allowing bitterness toward their kin to permeate their society.  Bitterness is a self serving sin, it eats away at a person, or a nation like a cancer.  Couple the bitterness with extreme national pride and you have racial prejudice.  One people judging another people because they are different, or are seemingly being treated with preference over you.  (There is something there, just no time to develop the thought, rather rhan run off on another tangent, I am going to return to the study.) 

Look at the times that God warned Edom, "Do not!"  Since this was God's judgment against the Jews, their brothers are warned not to get involved.  In verse ten the reference to Jacob is speaking about the nation of Israel as a whole, speaking of a national action.  They are spoken of in verse eight as Esau, which indicates that they are also looked upon as a nation.  The two nations were similar to two people relating to each other.  I wonder what would have happened if Edom had listened to God's warning.  If they had listened to the prophet, and went to their brothers aid, can you imagine the change in history that would have taken place?  Sometimes, the hardest thing to do is the most unnatural.  Bill Gothard made a point of that years ago in the Institute of Basic Youth Conflicts, the idea was that if you have a natural reaction to a situation, consider the opposite reaction, which is probably God's best.

One other note, I have heard it said that Christians are the only ones who shoot their own wounded.  In this case, we can add Edom to the list.  When you see a brother or sister down, having fallen and returned to their life of sin, which amounts to being taken captive and returning to slavery, don't look down on them.  Don't judge them or stand back with your arms crossed and take the attitude that they had it coming.  In other words, don't gloat over their calamity.  It's not a time to dibby up their loot, it's not a time to take advantage of the fallen believer in order to step up another rung in the church hierarchy.  Christians get crushed that way, and the bitterness that develops can cause them to walk away forever only because of a vicious self serving attitude by other Christians.  Edom carried with it an example to all of us as Christians.  They lived their lives as Gentile sinners, dabbling in the wares and wickedness’s of the world, with their lives consumed with living the worldly way.  God warned them, "Do not", yet history seems to indicate that they did.  Therefore God sent judgment upon them.  Today God tells Christians over and over in the New Testament to walk away from their sin, put off the sin in their lives, and to determine to live pure and holy lives.  Yet we choose to live our lives according to Edom, living them according to the former way that we knew carrying those attitudes into our churches. 

It is time that we quit shooting our wounded.  It is time that we quit building churches and start building believers.  It is time that we put our money where our mouths are, and putting into action the word of God in our lives.  Put off the ways of the world and put on the ways of God.  God warned Edom not to turn against those who were down, neither should we.  Rather we should make it a point to help our brothers who are down any way possible, and draw them back to the faith.  The hard thing about sin is that we love it, we love being in slavery to it, and we hate leaving it.  We know sin is wrong, but we like it, we like our "vices", and are slow to give them up.

I guess Edom strikes a nerve with me because I can see a nation that had the opportunity to live just like Israel, but chose the ways of the world.  We as believers have the opportunity to live pure and holy lives, and often choose to follow the natural tendencies of the world, carrying those attitudes into our churches.  Are we going to allow the worldly attitudes to destroy our congregations, splintering and shredding Christian Brothers and Sisters along the way?  Or are we going to be the salve that is used by God to heal up the wounded and broken hearted in order to strengthen the fellowship of believers?  It's our choice, we can live our way and do it our way as Edom did, or we can do it God's way.

Father, as we consider Edom this morning, let each of us learn from their example. 

In Him,

Joe Turner.

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Psalms 60-62

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters,

Obadiah 15-21 (NASB95)
¹⁵ “For the day of the Lord draws near on all the nations. As you have done, it will be done to you. Your dealings will return on your own head. ¹⁶ “Because just as you drank on My holy mountain, All the nations will drink continually. They will drink and swallow And become as if they had never existed. ¹⁷ “But on Mount Zion there will be those who escape, And it will be holy. And the house of Jacob will possess their possessions. ¹⁸ “Then the house of Jacob will be a fire And the house of Joseph a flame; But the house of Esau will be as stubble. And they will set them on fire and consume them, So that there will be no survivor of the house of Esau,” For the Lord has spoken. ¹⁹ Then those of the Negev will possess the mountain of Esau, And those of the Shephelah the Philistine plain; Also, possess the territory of Ephraim and the territory of Samaria, And Benjamin will possess Gilead. ²⁰ And the exiles of this host of the sons of Israel, Who are among the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, And the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad Will possess the cities of the Negev. ²¹ The deliverers will ascend Mount Zion To judge the mountain of Esau, And the kingdom will be the Lord’s.^[1]

In verse 15 Obadiah refers to the "day of the Lord", take a look at what is said about it.  For a brief moment, Edom is not the only nation focused upon, all nations are focused upon.  God promises that once He comes on the day of the Lord, all nations will stand before Him and will be judged according to their own dealings.  This is one of the rare instances in the Bible where God points out what criteria will be used during the judgment of the nations.  Take for instance the reference in Romans:

Romans 1:18-23 (NASB95)
¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, ¹⁹ because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. ²¹ For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. ²² Professing to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. ^[2]

God made it evident to everyone that He is, man has a choice, either to go along with the revelation that God has given them or to be condemned by that same revelation.  I don't know how God will judge the nations of the world, whether He will determine that the Bible was available and they chose to ignore it, or if He will judge them according to the revelation that He gives to each man.  What is clear is that God will judge the world, the day is coming where that everyone will be made responsible for his actions and will be judged according to them. 

Consider verse 15 for a moment longer, God promises that "as you have done, it will be done to you."  Some have noted that Obadiah is never quoted in the New Testament.  Is this true?  Don’t the following verses sound a lot like this very passage?

Matthew 7:1-2 (NASB95)
¹ “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. ² “For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.

Luke 6:37-38 (NASB95)
³⁷ “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. ³⁸ “Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

John 12:47-50 (NASB95)
⁴⁷ “If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. ⁴⁸ “He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day. ⁴⁹ “For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. ⁵⁰ “I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.”^[3]

Jesus clarified that He will not judge the world, the world will be judged according to what it does with the knowledge that was made available to it.  The person that judges man to hell is that very person.  Those who have heard the words of Jesus will be judged according to His words, the people who never even heard that Jesus existed will be judged according to what God has revealed to them.  In today's world, most American's have heard the Gospel, and most are familiar with the words of Jesus, can you imagine what it will be like on the Judgment day?  What will happen when our lives are compared to our knowledge of the scriptures? 

Verse 16 is a little difficult, it speaks of becoming drunk with consuming God's holy mountain.  If the holy mountain is taken to represent Israel, then when God pours out the wrath upon the mountain in order to punish His people.  When Edom took advantage of the demise of the Jews, they brought judgment upon themselves.  Edom was not supposed to be part of the judgment of God, they chose to participate of their own free will.

Verses 17 through 21 spell out the doom for the house of Esau.  They also speak of the tremendous return of Israel as a nation.  Israel is prophesied to one day return to the Lord, (speaking of Mount Zion), and when they do return to the Lord they will be turned on.  For the first time in history the Jewish nation will tap into the character of God, making Him a vital part of their lives.  They will be characterized by fire, which is one of the characters of God. 

Exodus 24:17 (NASB95)
¹⁷ And to the eyes of the sons of Israel the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the mountain top.

Deuteronomy 4:24 (NASB95)
²⁴ “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Deuteronomy 9:3 (NASB95)
³ “Know therefore today that it is the Lord your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, so that you may drive them out and destroy them quickly, just as the Lord has spoken to you.

Isaiah 29:6 (NASB95)
⁶ From the Lord of hosts you will be punished with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, With whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire.

Isaiah 30:27 (NASB95)
²⁷ Behold, the name of the Lord comes from a remote place; Burning is His anger and dense is His smoke; His lips are filled with indignation And His tongue is like a consuming fire;

Isaiah 30:30 (NASB95)
³⁰ And the Lord will cause His voice of authority to be heard, And the descending of His arm to be seen in fierce anger, And in the flame of a consuming fire In cloudburst, downpour and hailstones.

Isaiah 33:14 (NASB95)
¹⁴ Sinners in Zion are terrified; Trembling has seized the godless. “Who among us can live with the consuming fire? Who among us can live with continual burning?”

Hebrews 12:28-29 (NASB95)
²⁸ Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; ²⁹ for our God is a consuming fire.^[4]

Imagine how it will be like when the people of God return to Him and tap into His life as their own.  Israel has started the re-gathering process today as a nation.  What will be the turning point for them is when they accept Jesus as their Messiah.  Once they accept Jesus as the Messiah, then they will be turned on, they will learn to tap into the spirit of God like they never were able to before.  The Jewish people have always been religious, they have always had a space that they sought to fill, yet were impatient to wait for God's plan to work out.  So they turned to idols and found other ways to fulfill the spiritual hunger that they had.  God was not happy with that response, and they brought judgment upon themselves.  At the end of the captivities of the Assyrians and Babylonians, the Jews have been scattered among the nations. 

Romans 11:20-24 (NASB95)
²⁰ Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; ²¹ for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. ²² Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. ²³ And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. ²⁴ For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? ^[5]

The reason behind all of this is discussed by Paul in Romans 9-11.  (We will be getting into that soon since the book that will follow Revelation will be Romans.)  Look at the important truth here, and the truths in the following verses in Romans 11, once God restores His people to and they tap into the natural olive tree that they were broken off from, we will be amazed at the power of God that will be demonstrated in their lives.  God's gifts are irrevocable, He made promises to Israel that will come to pass, and we are privileged to watch the process in Israel today. 

Romans 11:28-29 (NASB95)
²⁸ From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; ²⁹ for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. ^[6]

I am going to close here, the beeper got me.  I feel like I jumped around a lot today, and may have missed some points.  If you see something that I missed, write in, if you disagree with me, write in, the point of this study is to get everyone studying God's word, don't remain silent if you have input.

Father, as we consider Your magnificent plan concerning Israel, open our eyes to ways that we can help.  Open our eyes to ways that we can put Your word into action in our daily lives.  Put a teachable and learnable heart in our bodies so that we can absorb Your word and put it into action.

In Him,

Joe Turner.