Obadiah 1:8-21: a reflection

8“Won’t I in that day”, says the LORD, “destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mountain of Esau? 9Your mighty men, Teman, will be dismayed, to the end that everyone may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter. 10For the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame will cover you, and you will be cut off forever. 11In the day that you stood on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away his substance and foreigners entered into his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, even you were like one of them. 12But don’t look down on your brother in the day of his disaster, and don’t rejoice over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction. Don’t speak proudly in the day of distress. 13Don’t enter into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Don’t look down on their affliction in the day of their calamity, neither seize their wealth on the day of their calamity. 14Don’t stand in the crossroads to cut off those of his who escape. Don’t deliver up those of his who remain in the day of distress. 15For the day of the LORD is near all the nations! As you have done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will return upon your own head. 16For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations will drink continually. Yes, they will drink, swallow down, and will be as though they had not been. 17But in Mount Zion, there will be those who escape, and it will be holy. The house of Jacob will possess their possessions. 18The house of Jacob will be a fire, the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble. They will burn among them and devour them. There will not be any remaining to the house of Esau.” Indeed, the LORD has spoken. 19Those of the South will possess the mountain of Esau, and those of the lowland, the Philistines. They will possess the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria. Benjamin will possess Gilead. 20The captives of this army of the children of Israel, who are among the Canaanites, will possess even to Zarephath; and the captives of Jerusalem, who are in Sepharad, will possess the cities of the Negev. 21Saviors will go up on Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Esau, and the kingdom will be the LORD’s.

The short book of Obadiah is a judgment on Edom, the nation descended from Esau, for how it treated its brother-nation Judah in the day of disaster. When Jerusalem fell and strangers plundered it, Edom did not help; it stood aloof, and worse, it gloated. God's charge is pointed: Do not gloat over your brother in the day of his misfortune; do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; do not stand at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives, nor hand over his survivors in the day of distress. Edom watched its brother's calamity with satisfaction, and even profited from it, and God calls it to account.

Notice the specific sins named, all clustering around one attitude: taking pleasure in, and advantage of, a brother's downfall. Edom gloated over Judah's misfortune, rejoiced at its ruin, looted its wealth, and cut off its refugees. Rather than grieving with a brother in disaster, or helping, Edom stood aloof and gloated, and turned the calamity to its own gain. And God warns: as you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return on your own head.

That is a searching warning about a common and easily excused sin. We may not raze cities, but the attitude Edom showed, secretly pleased when a rival, an enemy, or even a family member we resent suffers misfortune, glad at their downfall, perhaps quietly profiting from it, lives in the human heart. God takes such gloating seriously. Do not rejoice over anyone's disaster, especially a brother's or a family member's; do not stand aloof and satisfied while they suffer, or profit from their ruin. As you have done, it will be done to you. Grieve with those who suffer, even those you resent, rather than gloating over their fall.

Lord, Edom gloated over its brother Judah's disaster, stood aloof, and profited from its ruin, and you called it to account: as you have done, it will be done to you. Search my heart for that sin, the quiet pleasure at a rival's misfortune, the satisfaction at an enemy's or a family member's downfall, the temptation to profit from another's ruin. You take such gloating seriously. Keep me from rejoicing over anyone's disaster, especially those close to me. Help me grieve with those who suffer, even those I resent, rather than gloating over their fall. Give me a heart that mourns, not gloats.