Obadiah

Who remembers the message of Obadiah? I've been studying it recently for our Sunday AM class. The message is the impending destruction of Edom (the descendants of Esau). What was Edom's transgression? One of the big ones was pride. In his commentary The Minor Prophets, James Montgomery Boice writes:

According to Obadiah, the pride of Edom deceived the people into trusting in their natural defenses, their numerous allies and their acknowledged wisdom, rather than in God. Obadiah says that their wisdom will fail, their allies will prove treacherous and their defenses will be overcome. This is quite general and may easily be applied to any nation at any time in history.

What was it about which Edom was proud? The first answer is: her defenses. Due to her unique geographical situation, Edom was almost impregnable.

Was God being particularly harsh with Edom? No, this is His way with all nations. God God exalts a nation. Those in power see it as a cause for personal pride. They boast that they are better than others and can even do without God. Then God brings the nation down. This has been the case with all the great kingdoms of the world. Historians tell us that the world has seen twenty-one great civilizations. But each has passed away in time to make room for the next. Once there was Egypt, but ancient was destroyed and that which is now Egypt is no world power. Once there was Babylon, but it too passed away. So with Greece and Rome. So it will be with the great powers of our own day: the Soviet Union and the United States. Is the United States destined for destruction? We cannot say. She may recover her godly heritage. She may last until the Lord returns. But we should be warned by God's judgment on Edom. Do we boast that we are strong? That we have the largest army, the most missiles, the more effective navy? Do we boast that our technology is superior to that of the rest of the world? If so, we must watch out! God says that He can bring even our nation down.

This got me thinking about the pride of our nation, the superiority we often feel relative to the rest of the world. As I mentioned recently, I have a new appreciation based on the minor prophets that there is precedent for God to use disasters (e.g. by an enemy attack or natural disaster) to punish a nation but that I'm also bothered when folks use the occasion disaster to point fingers at another group as the cause of disfavor rather than looking in the mirror. Maybe next time Falwell and Robertson pronounce judgment they should consider whether or not our national pride be an issue.