Obadiah: Revenge and Forgiveness
Sunday, September 29, 2019
“We know nothing about Obadiah beyond his name, nor is the place of the book’s composition certain . . . Obadiah did not specify that his message came at the time of any specific king or event. On the other hand Obadiah 11-14 indicates that a major calamity had struck Judah and that the Edomites had capitalized on Judah’s troubles to their own advantage . . . common sense and a broad consensus suggest that the calamity was in fact the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.
“Obadiah was written to the people of Judah about the Edomites (descendents of Esau), condemning them for their treachery and violence toward the people of Judah, as well as for their arrogance and indifference toward God”. (Zondervan 1464)
This is the kind of prophecy which makes us cringe as we understand that revenge is not something we want as part of our value complex. Seeking vengeance is the kind of thinking my parents continually warned us against for it can never be good. We were often reminded in our growing years that when we dig a grave for our enemy we ought to dig two: one for them and one for us. “The truth will always come out in the end”, Dad would remind us. “Don’t worry about the other guy getting credit that is not due him, or the other guy getting away with things. It’ll all come out in the end. Just keep your eye on yourself and your God. And let God handle the other guy”. Dad warned us that human depravity was too crooked and too frightening for us to correct; he knew from personal experience that only God can deal effectively with deep evil. We humans – even when we are in the best of places and times – cannot conquer forces that have spent eons gathering strength in the dark. It is far better, according to Dad, to go to the light and stay there. “That way God can see you and pick you up on his way home”.
Mother always intoned her mantra of “Kill your enemies with kindness. Pray for them and you will never be alone; because you can bet on it that when people are that naughty lots of people will be praying along with you. Think of the message God will hear when all those voices join together”, she would remind us. “Yes, I know you want to get back at them but just pray for them. They will need your prayers. And besides, the results are better”.
These simple lessons were either never delivered or they were lost on Salomé who asked for and received John the Baptist’s head on a platter. Yesterday we spent time reflecting on her portrait and we saw her sultry stare and sullen posture, arms draped around the killing knife and the platter that would deliver the head of her enemy. Today we see a similar likeness; she looks out at us in apparent satisfaction yet we know that revenge is not sweet. It does not last and it does not satisfy. It only brings about our own destruction and doom. These are the truths spoken by Obadiah more than two millennia ago . . . and they are truths we can still use today. We must wipe revenge from our hearts and replace it with forgiveness for the measure that we measure with is measured out to us.
And so we pray . . .
When we are most hurt by others, we must not strike back, we must forgive.
When we are most neglected by others, we must not plot their downfall, we must forgive.
When we are most abused by others, we must ask for their redemption and we must forgive.
When we are most abandoned by others, we must not treat them in like fashion, we must forgive.
When we are most damaged by others, we must not in turn inflict damage, we must forgive.
God forgives. God restores. God repairs. God cures. We are each called to do the same. Amen.
A re-post from September 9, 2012.
Image from: http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20016/lot/55/
ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDY BIBLE (NIV). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2005. 1464. Print.
For more on the prophecy of Obadiah go to the Obadiah – Outrageous Hope page on this blog.
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