Year 6, Day 232: Obadiah

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Appetite

• Appetite: We all have needs that need to be filled.  When we allow ourselves to be filled with the people and things that God brings into our life, we will be satisfied because our In will be in proper focus.  But when we try to fill ourselves with our own desires we end up frustrated by an insatiable hunger.

Obadiah is a book written against the people of Edom.  Remember that there is a connection between the people of Edom and the Hebrew people.  The people of Edom are Esau’s descendants.  That means that while they may not be from Jacob, they are certainly from Abraham.  They are kin to the Hebrew people.

Obadiah writes because he sees Jerusalem in ruins.  They have been conquered by Babylon.  That was at God’s hand, so that is not what Obadiah is speaking against.  When Obadiah looks to a ruined Jerusalem and the surrounding land, he sees the Edomites coming in and taking advantage of their downfall.  They are taking over the land.  They are rounding up escaped Hebrew people and selling them as slaves to other nations.  They see the downfall of the Hebrew people as a means to gain.

Generically speaking, that is what the book of Obadiah is all about.  Our human appetite thirsts for opportunities to take advantage of the downfall of other people.  This is why we have sayings like “top dog” and “kick them while they are down.”  Human appetite loves the easy victory.  We love to increase our wealth and standing, and if possible we will take the easiest route.

This is horrible.  There is nothing wrong with taking the easy route, mind you.  There is no point in making things more difficult than they need to be.  However, we should not consider taking advantage of people as the easy way.  Easy victories over people who are in no position to do anything about it is not a victory, it is bullying.  It’s not good business, it is indecent human behavior.  We should have an appetite for honest gain through honest work, not biggest gain by taking advantage of other people and their circumstances.  That is what God finds absolutely deplorable in this passage.

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