DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- VENGEANCE

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – VENGEANCE

"Thus says the Lord GOD concerning Edom." (Obadiah 1a)

The beginning of this prophecy goes back centuries to an incident recorded in Genesis 25:29-34. You may remember the story.

Isaac, the son of Abraham, had two sons. One was Esau and the other was Jacob. Esau was a farmer and tended the fields and did hunting to provide food for the family. One day, while Esau was in the field, Jacob cooked the evening meal – a pot of stew. When Esau came in at the end of the day, he was tired and hungry. He asked Jacob for some of his stew. Jacob agreed to feed Esau if he would give Jacob his birthright. Esau said "Look, I'm about to die anyway. What good is an inheritance to me if I die?" So Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew.

Now the stew was red, which in Hebrew is edom. I don't know: Maybe it was borscht and had beets in it. "Therefore, his name was called "Edom" or red" (Genesis 25:30). The descendants of Esau were the Edomites. Because Jacob received the inheritance, Esau despised Jacob. That hostility that Edom had for Jacob carried through the generations.

Obadiah picks up on this in his prophecy. Listen to what Obadiah said: "For violence against your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever. In the day that you stood on the other side – in the day that strangers carried captive his forces, when foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem – even you were as one of them. You should not have gazed on the day of your brother in the day of his captivity; nor should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah, in the day of their destruction; nor should you have spoke proudly in the day of distress" (Obadiah 10-12). Not only did Edom not come to help Judah against the invaders, but they rejoiced in the tragedy that befell their relatives.

So God pronounces judgment on Edom: " 'As you have done, it shall be done to you; your reprisal shall return upon your own head…..No survivor shall remain of the house of Esau,' for the LORD has spoken." (Obadiah 15b, 18c).

This is a message for us. Don't gloat over the misfortune of your enemies, because it will return upon your heads. That's why Jesus said to love your enemies and to do good to them. If we sow retribution, we will reap retribution.

Let's not be like the Hatfields and the McCoys, who carried their animosity for generations. Better to take it to Jesus and let Him take care of the retribution. As the Apostle Paul wrote, "Beloved, do not avenge yourself; neither give place to wrath; for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay,' says the Lord" (Romans 12:19). There is peace when we commit retaliation to God.

Love, Dad