Word Live: Fear Of Heights
‘Pride comes before a fall’ says an old proverb, inspired by an even older piece of wisdom in Proverbs 16:18. In this moment we bring to our Father our ambitions and hopes and lay them humbly before him.
Bible passage
Obadiah 1:1–14
1 The vision of Obadiah.
This is what the Sovereign Lord says about Edom –
We have heard a message from the Lord:
an envoy was sent to the nations to say,
‘Rise, let us go against her for battle’–
2 ‘See, I will make you small among the nations;
you will be utterly despised.
3 The pride of your heart has deceived you,
you who live in the clefts of the rocks
and make your home on the heights,
you who say to yourself,
“Who can bring me down to the ground?”
4 Though you soar like the eagle
and make your nest among the stars,
from there I will bring you down,’
declares the Lord.
5 ‘If thieves came to you,
if robbers in the night –
oh, what a disaster awaits you –
would they not steal only as much as they wanted?
If grape pickers came to you,
would they not leave a few grapes?
6 But how Esau will be ransacked,
his hidden treasures pillaged!
7 All your allies will force you to the border;
your friends will deceive and overpower you;
those who eat your bread will set a trap for you,
but you will not detect it.
8 ‘In that day,’ declares the Lord,
‘will I not destroy the wise men of Edom,
those of understanding in the mountains of Esau?
9 Your warriors, Teman, will be terrified,
and everyone in Esau’s mountains
will be cut down in the slaughter.
10 Because of the violence against your brother Jacob,
you will be covered with shame;
you will be destroyed for ever.
11 On the day you stood aloof
while strangers carried off his wealth
and foreigners entered his gates
and cast lots for Jerusalem,
you were like one of them.
12 You should not gloat over your brother
in the day of his misfortune,
nor rejoice over the people of Judah
in the day of their destruction,
nor boast so much
in the day of their trouble.
13 You should not march through the gates of my people
in the day of their disaster,
nor gloat over them in their calamity
in the day of their disaster,
nor seize their wealth
in the day of their disaster.
14 You should not wait at the crossroads
to cut down their fugitives,
nor hand over their survivors
in the day of their trouble.
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Explore
In his book, Not in God’s Name,* Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks examines the roots of religious violence by looking at key texts in the book of Genesis. One of these is the story of two brothers, Jacob and Esau. Jacob cheats Esau out of his inheritance and Esau vows revenge (Genesis 27:1–41). Even though the two brothers are reconciled in Genesis 33, they father two nations. Jacob is renamed Israel (Genesis 32:28) and Esau is known as Edom (Genesis 36:1). The Edomites eventually settled to the south-east of the Dead Sea, living in rugged, mountainous country stretching south to the Gulf of Aqaba.
Despite the earlier reconciliation, Edom and Israel are now sworn enemies, typified not only by the refusal to grant safe passage to Moses and the nation during their flight from Egypt (Numbers 20:14–21), but also in their gloating when Jerusalem was seized by the Babylonians. ‘Tear it all down’, cried the Edomites (Psalm 137:7)! Obadiah now decrees judgement upon them. God has remembered his people and has not forgotten the injustices done them.
*Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Not in God’s Name: Confronting Religious Violence, Hodder & Stoughton, 2015
Author
Gethin Russell-Jones
Respond
Which are the relationships in my life that need the greatest care, requiring a greater measure of grace and forgiveness? Bring them before God now.
Deeper Bible study
‘Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.’1
A friend took a funeral, which she described as ‘sad’ because of vicious tension within the deceased’s family. There had been vicious tension between Israel/Judah and Edom for a long time, and it seems that when Judah was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BC, Edom had joined in against them. So the prophecy is about judgement for Edom for the way they treated their ‘brother’ (vs 10,12). God takes human covenants seriously (husband/wife, siblings, neighbours, communities, nations…); when Edom betrayed Judah, it defied the will of God, even though God was using Babylon to punish Judah.
Edom’s geographical context sheds light on these verses. Esau lived in the ‘hill country of Seir’.2 Positioned south-east of the Dead Sea, it has amazing natural fortifications: the highlands rise in three steps to about five thousand feet above sea level. They consist of mountains, cliffs, chasms, rocky defiles, stony plateaus and abundant water and food. The inhabitants felt invincible – but God said he would ‘bring them down’ (see vs 3,4). Pride indeed comes before a fall, as pride means vanity, arrogance and independence from God. It must be exposed and judged. Should we search our hearts to see if pride has a foothold in us?
In verse 5, the prophet describes thieves (who take what they want) and grape pickers (who leave gleanings).3 Edom’s downfall will be complete, all its treasures taken, in reprisal for how it treated Judah. Even the wise will be destroyed (v 8) – Edom had a reputation as a cultivator of wisdom.4 Edom should not have acted that way (vs 11–14). In today’s world we are all too aware of the injustice and cruelty of some people against others; God will surely act to avenge, one day.
Pray into today’s news headlines, where there is war, terrorism, acts of inhumanity. ‘Maranatha; come, Lord Jesus!’
11 Pet 5:6 2Gen 32:3; 36:6–9 3Deut 24:21; grapes were grown in Edom, cf Num 20:17 4 E Achtemeier, Minor Prophets 1, Paternoster, 1996, p245
Author
Vivien Whitfield
