Word Live: Do Unto Others
Do to others what you would have them do to you. It is sometimes known as the golden rule, one that is essential in a disciple’s life (Matthew 7:12). As you review your relationships before God, what place does this golden rule have?
Bible passage
Obadiah 1:15–21
15 ‘The day of the Lord is near
for all nations.
As you have done, it will be done to you;
your deeds will return upon your own head.
16 Just as you drank on my holy hill,
so all the nations will drink continually;
they will drink and drink
and be as if they had never been.
17 But on Mount Zion will be deliverance;
it will be holy,
and Jacob will possess his inheritance.
18 Jacob will be a fire
and Joseph a flame;
Esau will be stubble,
and they will set him on fire and destroy him.
There will be no survivors
from Esau.’
The Lord has spoken.
19 People from the Negev will occupy
the mountains of Esau,
and people from the foothills will possess
the land of the Philistines.
They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria,
and Benjamin will possess Gilead.
20 This company of Israelite exiles who are in Canaan
will possess the land as far as Zarephath;
the exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad
will possess the towns of the Negev.
21 Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion
to govern the mountains of Esau.
And the kingdom will be the Lord’s.
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Explore
Judgement is never an easy reality. It carries a sense of failure and shame for those being judged, let alone the fear of the sentence. Obadiah’s decree over Edom reaches its climax and conclusion in these verses. Its unjust dealings against Israel have not been forgotten and redress is coming. As they did to Israel, so will it be done to them. And judgement in the Bible isn’t essentially about retribution but moral memory.
God has not forgotten the suffering borne by Israel because of Edom’s pride, and is now acting on their behalf. It may have been a long time in coming but the injustices of the past have not been glossed over. In the same way that war crimes and crimes against humanity are often prosecuted decades after the atrocities committed, so too God remembers the plight of Israel. And as CS Lewis reminds us in his Reflections on the Psalms,* God’s judgement is often a cause for praise that he is coming to the rescue of his people. Justice may be a long time coming, but it’s on the way.
*CS Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms, Harcourt, Brace, 1958, reprinted 2017 by HarperOne
Author
Gethin Russell-Jones
Respond
In a daily media cycle often dominated by stories of injustice and oppression, let’s pray with confidence to the One who never forgets and who acts on behalf of the poor and dispossessed.
Deeper Bible study
Focus your thoughts on Jesus and his promised return as Lord and King.
Lex talionis – eye for eye, tooth for tooth – the punishment resembles the crime.1 Verse 15 is the bridge between the two halves of the book; Obadiah has outlined the case against Edom and is now saying ‘tit for tat’ – God’s justice is being upheld in not letting the guilty go unpunished. ‘The day of the Lord’ would come (v 15) and God would sort things out. For Christians, of course, this goes far beyond political and military tit for tat; we look forward to the day when Jesus will come again and will sort things out. Justice will be done, God’s suffering people will be vindicated and we shall enjoy the new heavens and new earth.2
However, there is hope even in Obadiah’s message. The people of Judah, having been punished by God for their own sin, will find his mercy in escape back to their own land, restoration to their covenant inheritance. The Hebrew is obscure in verses 19–21, but the overall idea is that of the kingdom of God coming on the earth. Obadiah paints an idealistic picture – things didn’t happen quite like that – but surely that’s because all is approximate until the real ‘day of the Lord’ comes.
When I lived in a Third-World country, I was acutely aware of a great desire to see Jesus come again and right all wrongs. That desire tends to get lost when one is well off and things are going well. Even in more affluent societies, however, there are undercurrents of unrest and danger, uncertainty and sudden disaster, fear and grief. Jesus told his disciples not to worry because he had overcome the world.3 Let us keep that at the forefront of our minds as we watch the news or face personal and family tragedy. One day there will be a great deliverance!
Talk to God about what is most plaguing you when you read this. Ask him to help you keep all things in perspective.
1Lev 24:19,20 2Rev 21:1–8 3John 16:33
Author
Vivien Whitfield
