This Sunday, our Bible study hour will be spent in a special emphasis on the need for seeking justice in our unjust world.  Many in our nation and world suffer unjustly.  Some would contend that the Lord is not concerned about their plight.  This is definitely not the case.  God sees.  God knows.  God cares.  Just as surely as Jesus makes all things new, God will certainly make all things right.  

Our scripture passage comes from the one chapter book of Obadiah, one of the twelve minor prophets in the Old Testament.  Obadiah steps out of the woodwork, announces his brief, but scathing, message against Esau/Edom and then disappears into thin air.  The meaning of his name is our only clue concerning his ancestry or identity.  Someone, probably his father, cared enough to name him “servant and worshipper of Yahweh.”  Whoever his daddy was, may those of his forward-thinking tribe increase.  

This prophetic message from God came to Obadiah in a vision.  It was a stiff rebuke against Esau/Edom, the mountainous country located in the UN-promised land southeast of the Dead Sea.  These folks were descendants of Esau/Edom, the twin brother of Jacob, the master trickster son of Isaac.  Esau/Edom was the one who sold his birthright and lost his blessing.  Esau/Edom was the country that had said to Moses and the wilderness wanderers, “No, you can’t pass through our land, you’ll just have to go around” (see Numbers 20:14-21).  God would not forget their lack of hospitality shown to the pilgrims on their way to Canaan. 

Fast forward from 1440BC and the days of Moses to 586BC and the capture of Jerusalem and the exile of the nation of Judah to Babylon.  Obadiah seems to be looking backward to the fateful day when Judah (the Southern Kingdom) was taken captive by Babylon.  He also seems to be looking forward to the day when Esau/Edom would be judged for their participation in the victory and success of that capture.  

Esau/Edom stood by and watched while Babylon marched in and hauled away a whole nation of their brethren in 586BC.  They held their brothers as prisoners while they were in transit to exile.  Afterward, they helped themselves to their abandoned treasures and gloated over their misfortune.  

Esau/Edom surely thought, “They must not know who I am!” Obadiah came to say, “But you forgot Who is I AM!”  Those who fly on their own strength will not go the distance.  Those who prey on the people of God will become prey themselves.  They had been deceived by the arrogance and pride of their own hearts.  This pride would be their downfall. Today, Petra, the main city of Edom and Mt. Seir, is called the silent city of the forgotten past. 

The message of the Lord through the prophet Obadiah leaves no doubt as to how He feels about people being treated unjustly.  Their time for vindication is coming.  The Lord sees the way of the righteous.  The Lord also sees the way of the wicked.  Psalm One is an additional reference that fits in this discussion.  

This lesson is a reminder that God sees the aborted, the abused, the wounded, the martyred.  He sees the disabled, the disowned, the displaced, the disillusioned.  He hears the racial slur.  He feels the separation anxiety of orphans in foster care.  He grieves when families disintegrate.  No event or activity, good OR evil, escapes His notice.  

His timetable is not our timetable.  We can live our lives knowing with full assurance that the day of the Lord will arrive.  Such a day will be deliverance day for those who have been faithful to Him.  Such a day will also be a day of reckoning for those who have refused to follow Him.  No opponent of His will stand in that day. Until that day, we must stand up for what is right and stand against what is evil.  Even if such a stance brings the potential of danger to our own lives, we must be found to be doing all we can to seek justice in this unjust world.