Obadiah

Introduction

This book, like others in sacred canon, is sometimes looked at and pondered. It would be more plausible if it contained world views or clashing armies with world changing moments. Instead it is about a feud between two brothers that spans hundreds of years. So the question arises, why is this in the Bible? What eternal truth was so valuable that God said every generation needs to read this and adjust their life to be saved? The Bible is our roadmap to get to heaven and each book and chapter serves that purpose in some manner. So how does the story of twin brothers in a life long feud serve millenniums of pilgrims headed for a celestial city?

To add to the mystic, the author is anonymous. There is no certainty who he is for sure. Then add to the conundrum the date of the writing. It is also uncertain. We are left with the simple concept that God felt this scroll was important. This book is an important detail to the overall body of the Bible. It is the shortest book in the Bible. The author can be anyone from a King’s courier and temple confidant, to an unknown person. The message God is sending seems to be, focus on the content, not the container.

These twins, Jacob and Esau, struggled in their mothers womb. Even in their birth there was conflict with Jacob holding his brother’s heel. Throughout their life this open conflict continued. The details are recorded in the sacred canon. This book details how God views such issues. In the larger span of life, this conflict speaks to universal man. Life is a conflict. How we react and interact with that conflict determines not only our eternal salvation, but also our quality of life. The depth of the Bible is ever about layers of truth. Never more so than in this brief interlude in your daily reading. How you react to your brother is important to God. God documents your secret thoughts and and all your insidious motives. This is the far reaching meaning of this smallest of books. God watches if you rejoice when your brother struggles. God is documenting the moment if you assist in your brother’s demise. Just as God wrote down the motives and machinations of Esau and his lineage, He is documenting ours as well. The resounding echo of this small compendium is that we live carefully and cognizant of this. Jesus emphatically stated, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.