Tuesday, December 9, 2014

DBRP_Dec10_2014 Obadiah Is49b Rev2b


At the end of Amos, the clouds of judgment broke and there were wonderful promises about the restoration of Israel. God would shake the nations like a sieve and not a single kernal (child of Israel) would drop through the cracks and be lost. And Israel’s crops would be so rich and fruitful. Then, did you notice?— Isaiah said the same thing in chapter 49.

We turn now to the one chapter book of Obadiah, or as I pronounce his name, O-’ba-dyah. I have grabbed this information from Constable:

“Obadiah” means “servant of Yahweh” or “worshipper of Yahweh,” depending on the form (vocalization) of his name in Hebrew, which is debated. There are 13 men who bear this name in the Old Testament, from Davidic to postexilic times, assuming the writer was not one of the other 12.

Usually something about the writer accompanies his name       at the beginning of each prophetical book, generally his father’s name, some of his ancestors, and or his hometown. This descriptive information is absent in only two of the prophetical books: Obadiah and Malachi.

First, Obadiah referred to a time in the apparently recent past when the Edomites had gloated over a successful invasion of Jerusalem (vv. 10-14, 16). There are at least seven occasions during the ministry of the writing prophets when we know Jerusalem experienced invasion and suffered a defeat.  

Constable gives fascinating information about the most likely dating of Obadiah. Then he says, “Fortunately, discovering the correct date of this prophecy is not crucial to understanding it.”

Quoting Baker, “In a sense Obadiah is a miniature profile of the message of all the writing prophets.”[15]

Therefore Edom may a picture of all of Israel’s enemies.

Henrietta Mears reminds us that the Edomites lived in the inaccessible rock fortress of Petra. (Which was seen in Raiders of the Lost Ark.) She also points out the two important themes of this book:

  1. The doom of the proud and rebellious

  2. The deliverance of the meek and humble.

In this book those two groups (in which we see Esau and Jacob) are represented by Edom and Zion.

https://www.bible.com/bible/116/oba.1.nlt

 


 

First I want to correct myself about Isaiah 48: Evidently the name of Cyrus was not written in the Hebrew in chapter 48, although the reference to him is quite obvious. The NLT translators were doing their job well when they helped us catch the meaning by including his name.

In our first reading of Isaiah 49, I hope you noticed many poetic prophecies that remind us of Jesus. It is fascinating that most of these can be understood to refer to Cyrus as well! After all, Cyrus did release the captives of Israel to return again to the land of Israel. Note the fascinating way God causes the same pictures to come out again and again in Scripture:

  • Cyrus is a great king who releases Israel’s captives. Christ is the greatest king who releases the world from captivity to sin.

  • God’s people are released from slavery and bondage more than once. The release from Egypt and Babylon are both pictures of our ultimate release from spiritual bondage.

  • God makes a level highway for people to come to him. He does not want our salvation to be a hard and obscure work. It is open for all to see.

  • We are led to the new Jerusalem where it will be crowded with people from every ethnic group, nation, and language.

  • The Lord is our shepherd who will refresh us with cool water.

And we will see all of these pictures repeated in Revelation!

https://www.bible.com/bible/116/isa.49.nlt

 


 

Yesterday we heard the letter to the church at Ephesus— the church that lost their love. Here NLT is right to help us understand the Greek. John didn’t specify what the object of the love was. It makes best sense to say that the love was for Jesus and for one another. The two go hand in hand! Having a translation that specifies the object is helpful, because in normal English speech, when talking about love, we normally make sure the object is clearly found in the context.

Secondly we heard about the poor and persecuted church in Smyrna. Their church is exceptional because there was no word of rebuke for them. Jesus just urged them to keep on being faithful.

https://www.bible.com/bible/116/rev.2.nlt

 

 

 



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