Obadiah’s Vision
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[a] and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’
When I read these prophets it is all confusing. Edom, versus Israel, versus Judah, versus Assyria, Babylon, etc. The way I understand it is this: James said that when we come to the Bible it is like looking in the mirror. I think all of these different “nations” depict us, but in different aspects. If you open the newspaper they will talk about the CDC (they would be your levitical priests), and they will tell you what the President and Governors are saying (kings and rulers), and how this impacts the economy and different industries. So although it seems very complicated when you read the prophets, it isn’t any more complex than our newspaper. Here we are talking about those who are exceedingly proud, they make themselves houses on the mountainside (very rich), and say “who can bring me down”, in other words they are too big to fail. Reminds me of the bankers who caused the mortgage crisis. It reminds me of the word that pride goes before a fall.
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?
Bank robbers are familiar to us. Surely you can think of some bank robbers and they were only able to steal what they could carry off from a single branch. This is going to be much more devastating. Again the mortgage crisis was a crisis where the thieves were both the bankers and the government. This is clearly directed not towards the third world, but to those who "soar like an eagle and make your nest among the stars". The rich, the powerful, the elites of the world.
6 But how Esau will be ransacked, his hidden treasures pillaged!
These banks all keep their treasures in the vault. They are “hidden”, kept under lock and key. But they will be pillaged. That refers to an invading army ransacking a town they have conquered. In Joel and Amos we have already seen that this Covid-19 is compared to an invading army. Esau was Israel's twin brother. He was of the family of God, was familiar with the family of God, but was a profane person who lost his inheritance. These are the nominal Christians.
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.
Wow, you have to connect this verse with verse 15 “as you have done it will be done to you”. What happened during the mortgage crisis? They set a trap for these unwary home buyers. It was called a balloon mortgage. They would collect five years worth of home payments (60 mortgage payments) and then the interest rate would balloon, they couldn’t afford the mortgage anymore, and they would foreclose and get the entire house back. These naive home buyers didn’t detect this because the people who were required by law to explain it to them convinced them to skip over all the boring fine print. They were supposed to be their allies in helping them with the purchase. As you have done, it will be done to you.
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.
You would have thought they would have been cut down after the mortgage crisis. Surely what they did was criminal and many would go to prison. Nope. Not one, at least not in the US. Surely they would be fined and pay a very stiff penalty. Ha, you jest, not a penny. Well at least they lost jobs, took pay cuts, and didn’t get a bonus. Are you kidding? Of course not. They took government bailouts and used that to pay themselves bonuses. This is why they are so proud as to say “who can bring me down to the ground” or at the very least that they “are too big to fail”. But sadly for them they asked, and the answer is quite simple, God will bring them down to the ground.
10 Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever.
I am here in Washington DC for the rallies and yesterday some of those at the rally broke through the barriers and stormed the capital. When my brother learned that I was here he said "shame on me". My response was "Shame for what? For praying, for listening, for caring, for not treating these people as "deplorable" but rather as my neighbor? I would gladly bear that shame. The Lord was crucified outside the camp and we are told to go out of the camp to Him and bear His disgrace.
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.
Once again, reminds me of the mortgage crisis. They engineer the crisis and then when they foreclose on them they stand aloof. How can so many people in this country stand aloof? People will send letters and try to get a meeting but they are simply ignored. Foreclosure was the plan all along. Helping people to restructure the loan was never the plan. People came in and carried off their homes, their wealth. They entered the gates and bought up these foreclosed houses in auctions. Could Obadiah be any more clear? Congress ratified Biden's victory in the middle of the night, that to me is to stand aloof.
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.
So many people wonder if this Covid-19 is from God what is the judgement for, what is our sin? Well, for those involved in this whole mortgage crisis God lays it out quite clearly what they should not have done. Do you realize that many people make their fortunes when others go bankrupt. Just look at a graph of the stock market or housing market. Buy low (right after the crisis) and Sell high (five or ten years later). There are many on Wall street and in these investment banks who gloat and rejoice over the pain and misfortune of others. It was a disaster and calamity for so many, but they simply marched through, seized their wealth, and then waited at the auction houses to pick up other assets like cars at a pittance. Covid19 is simply the repeat of a "winning formula". Bankrupt people and then march through the gates on the day of their disaster.
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.
There are a few spots in the Bible that tell us “the day of the Lord is near”. We know the Day of the Lord begins with the peace treaty being made concerning Jerusalem with the many. We aren’t there yet. But how do we know if that day is “near”? The peace treaty is made in “perilous times” but what does that mean? Well, Obadiah is one place in the Bible that tells us that. This prophecy describes that period of time when “the day of the Lord is near”. The mortgage crisis told us it was near, what just took place this morning in the US Congress tells us "as you have done it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head."
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[a] and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’
When I read these prophets it is all confusing. Edom, versus Israel, versus Judah, versus Assyria, Babylon, etc. The way I understand it is this: James said that when we come to the Bible it is like looking in the mirror. I think all of these different “nations” depict us, but in different aspects. If you open the newspaper they will talk about the CDC (they would be your levitical priests), and they will tell you what the President and Governors are saying (kings and rulers), and how this impacts the economy and different industries. So although it seems very complicated when you read the prophets, it isn’t any more complex than our newspaper. Here we are talking about those who are exceedingly proud, they make themselves houses on the mountainside (very rich), and say “who can bring me down”, in other words they are too big to fail. Reminds me of the bankers who caused the mortgage crisis. It reminds me of the word that pride goes before a fall.
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?
Bank robbers are familiar to us. Surely you can think of some bank robbers and they were only able to steal what they could carry off from a single branch. This is going to be much more devastating. Again the mortgage crisis was a crisis where the thieves were both the bankers and the government. This is clearly directed not towards the third world, but to those who "soar like an eagle and make your nest among the stars". The rich, the powerful, the elites of the world.
6 But how Esau will be ransacked, his hidden treasures pillaged!
These banks all keep their treasures in the vault. They are “hidden”, kept under lock and key. But they will be pillaged. That refers to an invading army ransacking a town they have conquered. In Joel and Amos we have already seen that this Covid-19 is compared to an invading army. Esau was Israel's twin brother. He was of the family of God, was familiar with the family of God, but was a profane person who lost his inheritance. These are the nominal Christians.
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.
Wow, you have to connect this verse with verse 15 “as you have done it will be done to you”. What happened during the mortgage crisis? They set a trap for these unwary home buyers. It was called a balloon mortgage. They would collect five years worth of home payments (60 mortgage payments) and then the interest rate would balloon, they couldn’t afford the mortgage anymore, and they would foreclose and get the entire house back. These naive home buyers didn’t detect this because the people who were required by law to explain it to them convinced them to skip over all the boring fine print. They were supposed to be their allies in helping them with the purchase. As you have done, it will be done to you.
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.
You would have thought they would have been cut down after the mortgage crisis. Surely what they did was criminal and many would go to prison. Nope. Not one, at least not in the US. Surely they would be fined and pay a very stiff penalty. Ha, you jest, not a penny. Well at least they lost jobs, took pay cuts, and didn’t get a bonus. Are you kidding? Of course not. They took government bailouts and used that to pay themselves bonuses. This is why they are so proud as to say “who can bring me down to the ground” or at the very least that they “are too big to fail”. But sadly for them they asked, and the answer is quite simple, God will bring them down to the ground.
10 Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever.
I am here in Washington DC for the rallies and yesterday some of those at the rally broke through the barriers and stormed the capital. When my brother learned that I was here he said "shame on me". My response was "Shame for what? For praying, for listening, for caring, for not treating these people as "deplorable" but rather as my neighbor? I would gladly bear that shame. The Lord was crucified outside the camp and we are told to go out of the camp to Him and bear His disgrace.
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.
Once again, reminds me of the mortgage crisis. They engineer the crisis and then when they foreclose on them they stand aloof. How can so many people in this country stand aloof? People will send letters and try to get a meeting but they are simply ignored. Foreclosure was the plan all along. Helping people to restructure the loan was never the plan. People came in and carried off their homes, their wealth. They entered the gates and bought up these foreclosed houses in auctions. Could Obadiah be any more clear? Congress ratified Biden's victory in the middle of the night, that to me is to stand aloof.
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.
So many people wonder if this Covid-19 is from God what is the judgement for, what is our sin? Well, for those involved in this whole mortgage crisis God lays it out quite clearly what they should not have done. Do you realize that many people make their fortunes when others go bankrupt. Just look at a graph of the stock market or housing market. Buy low (right after the crisis) and Sell high (five or ten years later). There are many on Wall street and in these investment banks who gloat and rejoice over the pain and misfortune of others. It was a disaster and calamity for so many, but they simply marched through, seized their wealth, and then waited at the auction houses to pick up other assets like cars at a pittance. Covid19 is simply the repeat of a "winning formula". Bankrupt people and then march through the gates on the day of their disaster.
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.
There are a few spots in the Bible that tell us “the day of the Lord is near”. We know the Day of the Lord begins with the peace treaty being made concerning Jerusalem with the many. We aren’t there yet. But how do we know if that day is “near”? The peace treaty is made in “perilous times” but what does that mean? Well, Obadiah is one place in the Bible that tells us that. This prophecy describes that period of time when “the day of the Lord is near”. The mortgage crisis told us it was near, what just took place this morning in the US Congress tells us "as you have done it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head."