Obadiah is the shortest book in the Old Testament and it has been said the least popular and least understood by Christians. Tucked away as it is between the minor prophets Amos and Jonah, the 21 verses of the prophecy of Obadiah are often overlooked or dismissed as a discriminatory rant against Edom. But, like many other seemingly recursive Biblical passages, a close study of the subject matter, and the precise way in which it is written, reveal that there is more to the prophecy than that.
It charts the culmination of a dysfunctional relationship: that of the brothers Jacob and Esau, whose incompatibility is magnified by their descendants until the two sides are practically waging war against each other.
But the prophecy is not confined to physical fighting. It shows us the Lord’s reasoning according to the people of Edom’s behaviour, and perhaps that some of these transgressions are faults that every one of us should take care to avoid.
