Those of the Negeb shall possess Mount Esau, and those of the Shephelah shall possess the land of the Philistines; they shall possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria, and Benjamin shall possess Gilead. The exiles of this host of the people of Israel shall possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad shall possess the cities of the Negeb. Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s - Obadiah 1: 19 - 21 (ESV)
As we get into the final part of this 5 part sermon series, we have seen how the Lord was set upon bringing death and destruction on the Edomites due to their pride which manifested itself in various ways and forms, their violent attitudes towards the Lord and their own kin and their utter disregard for the Lord in the previous 4 parts A State of the Heart, A Violent Indifference, The Many Sins of Edom and The Day of The Lord. However, the crux of this whole book is not the death of the Edomites, as much as it is about the coming of the Lord’s Kingdom.
The final verses of our portion of scripture today brings a culmination to this judgment by the Lord of the Edomite people. This last portion from Obadiah removes us from the judgment of the people of Edom in the prophet’s day and looks ahead to the coming of Jesus Christ and the spread of the gospel throughout the world. The prophecy looks ahead to the Lord’s second coming, when the theme of judgment matches up with the final judgment of all the wicked when Jesus comes again to judge the living and the dead. It starts with a clear prophecy that states - “Those of the Negeb shall possess Mount Esau, and those of the Shephelah shall possess the land of the Philistines; they shall possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria, and Benjamin shall possess Gilead. The exiles of this host of the people of Israel shall possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad shall possess the cities of the Negeb.” - Obadiah 1: 19 - 20
Now if you are anything like me, the moment I start reading names of people or places in the Bible, I try to skip over these portions as much as possible. Yet, there is great significance to these names and much to be learnt. Why? What's in a name?
This question has become a cliché in our culture. The significance of a name however is found in its ability to confer affluence and reputation. If one has a famous last name, they are treated with respect and honor. If they have a last name that has been associated with ill-repute, they will be disrespected and dishonored. But typically we use names as mere designators to distinguish one person from another. They do not have much significance to us, and any meaning attached to that name is either unknown to the bearer of that name, or the bearer is not concerned with such trivialities. This was not the way they viewed or used names in the Mid-East. Mid-Easterners even today attach a much greater significance to names. The fact that the Hebrew word shem and the Greek word onoma--both of which mean "name"--appear over 1000 times in the Bible should give us an indication of the significance of a name.
To the Hebrews a name was not a label, or a tool to distinguish one person from another; a person's name was viewed as equivalent to the person himself. A person's name signified their person, worth, character, reputation, authority, will, and ownership. It defined their character. It is hence that when people were seen as having a new character, their names were changed as well. Further, we need to keep in mind that since the names of places are essentially given basis the character / nature of the incidents surrounding them, or their close association with their respective Biblical characters, even to the extent of being personifications of their forebears; if we gave close attention to the names of places and people we would see a pattern emerging of God’s undeterred love for His people through the ages, over centuries and across geographies.
This same promise of God’s love continues in verses 19, 20, where we see that the victory of Christ over Satan is cast into simple terms of victory for God’s people. The south of Judah and the tribe of Simeon were located in a lowland known as the Negev. Those people–often persecuted by Edom–would be given the land of Edom (“Esau”) for their spoils.
The dwellers of the foothills, the tribe of Dan would be given the land on the other side of the mountains: Philistia. In addition, they would possess the land once occupied by Israel before the northern tribes were removed to Assyria. They would receive Ephraim (the towering highland north of Judah) and the rich fields of Samaria. The little tribe of Benjamin would be given the land of Gilead in the north. This is only a picture, mind you, of the blessings God will give to all believers when He brings us home to heaven. The blessings will be wonderful–unimaginable–so they are placed here into simple and clear terms, easily understood.
Further, we are told that the northern Kingdom and tribes will return from exile and spread out along the northern coastline of Palestine to Zarephath. And the southern tribes (note that their captivity is indirectly prophesied here) would also be granted an allotment of the Negev. More importantly, we seem to have a glimpse of the way the Gospel would travel in New Testament times. Zarephath might remind us of the widow who befriended Elijah (1 Kings 17:9-10; Luke 4:26). This also reminds us that Jesus traveled into Syrian-Phoenicia near Tyre, meeting a woman there with a remarkable faith. She was the one who asked for mere scraps of Jesus’ healing, since “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs” (Mark 7:28).
Sardis was a city in western Asia Minor, one of the seven Christian Churches addressed by Jesus in His letter dictated to the Apostle John (Revelation 3:1-6). Jesus said that although the church was dying or dead; “Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.” Rev. 3:4. Even when judgment is made–either on Sardis or on Edom–the Lord is compassionate on those who have faith, just as he was patient and compassionate when he rescued Lot from Sodom (Genesis 19:15-24).
It is in this context that Obadiah verse 21 reads, “Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.”
The word for “Savior” here is related to the word “Messiah.” Although more than one messiah is mentioned, we know that we have only one Christ (Messiah). Yet this term was sometimes used to describe the “rescuers” who saved Israel in the time of the Judges. More importantly and more clearly as a prophecy, “the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.” Jesus is the King who reigns over all, occupying the place of honor at the right hand of the Father. He is both the judge who condemns all sinners and the Lamb whose sacrifice atoned for the sins of the world and have rescued all who put their faith in him. And he will reign forever and ever.
Obadiah’s message meant judgment and destruction for God’s enemies, but for us, this short little book reminds us of the great rescue that is ours through Jesus. He will preserve His people for all eternity, blessing us with all that we need. He will give whatever we might want, and more, because his mercy endures forever.
This note of encouragement is actually the central purpose for this prophecy of Obadiah. We might wonder if it ever had much of a reading in the streets or palaces of Edom; but it certainly was received as welcome encouragement among the suffering people of God. Obadiah tells all God’s people: “Don’t worry about those who ignore your need, those who rejoice at your problems, those who take advantage of your crises, those who join their hands with others in attacking you. I will take care of them.”
Calvin the Reformer, a contemporary of Luther, said about this scripture portion, “The Prophet proceeds with the same subject, -- that God would not only gather the remnants of his people from the Babylonian exile, but would restore the exiles, that they might rule far and wide, and that their condition might be better than it was before: for the Prophet, as I think, directs the attention to the first blessing of God, which had been deposited in the hand of Abraham. God had promised to the posterity of Abraham the whole land from Euphrates to the sea. Now this land had never been possessed by the children of Abraham. This happened, as it is well known, through their sloth and ingratitude. David in his time enlarged the borders; but yet he only made those tributaries whom God had commanded to be destroyed. So this blessing had never been fulfilled, because the people put a hindrance in the way. The Prophet now, speaking of the restoration of the Church, tells the people, who would return from exile, that they were to occupy the country which had been promised to their fathers as though he said, "There will come to you a full and complete inheritance."
Now it is certain that this prophecy has never been completed: we know that but a small portion of the land was possessed by the Jews. What then are we to understand by this prophecy? It does unquestionably appear that the Prophet speaks here of the kingdom of Christ; and we know that the Church was then really restored, and that the Jews not only recovered their former state from which they had fallen, but that their kingdom was increased: for how great became the splendor of the kingdom and of the temple under Christ? This then is what the Prophet now means, when he promises to the Jews the heritage which they had lost; yea, God then enlarged the borders of Judea. Hence he shows that they should not only be restored to their former condition, but that the kingdom would be increased in splendor and wealth, when Christ should come.
The space was no doubt great: even when David reigned, the Jews did not possess that part or south portion of mount Seir. Then the Prophet, as I have said, shows that the borders of the kingdom would be more extensive than they had been. And the plain, he says, of the Philistines On that side also the Lord would cause that the Jews would extend farther than their kingdom. And possess they shall the fields of Ephraim. Here I will not spend much labor in describing the land: but it is enough for us to understand that the design of the Prophet was to show that the state of the people after their exile would be far more splendid than it had been before, even under the reign of David. What he means by Gilead is not very clear: but it is not probable that mount Gilead is referred to here, which was not far distant from the tribe of Benjamin, but rather that a town or some place distant from that part, and not included in their portion, is pointed out.
There is here an obscurity in the words. The Hebrews by Canaan mean the Illyrians as well as Germans, and also the Gauls: for they say, that the migration, which shall be dispersed in Gaul, and in Germany, and in these far regions, shall possess the southern cities. Now by Zarephath they understand Spain. But we know, as we have elsewhere said, that the Jews are very bold in their glosses: for they are not ashamed to trifle and to blend frivolous things; and they assert this as though it were evident from history, and easily found out. Thus they prattle about things unknown to them, and this they do without any reason or discrimination. The Prophet, I doubt not, means here that all those territories, which had been formerly promised to the children of Abraham, would come into their possession when the Lord would send his Christ, not only to restore what had fallen, but also to render the state of the people in every way blessed. The import of the whole then is, that the Jews shall not only recover what they had lost, but what had not hitherto been given them to possess: all this the Lord would bestow on them when Christ came.”
To summarize, Calvin's idea about this passage is essentially portraying how great things will be once the Messiah comes. He also clarifies that it would be not an earthly kingdom that would possess the land, but rather God's people living around the world. Further, that the perfect and full realization of the prophecy comes in the new heavens and earth as recorded in Revelations. What is possessed by faith now (as in the example of Abraham) is possessed by sight when the age-to-come has arrived.
It is therefore that Revelations 22: 3 - 5 reminds us, “No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will worship Him. They will see his face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”
You see, where the book starts with what we might call the ruthlessness of God, where He has His heart set on destroying Esau, towards the end, the whole story is that of the coming of the Holy Spirit into the human heart; he has come to destroy Esau and all these characteristics of the flesh. He will destroy them in those who are His and bring Jacob into the full inheritance of all His possessions -- and the weapon He uses is the judgment of the cross.
Isn't it interesting that when we get to the New Testament we find these same two principles personified again in two persons who meet in the pages of the Gospels face to face. In the last week of our Lord's sufferings, he stands before Herod. Herod, we are told, is a remnant of the Edomite people. Jesus before Herod -- the representative of Jacob and the representative of Esau face to face. Herod the Edomite, proud, arrogant and rebellious, watches the cruel mockery of the soldiers as they strip the Lord down and dress him in his royal robes. The Gospel writer says that Herod plied him with many questions, but for the son of Esau there is no answer from the son of Jacob. He has nothing to discuss with him. There can be no compromise. God has nothing to say to the flesh, nothing at all except judgment - the judgment of the cross.
And what is the final issue of that account? The prisoner went out to a cross and a grave, and from it he emerged a king; but King Herod went on to disgrace, exile, and, finally, to a grave in a foreign country. Beyond that he is a prisoner, bound by chains of his own making, eternally.
Now which are we? A king or a prisoner? Is Esau or Jacob ruling? Do we know about this ruthless cross that denies us any right to self-sufficiency, to self-expression, to self-advantage, to self-exploitation, to all these things -- denies us indifference, gloating, or self-righteousness? Have we learned yet to reign with Christ, not in heaven, but right now? Have we learned to possess our possessions -- as Jacob is intended to do -- so that the kingdom shall be the Lord's, the kingdom of your life? Or are we still a prisoner, like Herod, fancying ourself to be free, on a throne in authority, but still bound by unbreakable chains because you refuse to pass through the death that sets you free?
Let’s pray!