Obadiah 1

Study Guide 71: Obadiah and Nahum WARNING TO ENEMIES Overview The Books of Obadiah and Nahum are seldom taught today. Each is a prophetic warning against an enemy of ancient Israel. The great contribution of each to believers today is to underscore the fact that God does make moral judgments — and He acts on them! These books also remind us of the faithfulness of God to His covenant promises to Abraham. The God who promised to bless those who blessed the Hebrew people and to curse those who cursed them is powerfully illustrated in these two short Old Testament books. The three-chapter Book of Nahum has yet another value. It demonstrates powerfully that God is in full control of history. In a series of detailed prophecies against Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, Nahum foretold accurately just how the great city would one day fall. How good that prophecy constantly shows the total trustworthiness of the Word of God. The date that Obadiah was written is uncertain, and has usually been placed either around 840 b.c. or 585 b.c. Nahum probably ministered between 885 b.c. and 667 b.c.JEALOUS. Nahum spoke of God as “ jealous.” A weakness in human beings, when “ jealousy” is ascribed to God it indicates His zeal for and commitment to His people.

Commentary We live in a world where many things seem tragically unfair. Libya sponsors terrorist attacks that maim innocents. The Iranian regime arms children and sends them against Iraq to be massacred. Communist and right-wing regimes alike suppress freedom, and brutalize their citizens. Countries like Afghanistan are crushed by invaders while the United Nations hesitates to even complain. In a world like ours, it is easy to wonder whether God is concerned with international injustice. It might have been easy for such questions to arise in Bible times too. The people of Israel and Judah suffered under hostile enemies. And this people possessed wonderful promises of divine protection! It would be particularly troubling for those who saw themselves as “ God’ s people” to know persecution. Where, they must have wondered, was the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob? Where was the God of Moses and the Exodus? Where was the God of the all-conquering king, David? The background of promise. When God first appeared to Abram in the land of Ur, he made that patriarch a series of wonderful promises. Genesis 12:1-20, Genesis 15:1-21, and Genesis 17:1-27 define these promises, and put them in the cultural framework of a “ covenant.” “ Covenant” (bri’ t in Heb.) is an inclusive but important term. In Old Testament times it was the general word for “ agreement,” with its particular meaning and character defined by the context of its use. In business a bri’ t would be a contract. In international law it would be a treaty. In personal relationships it would be a firm commitment. In the context of God’ s relationship with human beings, it is best understood as a promise, or oath. In making a covenant with human beings God is expressly stating what He will surely do, and how He will surely act. Among the features of this covenant or promise that God made to Abraham was to bless those who blessed his descendants (e.g., who treated them well) and to curse (punish) those who cursed his descendants (e.g., who mistreated them). Later the Law added further insights. If God’ s people would obey Him, they would be prosperous and would also defeat their enemies. But if God’ s people turned from the Lord and disobeyed Him, they would know both poverty and defeat (see Deuteronomy 28:1-68). Again and again the pattern outlined by the Mosaic Law was replicated in the history of God’ s people. When they wandered God used enemy nations, along with famine and plague, to discipline them. But this principle in the Law of Moses in no way supplanted the promise stated to Abraham!Indeed, the nations God used to discipline His people went beyond what God had in mind, for the pagan enemy sought not to punish but to destroy! As God said through Isaiah: Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of My anger, in whose hand is the club of My wrath! I send him against a godless nation, I dispatch him against a people who anger Me, to seize loot and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets. But this is not what he intends, this is not what he has in mind; his purpose is to destroy, to put an end to many nations. Isaiah 10:5-7Thus God will punish the proud oppressor of His people, and will fulfill the promise He made in ages past to Abraham. The Assyrian and other enemies sought to curse God’ s own people. Now they would suffer His anger, for God’ s promises are sure.

Two Enemies The Books of Obadiah and Nahum announce the doom of two separate nations who were enemies of Israel. In each case the basis of judgment was the same: the enemy had mistreated God’ s own, and the Lord was committed to punishing them. Edom. Edom was a nation lying just south of the Dead Sea. It was settled by descendants of Esau, Jacob’ s brother. Like Esau, his descendants had shown themselves hostile to the Jews. When the Hebrews left Egypt under Moses, the Edomites denied Israel passage through their lands (cf. Numbers 20:14-20). Moses avoided battle with the army of these distant kinsmen, and took a lengthy route around their nation. Later, in the time of King David, the Edomites warred against Israel. They were defeated and became a subject people. But the next several hundred years showed constant warfare between these people and Israel, until in the fifth century b.c. the Edomite kingdom was destroyed. Later the descendants of Edom, then known as Idumeans, were forcibly converted to Judaism. Herod the Great, the brutal founder of the Herodian line which ruled in Jesus’ time, was an Idumean. But this lay far in the future as Obadiah penned his brief, one-chapter book — the shortest book in our Old Testament. At that time, very probably around 844 b.c. when Jerusalem was attacked by a coalition army of Arabs and Philistines, the Edomites had delighted in the disaster. Their own capital was Sela, or Petra. This city was literally carved into rock, and could be entered only by a narrow canyon easy to defend. Their own supposedly impregnable situation led both to pride and to contempt for Israel. Obadiah depicted their attitude: The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, “ Who can bring me down to the ground?” Obadiah 1:3God announced woe against them, and destruction “ because of the violence against your brother Jacob” (Obadiah 1:10). The particular offense is clearly specified. They will be judged because of what happened: 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. You should not look down on 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. You should not march through the gates of My people in the day of their disaster, nor look down on them in their calamity in the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of disaster. You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives, nor hand over their survivors in the day of their trouble. Obadiah 1:11-14God, then, will be true to His promises. The Edomites, who cursed His people Israel, would be punished. But the prophet then went on to expand his message to include all nations and people who despise the Lord and His inheritance! He spoke of a Day of the Lord “ near for all nations” (Obadiah 1:15). One day the ancient promises will be fully kept, and when the house of Jacob possesses its inheritance “ deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will be the Lord’ s” (Obadiah 1:21). Nineveh. Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, which dominated Palestine and much of the ancient world from around 930 to 612 b.c., counter-balanced in the south by Egypt. It was this people who, in 722 b.c., swept down on the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The Assyrians battered down the walls of Samaria, Israel’ s capital, and took the people away, resettling them away from the Promised Land. The Bible has much to say about this terrible, warlike pagan nation. Isaiah particularly contains many passages that foretell Assyria’ s doom (cf. Isaiah 10:5-19; Isaiah 17:12-14; Isaiah 18:4-6; Isaiah 30:27-33; Isaiah 37:21-35). The little three-chapter Book of Nahum contains detailed prophecies about the doom of Israel’ s ancient enemy. The book begins with a statement about God’ s character, which is to be revealed in the judgment on Nineveh. The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on His foes and maintains His wrath against His enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished. Nahum 1:2-3The doom came because Nineveh, in destroying Israel, had plotted against the Lord (Nahum 1:9). Therefore: The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him, but with an overwhelming flood He will make an end of Nineveh; He will pursue His foes into darkness. Nahum 1:7-8What is perhaps most striking about this book is the detail with which the destruction of Nineveh is foretold. Written between 667 and 655 b.c., about 50 years before the city fell, the book gives details of the three-month siege and fate of the once-powerful city. The powerful images of terrible judgment about to fall on Nineveh remind us that God stands against all oppressors, not just the enemy of His people Israel. What then do we gain from a study of these two almost-forgotten books of the Hebrew prophets? While there may be little that is directly relevant to our day, there surely are lessons. We learn that God is faithful to His promises. God’ s Old Testament people may have wondered why deliverance seemed to take so long. And they may have felt at times that God had truly abandoned them to enemies intended only to discipline them. Yet these two prophetic books are evidence that God did not abandon even His sinning people. The judgment may have been delayed, but it did come. And judgment was just, based on ancient principles clearly laid down. So even though we may not see a particular promise fulfilled quickly, we can be sure that God will keep every commitment He has made to us. We also sense something of the justice of God, whose wrath is aroused by that human pride and injustice which causes one people to disregard the rights of another, and declare war on them. There may well be such a thing as a just war. But any war in which righteous objectives are set aside merits the judgment of our God.

Fulfillments of Nahum’ s Prophecies Nahum’ s PropheciesHistorical Fulfillment

1. The Assyrian fortresses surrounding the city would be easily captured (Nahum 3:12).1. According to the Babylonian Chronicle the fortified towns in Nineveh’ s environs began to fall in 614 B.C. including Tabris, present-day Sharif-Khan, a few miles northwest of Nineveh.
2. The besieged Ninevites would prepare bricks and mortar for emergency defense walls (Nahum 3:14).2. Olmstead reported: “ To the south of the gate, the moat is still filled with fragments of stone and of mud bricks from the walls, heaped up when they were breached” (History of Assyria. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1951, p. 637).
3. The city gates would be destroyed (Nahum 3:13).3. Olmstead noted: “ The main attack was directed from the northwest and the brunt fell upon the Hatamti gate at this corner … Within the gate are traces of the counter-wall raised by the inhabitants in their last extremity” (History of Assyria, p. 637).
4. In the final hours of the attack the Ninevites would be drunk (Nahum 1:10; Nahum 3:11).4. Diodorus Siculus (ca. 20 B.C.) wrote, “ The Assyrian king … distributed to his soldiers meats and liberal supplies of wine and provisions … While the whole army was thus carousing, the friends of Arbakes learned from some deserters of the slackness and drunkenness which prevailed in the enemy’ s camp and made unexpected attack by night” (Bibliotheca Historica 2. 26. 4).
5. Nineveh would be destroyed by a flood (Nahum 1:8; Nahum 2:6, Nahum 2:8).5. Diodorus wrote that in the third year of the siege heavy rains caused a nearby river to flood part of the city and break part of the walls (Bibliotheca Historica 2. 26. 9; 2. 27. 13). Xenophon referred to terrifying thunder (presumable with a storm) associated with the city’ s capture (Anabasis, 3. 4. 12). Also the Khosr River, entering the city from the northwest at the Ninlil Gate and running through the city in a southwesterly direction, may have flooded because of heavy rains, or the enemy may have destroyed its sluice gate.
6. Nineveh would be destroyed by fire (Nahum 1:10; Nahum 2:13; Nahum 3:15).6. Archeological excavations at Nineveh have revealed charred wood charcoal, and ashes. “ There was no question about the clear traces of the burning of the temple (as also in the palace of Sennacherib), for a layer of ash about two inches thick lay clearly defined in places on the southeast side about the level of the Sargon pavement” (R. Campbell Thompson and R. W. Hutchinson, A Century of Exploration at Nineveh. London: Luzac, 1929, pp. 45, 77).
7. The city’ s capture would be attended by a great massacre of people (Nahum 3:3).7. “ In two battles fought on the plain before the city the rebels defeated the Assyrians … So great was the multitude of the slain that the flowing stream, mingled with their blood, changed its color for a considerable distance” (Diodorus, Bibliotheca Historica 2. 26. 6-7).
8. Plundering and pillaging would accompany the overthrow of the city(Nahum 2:9-10).8. According to the Babylonian Chronicle, “ Great quantities of spoil from the city, beyond counting, they carried off. The city [they turned] into a mound and ruin heap” (Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, 2:420).
9. When Nineveh would be captured its people would try to escape (Nahum 2:8).9. “ Sardanapalus [another name for King Sin-shar-ishkun] sent away his three sons and two daughters with much treasure into Paphlagonia, to the governor of Kattos, the most loyal of his subjects” (Diodorus, Bibliotheca Historica, 2. 26. 8).
10. The Ninevite officers would weaken and flee (Nahum 3:17).10. The Babylonian Chronicle states that “ [The army] of Assyria deserted [lit., ran away before] the king” (Luckenbill, Ancient Records of Assyria and Babylonia, 2:420).
11. Nineveh’ s images and idols would be destroyed (Nahum 1:14).11. Campbell Thompson and R. W. Hutchinson reported that the statue of the goddess Ishtar lay headless in the debris of Nineveh’ s ruins (“ The British Museum Excavations on the Temple of Ishtar at Nineveh, 1930-1,” Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology. 19, pp. 55-6).
12. Nineveh’ s destruction would be final (Nahum 1:9, Nahum 1:14).12. Many cities of the ancient Near East were rebuilt after being destroyed (e.g., Samaria, Jerusalem, Babylon) but not Nineveh. Teaching Guide Prepare Review the important concept of covenant by referring to other discussions in this book.

Explore

1. Place the following statement on the chalkboard, and when your group members have come in ask them for their reactions. “ The existence of aggressor nations is a strong argument against the belief that God is in control of history.”
2. Or in a brief lecture compare the theme of these two prophets. Include in your overview a discussion of the Abrahamic Covenant on which each bases his assurance that God will act, and his explanation for the fate of Israel’ s enemy.

Expand

1. Duplicate and pass out the chart of prophecies concerning Nineveh. Look together at the detailed description and fulfillment of Nahum’ s prophecy. Discuss: “ What can we learn about God’ s control of history from the prophet’ s description of Nineveh’ s fall before the event?”
2. Or raise the question of the validity of the Abrahamic Covenant in modern international politics. Should the U.S. support Israel because God is committed to bless those who bless His Old Testament people? Or can the present state of Israel be compared with biblical Israel?

Apply

1. Divide into teams to read through Obadiah and Nahum 1:1-15. Each team is to find at least three verses or phrases which might contain a message to us today as well as to the people of the prophet’ s day. Then share the messages each team has found. Discuss: “ Are the messages for today related to the main theme of each book? Are there modern parallels between the issues that concerned the people of each prophet’ s day and issues that concern contemporary Christians?”
2. Share: “ Was there any message in either of these books that was especially for you?”