If God is love, should He take vengeance? (Obadiah)
Obad 1:1-21
Many struggle with the idea of a vengeful and angry God and even Christians feel uncomfortable reading about judgment like the oracles against various nations in the Old Testament. We are much more comfortable talking about a God of love. Yet, who has not been stung by injustice when treated unfairly and felt angry wanting to punish and cause hurt to the one who inflicted pain? Just a few days ago, there was talk on the radio about judges commuting sentences, in one case from a maximum of 20 years to just 24 months. The victim felt that her suffering was belittled as if it did not count, and the perpetrator’s wellbeing was given priority. It seems that a desire for justice, seeing wrong righted is deeply ingrained in us and it is because God created us this way. In a limited way, we reflect His character. Yet, our sense of what is just punishment can become skewed and this is where having a just God who can deal wisely with offences is our only hope. God may be angered by sin, but He will never lash out in wrath out of proportion to the crime (as we may be tempted to do). The Lord may execute vengeance (a word used in connection with God as just punishment) but He does not take revenge.
Edom’s attitude
The little book of Obadiah describes the judgment that is coming on Edom,the people descended from Esau.[1] The animosity that we have seen in the birth story of the brothers (Gen 25:22-23) continued after they had become two separate peoples. In the first section, Obadiah describes Edom’s attitude and their coming fate (Obad 1:1-9). The key issue is Edom’s arrogance (Obad 1:3-4), their confidence in their greatness and their invincibility. Edom’s territory was south and east of the Dead Sea among rocky mountains, with tall rock faces and narrow passages which the Edomites thought they could defend relatively easily. Yet, for those who think they are great and delude themselves with how powerful they are, becoming small and despised is the worst punishment (Obad 1:2).
The punishment fits the crime
The details of judgment anticipate the next section that describes Edom’s crime (Obad 1:10-14). When nations attack Edom, the country will be thoroughly ransacked (Obad 1:1, 6), which mirrors Edom’s offence when Babylon took Judah into exile and the Edomites swooped down like vultures to loot the leftover wealth of God’s people and to kill the fugitives trying to escape (Obad 1:13-14). Edom’s allies who were meant to help them will deceive and overpower them (Obad 1:7), just as Edom who was supposed to act supportively to the brother nation gloated over Judah’s misfortune instead and did not come to her aid (Obad 1:11-12). The principle is summarised in the third section that broadens the perspective to the final judgment (day of the LORD) that will eventually come on all nations: ‘as you have done, it will be done to you’ (Obad 1:15).
Anger and love
Finally, the oracle concludes on God’s restoration of His people as they return from exile (Obad 1:17-21). The repossession of their land describes a situation of reversal back to the time when Israel was in its heyday under David.[2] The point is described in terms of land that was taken by greed or aggression and will be restored once more. More broadly, it symbolises the principle that God will make up for all that was wrecked and destroyed in the life of His people. This concluding section highlights that what motivates God in bringing Edom to justice is His love for people whom He wants to restore. Thus, anger at evil is the other side of love. The more we care for someone, the more we will be angered by the injustices and wickedness they had to endure and the more we will want to see justice done. Knowing that God will put right all that is wrong in this world can also help us let go of revenge that invariably ends up being unjust.
[1] We know nothing of Obadiah (his name means ‘servant of Yahweh’), who he was or when and where he lived. The most likely context for Edom’s crime is after Babylon’s siege of Jerusalem when Judah was taken into exile. If this is correct then the date for his prophecy is likely sometime in the early exile around the 580s BC or shortly after (see Douglas Stuart, Hosea-Jonah, WBC 31 [Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1987], 404). Stuart argues that similar resentment against Edom is expressed in other early exilic writings (Ps 137:7; Lam 4:18-22; Ezek 25:12-14; 35:1-15). Ibid. This evidence supports the above date, since anger over Edom’s despicable acts would have been fresh in the exiles’ minds. Obadiah predicts Edom’s destruction which happened in the fifth century BC, when the Nabateans (Bedouin Arab tribes) took over Edom’s territory.
[2] Thus, those in southern Judah (Negev desert) will take back Edomite territory just as it was incorporated into Israel during David’s time (2 Sam 8:14), those in the foothills of Judah (Shephelah) will reclaim the coastal plains taken by the Philistines (Obad 1:19). Israel’s territory, apart from the traditionally recognised areas, will extend as far north as Zarephath (south of Sidon on the Mediterranean coastline). The location of Sepharad is disputed, but Stuart concludes that if it was to be identified with a territory north and west of Media beyond the Babylonian Empire then it indicates that God will bring back his exiles even from beyond Babylon. Hosea-Jonah, 421.
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