The prophet Obadiah was sent to talk to the people of the nation of Edom. The Edomites were related to the Israelites. Israel came from Jacob, the Edomites came from his brother, Esau.

In the story of Jacob and Esau (Genesis 25-27, 32-33), the brothers were born at the same time but looked different. Esau was the oldest and would be the leader of the family when his father died except he sold that right, called the birthright, to Jacob for a pot of stew when he was very hungry. Jacob later deceived his father into making sure that he got the blessing. Esau was angry and wanted to kill Jacob so, for a long time, Jacob lived far from Esau.

Just as the brothers struggled in their lives, the nations that followed them, the Israelites and Edomites, struggled with one another. One time when Israel was attacked by an enemy, the Edomites did not help and, in fact, took some of the treasures from Israel and some of the people as slaves.

God sent Obadiah to tell the Edomites that he was not pleased with them.   Obadiah told the Edomites that they should not have stood by when Israel was taken captive by their enemies or killed the Israelites who tried to escape from the enemies. Though they were strong, God told the Edomites that stronger nations would come and punish them. God would bring Israel back to their land but Edom would be destroyed.

We should learn an important lesson from this. When something bad happens to someone, we should not do bad things to them or help those who are being mean. Some call it “kicking someone when they are down.”  We who love God should help people up when they fall, we should help them in bad times especially when no one else will help them. There are some people at school who have to suffer bad things and, on top of that, other people make fun of them. We should try to help them, not make them feel worse. God knows and He sees what we do.

Lessons from Obadiah

  • God knows who mistreats His people and will punish them
  • We should not help people mistreat others but be friends in a time of need
  • God is watching how we treat others
  • Do not kick someone when they are down