I have read through the Bible many times, but I always learn something new. Many times I come to better understand the overall purpose God is communicating in His Word to us. At other times I see a new insightful detail that fascinates me and strengthens my faith and understanding. I came across such a detail as I am reading about God’s instructions to Moses concerning the building of the Tabernacle and the production of the priestly and sacrificial accoutrements. In Exodus 25:1-9, God commands Moses “to raise a contribution for Me” (verse 2).
Then for the first time of many He says that the materials to be woven and contributed should be “blue, purple, and scarlet material, fine linen,…” (verse 4). The word material is italicized since it is not in the original Hebrew but evidently implied. Other passages place “fine linen” first and then the three colors. More frequently the three colors are followed by “and fine linen.” I record all of this in order to say that there seem to be four colors (fine linen being white) rather than three colors of dyed linen.
I have read this many times. In fact, I once wrote poems including these colors from this biblical description. (Click on “Tabernacled Among Us” and “Advent Colors” for poems of explanation.) However, this day I noticed a superscript 1 by the word blue. The center notes say 1violet. Now, I am aware that purple is a large range of colors and blue has its various tints, but in my language blue is not violet. And besides, the next word in the text is purple. The Orthodox Jewish Bible says, “turquoise” for blue, which I find only increases my confusion. So, I begin looking up Hebrew words. Tekeleth is a blue-violet dye thought to have come from a marine creature (1). Argaman is a red-purple dye, or royal purple or Tyrian purple, extracted from sea snails (2). But it is shani, a scarlet dye (3), that most fascinated me. Shani comes from a female worm (Tolaa– “destroyer” or “worm” (4)) that purposely attaches to a tree, losing use of its legs, thus making it seem to be a worm. She dies secreting the red dye and her young which are protected during development by her firm attachment to the tree. It is such an unmistakable picture of what Christ did on the cross, binding Himself to the cross to die for our sins so that we might be born from above, washed in the blood and protected.
I am amazed at the symbolism both outward and deeply inward that the Scripture holds to give us yet more evidence of its truth. It is not as though we should need more considering that “God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.” (Hebrews 6:17-18) Indeed, He is good all the time.
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Hard Words
Posted in America, Consequences, Cultural commentary, Day of the Lord, General, God's Word, Judgment, Metaphor, tagged Cup of Wrath, Day of the Lord, End Times, Judgement, Obadiah on November 15, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Why did God include Obadiah in the Scriptures? Afterall, the judgements cited are repeated in Jeremiah 49, though who is repeating whom is not known since the date of Obadiah’s writing is uncertain. The book is very short, fewer verses than Jude, though a few dozen more words. Its purpose at the very least is to introduce or reiterate and confirm the judgements determined for Edom and clearly delineate why.
Verses 15-17 are key to the book:
“For the day of the Lord draws near on all the nations. As you have done, it will be done to you.
Your dealings will return on your own head. Because just as you drank on My holy mountain,
all the nations will drink continually. They will drink and swallow and become as if they had never existed. But on Mount Zion there will be those who escape, and it will be holy. And the house of Jacob will possess their possessions.” Obadiah 15-17
God is making use of Edom as an example of how He deals with any and all nations that tamper with His Chosen People. Edom and Israel are closely related by blood, history, proximity, and interaction, but they are treated identically to any unbelieving nation that harms Israel and will receive the same treatment at the hand of God. At this level it seems straightforward.
The understanding of God’s determination turns on the metaphor of drinking. Jeremiah 49:12-13 says, “For thus says the Lord, “Behold, those who were not sentenced to drink the cup will certainly drink it, and are you the one who will be completely acquitted? You will not be acquitted, but you will certainly drink it. For I have sworn by Myself,” declares the Lord, “that Bozrah will become an object of horror, a reproach, a ruin and a curse; and all its cities will become perpetual ruins.” From the context it is obvious that the cup that Bozrah, the capitol city of Edom, will be forced to drink is not pleasant. It is a cup of judgement. The Lord more clearly defines the nature of this cup in Jeremiah 25:15-16: “For thus the Lord, the God of Israel, says to me, “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. They will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.” The cup is for Babylon, but verses seventeen and following tell of the many other nations who will have to drink it.
The tenses of the verb in the Obadiah verses cited above arrested my attention. In order they are “drank”, “will drink”, and “will drink”. Understanding that Edom will drink of God’s judgement and that all nations will likewise partake, is, as I said, straightforward. But what is it that Edom “drank”. Is God from His eternal, non-time bound perspective speaking of Edom’s future judgement as though it has already happened? I think that the detail of the passage says otherwise.
“As you have done, it will be done to you.” (v.15) In the metaphor of “drink”, I believe that the passage is saying that as you, Edom, did harm to My People, I, God, will do harm to you. How had Edom drunk? Verse 10 says, “Because of violence to your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame, and you will be cut off forever.” Then the prophet lists the things that they should not do which they later did when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem. The cup that is drunk is one of wrath. Edom got their fill of scoffing, looting, enslaving, and cutting down escaping Israelites. They would receive the same punishment and more from God since they would “become as if they never existed” (v.16), like the nations.
The application to the United States as one of the nations is obvious. God will not ignore the many evil things that America has done and is doing to many peoples including their own. To name but a few, recall our proxy wars, setting up tribes (Taliban for instance) and turning around to destroy them, broken treaties, the many ways we poison our food, water, air, and soil for profit, sex trafficking, and abortion. Persecution of God’s People, the Church and the remnant of Israel, by America has begun and will intensify. God will not turn a blind eye concerning all of this evil. We will be judged like all the other nations who have not acknowledged Him and have hurt His People.
The judgements listed in Obadiah for Edom and the nations are further tied to the day of the Lord which includes God’s blessing of Israel. It is hard to sort out what parts of what verses refer to Edom and Jerusalem in the past and which are reserved for the future but based on the immediate and wider context of eschatological Scriptures, God is not done with Israel or the nations. And it is abundantly clear when the last verse of Obadiah says, “The deliverers will ascend Mount Zion to judge the mountain of Esau, and the kingdom will be the Lord’s.” (Obadiah 21) Take note of similar statements at the end of Joel 3, Amos 9, Zephaniah 3, and all of Zechariah 14, not to mention numerous times among the “major” prophets. The day of the Lord is a time of setting things right by fulfilling promises for judgement of sin and completing all of the blessings God has promised but not yet fulfilled. God be praised for His infinite knowledge, righteousness, and power. He has made known what His plans are for mankind.
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