Bible Journaling: The Book of Obadiah

In this book of Obadiah the character of God is on display - even if the words can seem confusing for us today. As you journey through this book, see how many characteristics of God you can write down. Who is He according to this book?

For a broader view of this book of the Bible, we encourage you to watch this video:

Bible journaling tip: 

Some books in the Bible are not as well-known as others. Many people would not be 100% sure that the word ‘Obadiah’ even occurs in the Bible. Go to the Contents page of your Bible and read through the list of all the books of the Bible. Ask yourself how good your understanding of what happens in that book is from 0-10. That number is your confidence level about the book. Another way to think about it is to see if you can complete these questions: What is one story that you remember from this book? What do you know about this author? Can you remember a verse from this book? Mark the books that score under 5 by writing a question mark next to the book’s name - You can now make it your mission to read through those books next.

LOOK UP (information): encounter God through the Scripture 

Author:

Obadiah was a very common name: it means ‘servant of the Lord’. The author of this book is not a very well-known person, so why do you think this book was included in the Bible? Can you find any evidence that this book is trustworthy? How is God portrayed in this book?

Audience:

The book of Obadiah is unique because the prophecies here speak to a specific nation. Most other prophetic books speak to all nations or at least a few. See if you can identify other ways that this book is different from other prophetic books. 

History:

This book is the perfect example of how the books in the Bible are all connected to each other. Obadiah speaks a lot about “Edom” - Who is Edom? To understand that, we need to go back to a story about betrayal that we read about in Genesis 27. Here we read about Isaac (Abraham’s son - yes! The one he almost offered on the altar!). Isaac had two sons: Esau and Jacob. The Edomites were Esau’s people.

Genre:

The book Obadiah is part of the minor prophets - meaning it is a shorter and less central prophetic work. Prophecy is almost always two-sided: it points backwards and forwards. It testifies about God’s faithfulness in the past, and it hopes for His mercy in the future. Make little arrows in the margin of your Bible to indentify when this book is looking to the past, the present, or the future.

LOOK IN (revelation): contemplate / reflect on our own lives

Key verse:

Obadiah 3-4 NIV

“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?’ Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” declares the Lord.

Inspiration:

What do these verses tell us about pride? The world today has a very different message: You need to build a strong facade and be a “boss” and “own it”. We see an unique characteristic of God in the book of Obadiah. He really does not like it when we ar e prideful. Think about the 10 Commandments that God gave to Moses - Can you remember what was the very first thing on that list? When we are prideful and boastful, we are saying we do not need God and that we are the own gods in our lives.

LOOK OUT (transformation): respond with creative worship action  

Drawing prompt:

In verses 1-4, Obadiah explains how these people have put their faith and trust, not in God but in their land. They are very proud of where they live and very successful in all their endeavors. Think about this picture and how it relates to people who are seen as successful today or those climbing the ladder of success. It is widely agreed that this nation probably lived in the city of Petra. Look at some images of that place and paint the ‘clefts in the rock’ that we read about here. In each cleft, write down some words from this book.

Bible Journey with HolyJot:

Here are some questions / prompts provided by the HolyJot community. 

• What message did the Lord give Obadiah in verse one of this book? (Obadiah 1:1)
• What bad attitudes did Edom have in verses ten through twelve of this book? (Obadiah 1:10-12)

Follow this link to dive into this book with an online Bible Study group.

Writing prompt:

When we look at how the story between Jacob and Esau unfolds in Genesis 27 and onwards, we can be tempted to pick sides. Why would God say all these negative things, like in the book of Obadiah, against Esau when he was in fact the one with the birth right to receive the blessing? Wasn’t Jacob the betrayer? These very questions become a roadmap for us to understand different religions and the conflicts between them today. I bet you didn’t see that coming!? You can read more about that here. 

Different religions are viewed in one of three ways. Fold a page in 3 and see if you can think of an example to explain each of the following approaches: Pluralism, Exclusivism, and Inclusivism. Pray, and ask God what His vision of religion is. A helpful verse to remember here is John 14:6. How can we treat people of a different faith in a way that Jesus would? 

Prayer:

God, I want to thank you for the book of Obadiah. This vision about Edom is difficult to understand and I need your help in order to do so. Again, I ask for wisdom and understanding as I read these words.  Let my response to this text be worship unto you!