1-Page Book Intro: Obadiah [Blog]

by Rev. Toby Amodeo [DCXA at GU]

The book of Obadiah is the shortest book in the Old Testament, and likely the least read. That's unfortunate, because this short book is a fascinating divine judgment poem that points to a time when God will judge evildoers fairly and make the world right.

Unlike some prophets, we know almost nothing about Obadiah except his name and that he's an Israelite. Many scholars agree that Obadiah wrote during or shortly after 586 BC, the year the Babylonians sacked Jerusalem and fully occupied the southern kingdom of Judah*. The northern kingdom, Israel/Ephraim, fell to Assyria decades before. The exile is in full swing.

Obadiah, though, rather than writing about exile, turns his focus to Judah's neighbor Edom, the nation south of the Dead Sea. It has a unique relationship with Israel due to its shared ancestry. They're cousins! In Genesis, we read about two sons of the patriarch Isaac, Jacob and Esau. They resent and betray each other for most of their lives. Jacob's descendants grow into the nation of Israel, while Esau's become the nation of Edom.

Israel and Edom's relationship will deepen the resentment begun by their ancestors. Through wars, betrayals, and rebellions, they'll fight even more than Jacob and Esau (quite the achievement!). It all comes to a head when Babylon invaded Judah. The Edomites take advantage, invading along with the Babylonians. They capture towns in distress and even kill some of the refugees fleeing Jerusalem.

Obadiah then shares a vision from God with two main elements. First, he sees God arriving in power to bring judgment. Obadiah says that God is angry with Edom for betraying a nation they should have considered family. He promises to punish them in the same way they mistreated the Israelites and tear them down, humbling them.

In the second part of the poem, though, that judgment is expanded beyond just Edom (see verse 15). Now, all of the nations are in view. God promises to judge them for their wickedness, too. In Obadiah's view God is grieved by violence, oppression, hatred, and idolatry in every nation, not just Israel.

1-Page Book Intro: Amos [Blog]

by Rev. Blane Young (DCXA at AU)

Even if you’ve never read the book of Amos, you’re likely familiar with many of its themes through the teachings of Jesus (from the Gospels) and from James (the brother of Jesus). These themes include true religion, the ways in which worship and obedience are both ingredients of a devoted life and how our relationship with God (a vertical relationship) should impact our relationships with others (our horizontal relationships). 

I find Amos fascinating because although he experienced visions and functions in a prophetic way, he is untrained and was vocationally both a shepherd as well as a gardener.

If you’ve ever felt like God wanted to use you but you didn’t have the training or didn’t have the title, then this is both a character and a book worth exploring. 

There is a temptation with this text — to jump right to the end. The book closes with a promise of restoration (9:11-15), which is uplifting and should be meditated on. However, to fully grasp the covenant faithfulness of God, we must grapple with the earlier parts of this book that detail rebellion, God’s anger and the situation that necessitated restoration. 

The name, Amos, means “burdened” or “burden bearer” which gives us a clue into the life of Amos and the faith adventure that he’ll walk out in the pages we’ll be reading. 

I personally find the missions of Amos overwhelming yet worthwhile: he’s to pronounce the truth of God and the judgement of God to a culture that is externally prosperous but inwardly corrupt. Sound familiar? That’s my story, and if we’re honest, all of our stories. 

It’s my prayer that our response would look markedly different than how the northern kingdom (Israel) responded. 

Overall, this book is filled with disappointments for Amos, a culture that’s self-absorbed and a few visions that are intense to say the least.  

1-Page Book Intro: Joel [Blog]

by Rev. Nicole Henry (DCXA at GU)

The book of Joel is a short collection of prophetic poems. Like many of the other prophets, Joel writes to warn the Israelites (specifically those living in Judah) of God’s impending judgment.  However, unlike the other prophets, he doesn’t specially name the sin that they are going to be judged for. This is likely because he assumes that his audience, like him, is well versed in the other books of the prophets so the rebellion of Israel is familiar to them from there.

The main theme in this book is the “Day of the Lord” which refers to a time of God’s wrath and judgment. There are three main sections in the book, as well as three chapters. The first section focuses on what is happening in Judah at the time that Joel writes the letter. A locust swarm had destroyed the land as a judgment from the Lord. The people were to view this judgment as a call to repentance to God. It also specifically notes that the repentance should begin with the priests, and that they were to call a fast and a solemn assembly. Joel also indicates here that the day of the Lord is near.

 The second section addresses more spiritual themes, but Joel uses the physical circumstances of the locust plague as a metaphor for them. An army was soon to invade, just as the locusts invaded the land, and because the day of the Lord was near the people were to repent. Their repentance should include weeping, fasting, and mourning as well as consecrating themselves to God, as it did in the first section.

 The third section looks ahead to the future and brings hope that even though these terrible things are being brought upon the nation because of God’s judgment, that God will make everything right again. This includes restoring physical blessings, spiritual blessings, and blessings upon the people of God. God’s spirit will be poured out, Israel’s enemies will be judged, and Judah and Jerusalem will have a glorious future.

1-Page Book Intro: Hosea [Blog]

by Rev. Natalie Hill (DCXA at AU)

Throughout scripture, we see that God used prophets to do some pretty extreme things in order to communicate something to His people (for example, one time Ezekiel could only eat food cooked over human dung…).  This is what we see with the prophet Hosea.

The book of Hosea is a collection of poems written by, you guessed it, Hosea who was a prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Jeroboam II, one of Israel’s most evil kings.  Assyria had just conquered Israel, and the book addresses God’s people’s sin and unfaithfulness to Him.  God commanded Hosea to share a message with the people by marrying a woman, Gomer, who both God and Hosea knew from the start would never be faithful.  As soon as Hosea and his wife had children, she prostituted herself and eventually ended up enslaved.  God called Hosea to redeem Gomer from slavery and restore her to the family, even in the midst of her deep unfaithfulness.  The restoration of this marriage served as a comparison to the relationship between God and His people Israel:  although they were deeply unfaithful and had given themselves over to their sinful desires, resulting in their capture and slavery, God in His mercy would redeem them and restore His covenant with them.

We see through the story of Hosea and Gomer that there are consequences for sin, but in God’s love and mercy, He will rescue His people.  Although God was angered by the unfaithfulness of Israel, He never stopped loving them and He never rejected them completely.  However, He also didn’t enable their sins by extending to them unqualified mercy.  The people of Israel had to suffer the consequences of their disobedience by enduring a long period of capture and exile.

This book is composed of poems broken into three sections about Hosea’s marriage and a series of accusations and warnings specifically written to Israel.  It addresses their unfaithfulness, the hypocrisy of their worship, and their trusting in political alliances.  But then it ends with hope for the future.  It paints God as a loving Father whose heart is to heal and to save His people.  And although this book wasn’t written to us, these are long lasting truths that apply to us today.

A Helpful Companion to the Lent Journal [PDF]