Old Testament Prophet Obadiah. It's the littlest book in the Old Testament, so you may have trouble finding it. It comes right after Amos and just before Jonah.

Not only is it the littlest book in the Old Testament, but the author is a person about which we know nothing,

except that he wrote this book.

There are 11 other people in the Old Testament named Obadiah,

but there's no evidence that this Obadiah is one of those. So we're really in the dark about his background.

We only know that he spoke the word of God as he says.

The prophecy was delivered evidently very soon after the captivity of Judah in 587 BC when the Babylonians sacked Jerusalem.

I see it falling into two halves. The first is verses 1 through 16. And these verses

are directed against the nation of Edum, that is the descendants of

E.Saw who lived in the southeast sector of the land just southeast of the Dead Sea.

The second half of the prophecy,

verses 17 to 21, focuses on the vindication of Israel

and the establishment of God's final kingdom on the earth.

And my sense of what the main point of this book is, is that it is an encouragement to God's people that their God, in spite of the

fact that they are now in exile, is still master of the universe that wrongs will be righted and that one day he will

establish his kingdom over the whole earth and his people will be gathered in safety with him forever.

So what I'd like to do with you, since it's a very short book, is just read it with you, straight through, pausing at several places to make some observations

with you.

So let's begin at verse one.

The vision of Obadiah thus says the Lord, the Lord God, concerning Edum.

We have heard tidings from the Lord and a messenger has been sent among the nations,

rise up, let us rise against her for battle.

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