Love and Forgiveness

“On the day of your standing on the other side, on the day that the strangers were capturing his force, and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, even you were like one of them.” (Obadiah 1:11)

Got Questions Ministries, “Bible Ref” states, “The Edomites were children of Esau, the brother of Jacob, who was the father of the nation of Israel. Rather than acting as a ''brother'' nation, Edom constantly harassed and provoked Israel.” Remember Esau and Jacob were born to Isaac. Jacob tricked Esau into giving him the birthright. (Genesis 25: 29-34) Esau who was the elder twin had the birthright as the eldest. That means he would rule the family in the place of Isaac when Isaac was absent or when he died. But Jacob not only got the birthright from Esau, but deceived Isaac and received the blessing Isaac had for Esau. (Genesis 27:1-41) Jacob feared for his life and left his family and worked seven years for Rachel but his father-in-law, Laban deceived him and he got Leah as wife instead because it was customary for the eldest to marry first, which Leah was. Jacob then worked seven more years for Rachel whom he loved. (Genesis 27: 32; Gensis 29: 1-30)

Now it was over a thousand years later. And all those years the Edomites were at odds and incited the Israelites continually. And when the Babylonians invaded Jerusalem, the Edomites stood apart and didn’t help them. Moreover, they participated in looting Jerusalem. “On the day of your standing on the other side, on the day that the strangers were capturing his force, and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, even you were like one of them. But you should not have looked on the day of your brother on the day of his alienation; nor should you have rejoiced over the sons of Judah in the day of their ruin; nor should you have enlarged your mouth in the day of distress. You should not have entered into the gate of My people in the day of their calamity; also, you should not have looked on his evil in the day of their calamity. Nor should you have sent out against his force in the day of his calamity.” (Obadiah 1:11-13) This is a grave offense to the Lord because although they were at odds, they were family.

By the time Jesus walked the earth, the Edomites had completely disappeared due to the conquest of nomadic tribes and their destruction by the Roman empire. They eventually intermingled with other people. Their genetic identity as a people was completely lost. “The vision of Obadiah. So says the Lord God concerning Edom: We have heard a message from Jehovah, and a messenger is sent among the nations: Rise up, even let us rise up against her for battle. Behold, I have given you to be small among the nations; you are greatly despised. The pride of your heart has deceived you, dwelling in the clefts of the rock, his dwelling is lofty; saying in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? Though you rise high like the eagle, and though you set your nest between the stars, I will bring you down from there, says Jehovah. If thieves came to you, if destroyers by night (how you have been cut off!), would they not have stolen until they had enough? If the grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings? How Esau is searched out! His hidden things are sought out! All the men of your covenant have dismissed you to the border; the men who were at peace with you have deceived you, and have overcome you. They are setting your bread as a snare under you; there is no understanding in them. Shall I not in that day even destroy the wise out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau, says Jehovah? And your mighty ones, O Teman, shall be afraid, so that each man from the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.” (Obadiah 1:1-9)

This communicates to us the seriousness of wishing evil on anyone, even our enemies and rejoicing over their downfall. We need to abandon feelings of resentment because they fester into evil wishes for whom we consider evil, when the Lord clearly commands us to love our enemies. “But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you, so that you may become sons of your Father in Heaven. For He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:44-45) That is how God is and how His children should be. Notice I didn’t write the word act, but the word be. We can act a certain way without it being a heartfelt thing. We must from the heart, forgive and love because we are children of God and have His nature in us. Yes, it’s a hard thing for us because of the flesh. The flesh wants and can only be satisfied with revenge.

In this age of grace, God has poured out His love and grace on His enemies. That was us. “For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” (Romans 5:10) Before we surrendered our lives to Jesus, we were God’s enemies. Yet, God’s mercy embraced us, gave us understanding of the Gospel and brought us near as children. That what God wants to do for our enemies. We must love enough to want them saved, not for our sakes, but for theirs.

The conclusion is that it’s a sad thing, but that was the consequence of their hatred for the Jews. As children of God hatred is not in our born again spirit of God. Don’t court it at all. It’s not from God. Flee from it and repent. It’s part of the kingdom of darkness. It’s not part of the God’s kingdom of light and truth. “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” (1John 1:6) Further on John writes that it can lead to blindness. It’s talking about spiritual blindness where we come to the point of not knowing what is good and what is evil. “He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no offense in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because darkness has blinded his eyes.” (1John 2:9-11) Hatred is part of how the world is. We’ve been delivered from the world. Don’t clothe yourself with its darkness. “For you ought to put off the old man (according to your way of living before) who is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And you should put on the new man, who according to God was created in righteousness and true holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22-24) Paul tells us to be renewed in the spirit of your mind. There is only one way to do that. It’s by reading and meditating on the Word of God. It’s alive and powerful, able to change us. It all comes down to the simple acts of Christian discipline. Prayer, repentance, reading the Bible and walking in God’s love for others the brethren and those who haven’t come to Him yet. They are walking in darkness, blinded by the enemy and walking toward destruction. “But the fearful, and the unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, will have their part in the Lake burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8)

To conclude, we see how God warns us in the Old Testament about hatred of our enemies and especially hating the brethren by the example of the Edomites. It’s a fearful thing to ignore God’s warnings. If we are truly children of God, we can by the power of the Holy Spirit truly forgive and love our enemies.