THE TRAGEDY OF COMFORTABLE INDIFFERENCE (3 OF 4)
Scripture: Obadiah 10, Obadiah 11, Obadiah 12, Obadiah 13, Obadiah 14, Obadiah 15, Obadiah 16, Obadiah 16
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The Tragedy of Comfortable Indifference (3 of 4)
Series: Obadiah: A Hard Word, A Hopeful Word
Wyman Richardson
Obadiah 10-16
Read Obadiah 10-16
Hillaire Belloc once made an astonishingly chilling statement that tends to stay with one. Richard John Neuhaus observed that Belloc made the statement ''from the Sahara as he pondered the ruins of Timgad.'' Here is what Belloc said:
We sit by and watch the barbarian. We tolerate him in the long stretches of peace, we are not afraid. We are tickled by his irreverence; his comic inversion of our old certitudes and our fixed creed refreshes us; we laugh. But as we laugh we are watched by large and awful faces from beyond, and on these faces there are no smiles.
It is a chilling statement, and a necessary one. It reminds us that the barbarians we wink and giggle at are as dangerous to us as they are to the direct objects of their wrath. When we consider the book of Obadiah, we might say that Edom was tickled by the Babylonian barbarians and particularly by their attack upon Judah. Edom was not afraid...but there were large and awful faces from beyond watching them. These were the faces of the children of God who had received the full brunt of Babylon's wrath. Moreso, the face of God Himself was watching Edom, and He was not amused.
Inactivity in the face of evil is itself evil activity.
We now see God censuring Edom for their sinful inactivity.
10 Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever. 11 On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them.
It is interesting to observe that God condemns Edom's ''violence'' against Judah in verse 10 then condemns their aloofness, their distance inactivity in the face of Babylon's violence against Judah, in verse 11. Edom stood haughtily by while ''strangers carried off his wealth an ...
Series: Obadiah: A Hard Word, A Hopeful Word
Wyman Richardson
Obadiah 10-16
Read Obadiah 10-16
Hillaire Belloc once made an astonishingly chilling statement that tends to stay with one. Richard John Neuhaus observed that Belloc made the statement ''from the Sahara as he pondered the ruins of Timgad.'' Here is what Belloc said:
We sit by and watch the barbarian. We tolerate him in the long stretches of peace, we are not afraid. We are tickled by his irreverence; his comic inversion of our old certitudes and our fixed creed refreshes us; we laugh. But as we laugh we are watched by large and awful faces from beyond, and on these faces there are no smiles.
It is a chilling statement, and a necessary one. It reminds us that the barbarians we wink and giggle at are as dangerous to us as they are to the direct objects of their wrath. When we consider the book of Obadiah, we might say that Edom was tickled by the Babylonian barbarians and particularly by their attack upon Judah. Edom was not afraid...but there were large and awful faces from beyond watching them. These were the faces of the children of God who had received the full brunt of Babylon's wrath. Moreso, the face of God Himself was watching Edom, and He was not amused.
Inactivity in the face of evil is itself evil activity.
We now see God censuring Edom for their sinful inactivity.
10 Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever. 11 On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them.
It is interesting to observe that God condemns Edom's ''violence'' against Judah in verse 10 then condemns their aloofness, their distance inactivity in the face of Babylon's violence against Judah, in verse 11. Edom stood haughtily by while ''strangers carried off his wealth an ...
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