Great Unknown People of the Bible
Obediah's
Civil Disobedience
Last week I had the pleasure of having lunch with director of the Ethiopian office of Lutheran Hour Ministries. Berhana Moges is in this country for one year, studying at Concordia University in Seward, Nebraska, on a grant from the Lutheran Laymen's League. Of his own life and ministry, he has quite a story to tell, and I pray that we may have the opportunity to have him here to tell it, before he must return to Africa.
I mentioned to him that a week earlier we had done a study here on a little known Ethiopian in the Bible, Ebed-Melech. Little known to us, perhaps, but I learned this week that Ebed-Melech is a national hero in Ethiopia. Without looking up the text in Scripture, Berhana responded by retelling the whole story of how Ebed-Melech saved the life of the prophet Jeremiah, the meaning of Ebed-Melech's name, how they pronounce that name in Ethiopia... and a whole lot of national lore related to Ethiopia's long running association with Israel, dating back from the time of King Solomon, into the Christian era, with the witness of the Apostle Philip to the Ethiopian official in the book of Acts, and all the way to the present.
The man we study today in our series of great unknown heroes of the Bible has much in common with Ebed-Melech. The man's name is Obadiah. Now Obadiah is a fairly common name in the Bible. Many of you may recognize the name Obadiah as one of the prophetic books of the Old Testament. The Obadiah we are studying today is not that Obadiah.
The Obadiah we want to look briefly at this morning was actually an acquaintance of Elijah the prophet:
1 KINGS 18
I mentioned to him that a week earlier we had done a study here on a little known Ethiopian in the Bible, Ebed-Melech. Little known to us, perhaps, but I learned this week that Ebed-Melech is a national hero in Ethiopia. Without looking up the text in Scripture, Berhana responded by retelling the whole story of how Ebed-Melech saved the life of the prophet Jeremiah, the meaning of Ebed-Melech's name, how they pronounce that name in Ethiopia... and a whole lot of national lore related to Ethiopia's long running association with Israel, dating back from the time of King Solomon, into the Christian era, with the witness of the Apostle Philip to the Ethiopian official in the book of Acts, and all the way to the present.
The man we study today in our series of great unknown heroes of the Bible has much in common with Ebed-Melech. The man's name is Obadiah. Now Obadiah is a fairly common name in the Bible. Many of you may recognize the name Obadiah as one of the prophetic books of the Old Testament. The Obadiah we are studying today is not that Obadiah.
The Obadiah we want to look briefly at this morning was actually an acquaintance of Elijah the prophet:
1 KINGS 18
1 And it came to pass after many days that the word of the LORD came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, "Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth."
2 So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab; and there was a severe famine in Samaria.
3 And Ahab had called Obadiah, who was in charge of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly.
4 For so it was, while Jezebel massacred the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah had taken one hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty to a cave, and had fed them with bread and water.)
5 And Ahab had said to Obadiah, "Go into the land to all the springs of water and to all the brooks; perhaps we may find grass to keep the horses and mules alive, so that we will not have to kill any livestock.
6 So they divided the land between them to explore it; Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.
7 Now as Obadiah was on his way, suddenly Elijah met him; and he recognized him, and fell on his face, and said, "Is that you, my lord Elijah?"
8 And he answered him, "It is I. Go, tell your master, 'Elijah is here.'"
9 So he said, "How have I sinned, that you are delivering your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me?
10 "As the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to hunt for you; and when they said, 'He is not here,' he took an oath from the kingdom or nation that they could not find you.
11 "And now you say, 'Go, tell your master, "Elijah is here"'!
12 "And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from you, that the Spirit of the LORD will carry you to a place I do not know; so when I go and tell Ahab, and he cannot find you, he will kill me. But I your servant have feared the LORD from my youth.
13 "Was it not reported to my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the LORD, how I hid one hundred men of the Lord's prophets, fifty to a cave, and fed them with bread and water?
14 "And now you say, 'Go, tell your master, "Elijah is here." ' He will kill me!"
King Ahab had the kind of temperament that would have cost Obadiah his life had Ahab learned that Obadiah missed an opportunity to either capture or kill Elijah. Ahab personally blamed Elijah for the three and a half year drought.
15 Then Elijah said, "As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely present myself to him today."
16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah.
17 Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, "Is that you, O troubler of Israel?"
Like Ebed-Melech, Obadiah was a servant of the King, a believer under the authority of an unbeliever. Like Ebed-Melech, Obadiah at great personal risk, stuck his neck out to save the life of God's prophets when an official edict had gone out ordering their death. But while Ebed-Melech was able to make his appeal to his king for the life of Jeremiah, Obadiah was not.
Whether King Ahab or Queen Jezebel even knew of Obadiah's faith and convictions, we do not know. It appears in this story that Obadiah was primarily accountable to Ahab. And while Ahab was himself morally and spiritually bankrupt, he did not share his wife's passion for the promotion national worship of Baal and the suppression of the worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Ahab frankly didn't care how and what people worshiped. He was chiefly concerned about only himself. So King Ahab wouldn't mind if his business manager, Obadiah, was a believer in the God of Israel or not.
Queen Jezebel was quite another matter, however. She had a passionate loathing against God, His Word, and all that it stands for. And in many respects, Jezebel was the real power behind Ahab's throne. And since she outlived Ahab by several years, her influence continued on during the reign of two of her sons. And she was also corrupt the national spirit of the southern kingdom of Judah, through the marriage of her daughter to the royal descendant of David who reigned in Jerusalem.
And as our text points out, it was Jezebel who ordered the execution of the prophets of God... and anyone else who stood in her way, or her husband's way. And it was definitely in Obadiah's best interest to keep a low profile in matters of faith, when serving in the royal court. However, issues of personal safety and political expediency did not relieve Obadiah of his moral obligation to do all he could to help those in need.
So in a quiet act of civil disobedience, that could have cost Obadiah his life, he protected the lives of not one, but one hundred, of the prophets and preachers of Israel. What Obadiah did was very similar to what Christians in Europe had to do during World War II, as they worked in that secret society called the Underground, helping Jews escape certain death at the hands of the Nazis. What Obadiah did is what God's people have done at great personal risk through the centuries, whether in today's House Church movement in Communist China, or in the Underground Church in the former Soviet Union, or in the Underground Railroad in the pre-civil war days in this country.
It is a most serious matter when a preacher of the Gospel of such as myself advocates civil disobedience. And truthfully, if you pin me to the wall on the question whether or not I would advocate civil disobedience in specific situations, I would say, "No, I don't advocate civil disobedience. But I do advocate obedience to God, even when the clearly stated will of God is in conflict with the will of the State. In situations such as those faced by Obadiah, and Daniel, Corrie Ten Boom, or Harriet Tubman, it is the people in civil authority who are the disobedient ones.
An elementary school student told me that his teacher prohibited him from reading his Bible during the class free quiet reading time. The teacher's directive was clearly illegal, and the student asked me if he should defy the teacher's rule, and take his Bible, simply to press the issue. I told him, "Young man, I have in my wallet the name and phone number an attorney whom I could call. And he would contact the school authorities and educate them in Federal Law on this issue, and he would even take the school district to court for you, if they persisted in violating your rights as a student. However, I am not going to do that, until see some evidence that you are reading your Bible at home first, and I see some evidence that the Scripture is having some influence on your character, and I see you dealing with your spirit of rebellion and begin submitting to your parents' authority. It's good that you want to read the Bible during free time in school. But it appears that you want to do it for the wrong reason, with the wrong attitude, which will bring shame, rather than honor, to the name of Christ." In that moment, I wish I had had a camera to catch the boy's rather sheepish look that admitted I had hit the nail on the head.
Obadiah committed an act of civil disobedience, not as act of defiance, but as an act of mercy to those who were wrongfully targeted by those in authority.
You may, like Obadiah, serve under one who is, even by the world's very low standards, unrighteous and ungodly. The Bible has a lot to say about your situation. Some we learn by the example of the lives of people like Obadiah. But chiefly we learn from life and death of Our Lord Jesus: There is no clearer articulation of this anywhere in Scripture than in the New Testament letter of First Peter:
1 PETER 2
Whether King Ahab or Queen Jezebel even knew of Obadiah's faith and convictions, we do not know. It appears in this story that Obadiah was primarily accountable to Ahab. And while Ahab was himself morally and spiritually bankrupt, he did not share his wife's passion for the promotion national worship of Baal and the suppression of the worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Ahab frankly didn't care how and what people worshiped. He was chiefly concerned about only himself. So King Ahab wouldn't mind if his business manager, Obadiah, was a believer in the God of Israel or not.
Queen Jezebel was quite another matter, however. She had a passionate loathing against God, His Word, and all that it stands for. And in many respects, Jezebel was the real power behind Ahab's throne. And since she outlived Ahab by several years, her influence continued on during the reign of two of her sons. And she was also corrupt the national spirit of the southern kingdom of Judah, through the marriage of her daughter to the royal descendant of David who reigned in Jerusalem.
And as our text points out, it was Jezebel who ordered the execution of the prophets of God... and anyone else who stood in her way, or her husband's way. And it was definitely in Obadiah's best interest to keep a low profile in matters of faith, when serving in the royal court. However, issues of personal safety and political expediency did not relieve Obadiah of his moral obligation to do all he could to help those in need.
So in a quiet act of civil disobedience, that could have cost Obadiah his life, he protected the lives of not one, but one hundred, of the prophets and preachers of Israel. What Obadiah did was very similar to what Christians in Europe had to do during World War II, as they worked in that secret society called the Underground, helping Jews escape certain death at the hands of the Nazis. What Obadiah did is what God's people have done at great personal risk through the centuries, whether in today's House Church movement in Communist China, or in the Underground Church in the former Soviet Union, or in the Underground Railroad in the pre-civil war days in this country.
It is a most serious matter when a preacher of the Gospel of such as myself advocates civil disobedience. And truthfully, if you pin me to the wall on the question whether or not I would advocate civil disobedience in specific situations, I would say, "No, I don't advocate civil disobedience. But I do advocate obedience to God, even when the clearly stated will of God is in conflict with the will of the State. In situations such as those faced by Obadiah, and Daniel, Corrie Ten Boom, or Harriet Tubman, it is the people in civil authority who are the disobedient ones.
An elementary school student told me that his teacher prohibited him from reading his Bible during the class free quiet reading time. The teacher's directive was clearly illegal, and the student asked me if he should defy the teacher's rule, and take his Bible, simply to press the issue. I told him, "Young man, I have in my wallet the name and phone number an attorney whom I could call. And he would contact the school authorities and educate them in Federal Law on this issue, and he would even take the school district to court for you, if they persisted in violating your rights as a student. However, I am not going to do that, until see some evidence that you are reading your Bible at home first, and I see some evidence that the Scripture is having some influence on your character, and I see you dealing with your spirit of rebellion and begin submitting to your parents' authority. It's good that you want to read the Bible during free time in school. But it appears that you want to do it for the wrong reason, with the wrong attitude, which will bring shame, rather than honor, to the name of Christ." In that moment, I wish I had had a camera to catch the boy's rather sheepish look that admitted I had hit the nail on the head.
Obadiah committed an act of civil disobedience, not as act of defiance, but as an act of mercy to those who were wrongfully targeted by those in authority.
You may, like Obadiah, serve under one who is, even by the world's very low standards, unrighteous and ungodly. The Bible has a lot to say about your situation. Some we learn by the example of the lives of people like Obadiah. But chiefly we learn from life and death of Our Lord Jesus: There is no clearer articulation of this anywhere in Scripture than in the New Testament letter of First Peter:
1 PETER 2
13 Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme,
14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.
15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men;
16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.
17 Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
18 Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh.
19 For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully.
20 For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.
21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:
22 "Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth";
23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;
24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.
25 For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
1 PETER 3
13 And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?
14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. "And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled."
15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;
16 having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.
17 For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God...
Amen.