While Jezebel was killing off the LORD’s prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.) – 1 Kings 18:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (October 22, 2016): 1 Kings 18

One of the common defenses against a legal accusation of War Crimes is that the defendant was just “doing as he/she was ordered.” The problem is that there is a very real tension between following the orders of a superior and recognizing that the orders being given are not morally correct. The two moralities, the order versus the will to do what is honorable, do battle against each other, and often we simply don’t know where to draw the line. Our moral development would seem to be important in knowing what orders can be followed and which ones on which we cannot act. And I have a very real sympathy for every person who has to fight that kind of battle. In wartime, the following of orders are essential, but morally, every order has to be questioned. Every soldier has to be able to fight that fight and make that decision.

We are not sure if the Obadiah in this passage is the prophet who wrote the book that bears that name. But there is a possibility that he is. (Unfortunately, thirteen men in the Hebrew Bible are named Obadiah.) Jewish Rabbi’s have long made exactly that connection. And so they have a back story to Obadiah. He was an Edomite who prophesied against Edom (see the Book of Obadiah) because of their failure to protect Israel. He was wealthy, and he became an advisor to King Ahab. In fact, some have believed that if it were possible for the clan of Ahab to be saved by a righteous man, then Obadiah could have been that righteous man. In the story of Ahab, Obadiah (and not Elijah) becomes the counterweight to the advice of Queen Jezebel. Obadiah consistently argues the side of the God of Israel in the presence of the king, while Jezebel argued from the point of view of Ba’al and Asherah.

Obadiah was a moral man. And while his prophecy against his country of Edom is preserved in the Book of Obadiah, Obadiah’s morality did not stop there. He was unwilling to play the part of Edom while Jezebel (and Ahab) rounded up and killed the prophets of God. And so Obadiah used his wealth to hide the 100 poor prophets of Israel in two caves, using his own money to keep them fed. Eventually, the money ran out. And, according to Rabbinic tradition, Obadiah borrowed money from Jehoram, Ahab’s son, at interest to keep the prophets alive. Obadiah’s morality demanded that he do something to save those that he could – even if the problem originated from the one from whom he took his commands.

The more I have read about Pope Pius XII, the more respect that I have for the man. He turned the papacy into a modern day version of Obadiah and his caves during the horrors of the Second World War. He loved Germany, but not the leaders who had turned the nation into something much less than it should have been. During the war, he was often seen as a Nazi Sympathizer, but the reality was that he opposed the war from the very beginning. He rendered to aid to those in need because of the war and, while politically he and the Vatican remained neutral in the conflict, his sympathies belonged to the Allies and all of those, especially the United States, who he felt could return Germany back into the proper hands of the people. The Catholic Church was instructed to offer whatever compassion and help that it could to those who were victims of the war. It was a move that would have made even Obadiah proud. And it continues to be a picture of an Obadiah kind of morality during hard times.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 19