Today’s Scripture Reading (October
22, 2013): Obadiah 1
I have to
admit that I love comic book superheroes – especially Spiderman. My line has always
been that everything that I learned of any consequence in life, I learned from
Spiderman. It is definitely an over statement, but probably closer to the truth
than I really want to admit. I think part of what I like about comic
superheroes is that it is usually easy to draw the line between right and wrong
in a comic book. Only in a comic book world is it really possible to have a
hero that embodies the idea good and an enemy that embodies the idea of evil.
This is the world of arch enemies. But even in a comic book world sometimes the
lines get a little blurred.
So in the
Spiderman series, one of Spidey’s arch enemies is the Green Goblin. But the
Goblin provides a problem for Spidey. In his original form, the Green Goblin is
Norman Osborne, the father of Peter Parker’s (Spiderman’s alias) best friend
Harry Osborne. To fight against his arch enemy, Spidey is continually reminded
of who he really is – and how important he is to Harry. But the struggle does
not end there. After the death of Norman Osborne, Harry himself takes up the
persona. Now it is not his best friend’s father that Spidey has to do battle
with, it is his best friend himself. It is a fight in which Spiderman finds
conflicted motives battling within him.
Biblically
this is a good description of the battle between Edom and Israel. Of all of the
nations of the world, it was Edom who was the closest to Israel in many ways. In
proximity, Edom was a border nation. It bordered the Kingdom of Judah to the
south. But the nations were connected relationally as well. Both Kingdoms
descended from two brothers – Jacob (who was later renamed as Israel) and Esau
(Edom means red from the red hair and beard of Esau.) Throughout the history of
the nations, these arch enemies were continually reminded that they were also
brothers.
When Judah
was beaten by the Babylonian Empire and taken into captivity, it was Edom that
came in and took the spoils of war. Edom looted the deserted Judean settlements
taking everything that they could find that was of any battle. It was an act
that the people of Judah found hard to forgive, a betrayal coming from one who
should have been a brother.
Spiritually,
the battle between Edom and Israel has been seen as a metaphor for the constant
battle between the flesh and the spirit – or between the way of the world and
the way of God. And while that might be a bit of a stretch, it is possible to
understand the battle in those terms. Especially if we remember that Herod the
Great and his successors were of Idumean descent (Edomites.) In the time of
Christ it was Herod that ruled over the nation. But while the physical and
political control of the nation was in the hands of Edom (and ultimately,
Rome), the spiritual life was in the hands of a Judean descendent of David,
Jesus. On the day of the crucifixion of Jesus, it seemed like finally Edom had
won. But when Rome finally defeated the nation of Israel after the rebellion of
70 C.E. and destroyed the temple, Israel lived on in both those that claimed
allegiance to God through Judaism and Christianity. In that moment, it was only
Edom that completely disappeared.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2
Chronicles 22
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