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Day 254, or September the 11th. Don't hold grudges. Our thoughts today are rooted in

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Obadiah verse 10. Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered

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with shame. You will be destroyed forever.

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And now the big picture surrounding this verse. Obadiah is by far the shortest writing by

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a minor prophet in the Old Testament. With only twenty-one verses, it can easily be missed

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as you search through the prophetical books. He is one of the earliest writing prophets,

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some would say the earliest, as his ministry coincides with the time when Elijah and Elisha

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were around. It's unlikely that Obadiah ever met any of the other prophets, as he ploughed

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a lone furrow in part of the land today called Jordan, which was then called Edom, and which

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is south of the Dead Sea. The Edomites were named after their ancestor Esau, after he

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was renamed Edom, meaning red, when he sold his birthright to Jacob, for a bowl of red

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soup. Obadiah condemns the Edomites for the way they have treated their closest kinfolk,

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the Israelites, children of Esau's brother, Jacob. There are thirteen Obadiahs in the

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Old Testament, but the one who serves King Ahab and fears the Lord, in 1 Kings chapter

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18 verse 3, could be the same one who wrote this book. His name means servant of Yahweh.

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And now our action step for today. Jacob and Esau appear to have been reconciled

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in Genesis chapter 33, so it's one of life's tragedies that their descendants remained

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enemies. One of our local funeral directors told me that it's far from rare for a funeral

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to have two sets of cars and two separate groups at the service, when a family is so

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badly split that they can't even come together to mourn the death of a loved one. If you

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would hate this to happen to your family, this may be the right time to contact that

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friend or relative who you have lost touch with for reasons you may have long since forgotten

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about. In these days of Google and social media, it's easier than ever. Be sure to

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take a positive, reconciling step today.