Based on Jonah and the Minors: Chapter 4—Obadiah
Juliette Alvey
Dear Grown-up,
In the opening artwork for chapter 4 in the Jonah and the Minors zine, a man is holding up a family tree. Did you ever have an assignment in school to make a family tree? How did it make you feel? Proud? Ashamed? Loved? All of the above?
Taking a close look at our families and family history brings mixed emotions… We don’t get to choose our family members or the home we are born into. Family drama is all too common, especially when it comes to those we spend the most time with during childhood: our siblings.
Jacob and Esau are twin brothers who are the epitome of sibling rivalry. The stories about them (from the day of their birth through adulthood) are borderline absurd—how is a newborn, who knows nothing of the world, competitive enough to be grabbing his twin brother’s heel to get out first?
The competition continues: From tricking Esau into selling his birthright to stealing their father’s blessing by disguising himself, Jacob unfairly gets the upper hand in worldly and spiritual matters. Esau’s anger at his “little” brother is warranted, but let’s face it, he is likely just as angry at himself for seeking temporary comforts over lasting wealth and for falling for Jacob’s tricks.
Esau’s anger is so extreme that Jacob has to flee.
Jacob goes to live with his relative, Laban, for some years and starts a new life for himself. He leaves his hometown in fear, but somehow his blessings (and dumb luck?) follow him… Years later, God tells him it is time to return home with his children and great wealth.
Many, many years after that, the descendants of Esau, the Edomites, carry on this family strife. When the Babylonians come to attack Jerusalem, the Edomites do not help the people of Judah but instead gloat over them. They may have thought, “Finally, these descendants of Jacob are getting what they deserve!” This is the short but unfortunate topic that the prophet Obadiah is tasked by God to preach. He says to the Edomites, “You should not gloat over your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their trouble” (Obadiah 12). For this, Obadiah says, they will face their own destruction.
Going back to Jacob’s story, he feared that going back home would be facing his own destruction. Why was God telling him to face his enemy—a brother who wanted to kill him? There was nothing he could do to change the past, and reconciling with his brother seemed like a lost cause.
There may be relationships and situations in our own lives that feel the same way… like there is no hope… like nothing could ever change.
But in God’s story, the unexpected and the impossible happen time and time again.
Jacob’s messengers report that Esau is coming to meet him with four hundred men. Jacob thinks he’s doomed. He expects to be attacked by his brother, and he knows it would not be undeserved. However, he is met with an unexpected greeting: “Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept” (Gen 33:4). After this emotional reunion, Jacob tells his brother, “To see your face is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably” (Gen 33:10).
If there is hope for Jacob and Esau, there is hope for Edom, and there is hope for us.
Obadiah ends his prophecy speaking of deliverance that is to come. He looked forward to the day when God’s unexpected mercy would come for all of us, even (or especially) for the lost causes. For it is in his mercy that we truly see the face of God.
