During my schooling years, I heard one of my classmates ask; how does it feel to have a headache? I was surprised because I had gone through the experience so many times.
Some years ago I was working one-on-one in a hospital. The patient was asleep when I arrived. When he woke up and noticing that I am African he bust with a question about the children who are dying of hunger in Africa. He asked me why they were born in the first place.
The first experience with the classmate was genuine. The young boy spoke the truth. The second experience is dismaying because the man was not sympathetic but passed the blame to the parents who brought these children to this world. Inside his mind, he must have been cursing them and doing nothing about the situation.
In the book of Obadiah we read the following prophesy against Edom.
“See, I will make you small among the nations;
you will be utterly despised (verse2). All your allies will force you to the border;
your friends will deceive and overpower you;
those who eat your bread will set a trap for you, but you will not detect it.
“In that day,” declares the LORD,
“will I not destroy the wise men of Edom,
those of understanding in the mountains of Esau?
Your warriors, Teman, will be terrified,
and everyone in Esau’s mountains
will be cut down in the slaughter” (verse 7-9).
Edom’s demise will begin with collapse of national intelligence and thereafter disaster will come upon the inhabitants of Mount Seir...
We would all ask why such calamity on Edom? We get the answer from the following verses;
“Because of the violence against your brother Jacob,
you will be covered with shame;
you will be destroyed forever.
On the day you stood aloof
while strangers carried off his wealth
and foreigners entered his gates
and cast lots for Jerusalem,
you were like one of them” (verse 10 and 11).
When Nebuchadnezzar troops invaded Jerusalem, Edom did nothing about it. They joined the enemy.
“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.
You should not march through the gates of my people
in the day of their disaster,
nor gloat over them in their calamity
in the day of their disaster,
nor seize their wealth
in the day of their disaster.
You should not wait at the crossroads
to cut down their fugitives,
nor hand over their survivors
in the day of their trouble” (12-14).
Edom has to pay for their behavior.
What about us? Many times we have laughed at our neighbors when they are in trouble. It may be military invasion or economic disaster or job loss, just to mention a few. We close our gates so that they may not take refuge in our homes and in our country we call them illegal immigrants.
Let us learn from Job. “I was a father to the needy; I took up the case of the stranger” (Job 29:16). “but no stranger had to spend the night in the street, for my door was always open to the traveler” Job 31:32)
Listen to what God said about strangers and the poor: “‘If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and are unable to support themselves among you, help them as you would a foreigner and stranger, so they can continue to live among you” Leviticus 25:35).
And Finally
“As you have done, it will be done to you;
your deeds will return upon your own head” (15b).