Audio Download

Book of Obadiah – Oba 1:13 Thou Shouldest not have Entered into the Gate of My People

[Study Aired February 28, 2024]

Oba 1:13  Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity;

Oba 1:13  Thou shouldest not^H408 have entered^{H935 (H8799 Qal)} into the gate^H8179 of my people^H5971 in the day^H3117 of their calamity;^H343 yea,^H1571 thou^H859 shouldest not^H408 have looked^{H7200 (H8799 Qal)} on their affliction^H7451 in the day^H3117 of their calamity,^H343 nor^H408 have laid^{H7971 (H8799 Qal)} hands on their substance^H2428 in the day^H3117 of their calamity;^H343 

H408 – Al, not, no, nor, neither, nothing, do not, let not, let there not be, a negative particle

H935 – Bo, (Qal) to go, enter, come, come in/with/upon, fall or light upon, attack, come to pass, attain to, be enumerated, a primitive root

H8179 – Shahar, gate, from a primitive root H8176, Shawar, act as gate keeper, to split open, reason out, reckon, estimate, (Qal) to calculate, think Pro 23:7 (Used once in OT)

H5971 – Am, nation, people, persons, members of one’s people, compatriots, country-men, kinsman, kindred, from a primitive root H6004, Amam, to dim, darken, grow dark, eclipse, be held dark, be dimmed, grow dark (Used three times in OT)

H3117 – Yome, day, time, year, a working day, a day’s journey, days, lifetime, period (general), today, yesterday, tomorrow, from an unused root meaning to be hot

H343 – Ade, distress, burden, calamity, disaster, day of calamity from H181, Ood, brand, fire brand, (Used three times in OT) from an unused root meaning to rake together

H1571 – Gam, also, even, indeed, moreover, yea, neither, neither…nor, but, yet, though, yea though, again, alike, by contraction from an unused root

H859 – Attah, you, a primitive pronoun of the second person

H408 – see above

H7200 – Ra’ah, (Qal) to see, look at, inspect, perceive, consider, have vision, regard, look after/at, see after, learn about, observe, watch, look upon/out, find out, give attention to, discern, distinguish, gaze at, a primitive root

H7451 – Ra, bad, evil, disagreeable, malignant, unpleasant, evil, worse than, worst, sad, unhappy, unkind, wicked, distress, misery, injury, calamity, adversity, injury, wrong, from a primitive root H7489, Rawah, to be bad, be evil, be displeasing, be sad, be injurious, be wicked, do an injury or hurt, do evil or wickedly, mischief, to break, to shatter, broken, be broken, be broken in pieces, be broken asunder

H3117 – see above

H343 – see above

H408 – see above

H7971 – Shalach, (Qal) to send, send away, stretch out, extend, direct, let loose, a primitive root

H2428 – Khayil, strength, might, efficiency, wealth, army, ability, force, from a primitive root H2342, Khool, to twist, whirl, dance, writhe, fear, tremble, travail, be in anguish, be pained, whirl, whirl about, bear, bring forth, wait anxiously, be made to writhe/bear, be brought forth, be born, whirling, writhing, suffering torture, wait longingly, be distressed (Used five times in OT)

H3117 – see above

H343 – see above

H5971 (‘Am meaning a people, a flock) is from the root word H6004 aw-mam’ A primitive root meaning to associate; by implication to overshadow (by huddling together): – become dim, hide.

This root word appears three times in the Old Testament:

Lam 4:1  How is the gold become dim [H6004]! how is the most fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street.
Lam 4:2  The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!

It appears in the prophecy against the Prince of Tyre.

Ezk 28:1  The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
Ezk 28:2  Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:
Ezk 28:3  Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide [H6004] from thee:
Ezk 28:4  With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:
Ezk 28:5  By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:
Ezk 28:6  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God;
Ezk 28:7  Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.

It also appears in the prophecy of Ezekiel 31. Similar to the prophecy against the Prince of Tyre, the Egyptian Pharoah has a heart lifted up, a proud heart: “Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height).”

We reap what we sow, and the consequences of a proud heart and striving to be tall in stature, striving to be counted worthy of respect, is that we are brought down:

Ezk 31:1  And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Ezk 31:2  Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness?
Ezk 31:3  Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing [H6751] shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.
Ezk 31:4  The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field.
Ezk 31:5  Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth.
Ezk 31:6  All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow [H6738] dwelt all great nations.
Ezk 31:7  Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters.
Ezk 31:8  The cedars in the garden of God could not hide [H6004] him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty.
Ezk 31:9  I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him.
Ezk 31:10  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height;
Ezk 31:11  I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness.
Ezk 31:12  And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the people [H5971] of the earth are gone down from his shadow [H6738] , and have left him.
Ezk 31:13  Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches…

Ezk 31:18  To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.

A word related to H6004 aw-mam’ (meaning to overshadow (by huddling together) is shadow.

Shadow appears as three Hebrew words:

H6751 (tsaw-lal’) a primitive root meaning to hover over, to shade, twilight, beginning to be dark, shadowing. (2 appearances)

H6752 (tsay’-lel) meaning shade, shadow (4 appearances)

H6738 (tsale) meaning shade, whether literally or figuratively: – defence, shade (-ow) [49 appearances)

Sng 2:17  Till the day doth break forth, And the shadows [H6752] have fled away, Turn [H5437], be like, my beloved, To a roe, or to a young one of the harts, On the mountains of separation!

We are instructed to turn from (avoid) our shadows (our time in the night) and be more like Christ. The Hebrew word for turn is H5437 saw-bab’ meaning to revolve/change

Ezk 7:22  My face will I turn [H5437] also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.

It is our day of calamity that is our day of judgment. The trials that occur in the heat of the day are what force us to turn from our shadows (our time in the night). This day of calamity is the destruction of the old man and his old ways, and judgment is now on the house of God. It is the brightness of Christ that produces in us a desire to daily turn from (avoid) our shadows.

Calamity H343 ‘êyd is from the same as H181 (firebrand, raking together) (in the sense of bending down); oppression; by implication misfortune, ruin: – calamity, destruction.

Jer 49:7  Concerning Edom, thus saith the LORD of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished?
Jer 49:8  Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity [H343] of Esau upon him, the time that I will visit him.
Jer 49:9  If grapegatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough.
Jer 49:10  But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not.

Even when we sit in the darkness, we are not able to hide ourself, and we are saved by the light of Christ.

Mic 7:8 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness [H2822], the LORD shall be a light unto me.

The word for darkness is H2822 (kho-shek’) meaning dark, misery, ignorance, death. The corresponding Greek word is G4655 (skot’-os) meaning darkness, shadiness, obscurity.

Mat 4:16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.

Pro 2:10 When wisdom [Christ] entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
Pro 2:11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:
Pro 2:12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;
Pro 2:13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness

Pro 4:19 The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.

Mankind, in his darkened, black, fleshly, carnal state cannot see even his righteousnesses are filthy rags and that God creates both light and darkness.

2Co 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ [hidden in the ‘letters’ of the Old Testament].

1Pe 2:9 But ye [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light [out of the letter and into the spirit]:

Psa 18:28 For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.

Conclusion and Spiritual Principle. We are first darkness because we are all in Adam (the first Adam shall die), but through Christ we are turned from darkness to light (in Christ all shall be made alive), but each man in his own order.

Act 26:18  To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

Luk 1:79  To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.