How does Obadiah 1:10 connect with the command to love your neighbor?

Obadiah 1:10—A Snapshot

“Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, shame will cover you, and you will be cut off forever.”

---

Family Feud, Neighbor Law

• Edom and Israel trace back to twin brothers, Esau and Jacob (Genesis 25:24–26).

• Scripture calls fellow Israelites—and by extension, fellow humans—“neighbor.” Leviticus 19:18 commands: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

• By attacking Jacob’s descendants, Edom violated both family loyalty and the wider neighbor-love mandate.

---

How Edom Broke the Command

• Violence instead of protection (Obadiah 1:10–11).

• Gloating over Judah’s misfortune (v. 12).

• Looting and profiteering (v. 13).

• Blocking refugees and handing them over (v. 14).

Each action is the exact opposite of “love does no wrong to a neighbor” (Romans 13:10).

---

The Principle Echoed by Jesus

• Jesus re-states Leviticus 19:18: “The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Mark 12:31).

• He broadens “neighbor” beyond ethnic lines in the Good Samaritan account (Luke 10:25-37). Edom’s ethnic rivalry showed why that expansion was necessary.

---

Consequences of Neighbor-Hatred

• National judgment: “You will be cut off forever” (Obadiah 1:10).

• Personal accountability: Proverbs 24:17–18 warns against rejoicing at a neighbor’s calamity.

• Eternal perspective: “Anyone who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God, whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20).

---

Living the Lesson Today

• Reject indifference—step toward those in distress rather than looking on (James 2:15-16).

• Guard the heart—celebrate others’ victories, mourn their losses (Romans 12:15).

• Choose mercy over rivalry—seek reconciliation where family or cultural tensions persist (Matthew 5:23-24).

• Practice active good—“Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18).

Obadiah 1:10 confronts the sin of Edom to remind every believer that the call to love one’s neighbor is not optional; it is a God-given mandate whose neglect invites shame and judgment, while its practice fulfills the law and reflects the heart of Christ.