1. SHORTEST BOOK IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
Cards
SHORTEST BOOK IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
Obadiah is shortest book in the Old Testament with only one chapter. Obadiah gives the final word on a blood feud. Of Obadiah, the author of this prophecy, noting whatever is known. Not even his father’s name is given in the title of the book, which is simply, “the vision of Obadiah.”
The feud began with twin brothers, Jacob and Esau. Esau, the older by minutes, would have inherited family leadership, but in a moment of hunger he traded it for a meal (Gen. 25:19-34). Jacob went on to become the founding father of the nation of Israel. Esau, a born hunter, moved southeast to desolate mountain country. He founded the nation of Edom.
OBADIAH

2. SHORTEST BOOK IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
A. Joel
B. Obadiah
C. Amos
How many chapters does Obadiah have?
We know a lot about Obadiah and his background? True or False
The feud Obadiah talks about is between Jacob and Esau? True or False

3. OBADIAH PROPHESIED DESTRUCTION OF
EDOM
OBADIAH—The Angry Prophet
Jacob and Esau’s descendants continued the feud. Over hundreds of years the two nations battled repeatedly but inconclusively. The Edomites’ capital, Sela, sat on a high plateau above a sheer cliff; the only access was by deep ravine. From that well-protected enclave, the Edomites raided Israel.
Obadiah is angry at Judah’s neighbor, the nation of Edom, “When Babylon destroyed Jerusalem, you helped to rob the city of its treasure. You captured the people as they tried to escape and turned them over to the enemy.”
Then he predicts Edom’s punishment: “Because your capital city is protected by rock cliffs, you think it cannot be destroyed. But it can! And it will---as will every nation that disobeys God.”

4. OBADIAH PROPHESIED DESTRUCTION OF
A. Jerusalem
B. Israel
C. Edom
Did Jacob and Esau’s descendants continue the feud over hundreds of years?
The Edomites’ capital, Sela was on a river bank? True or False
The only access to Edom was by deep ravine? True or False
Did the Edomites think that this was going to protect the city?
Did they think it couldn’t be destroyed?
Will every nation that disobeys God be destroyed?

5. PROPHET WHO RAN AWAY
JONAH
The book of Jonah tells the story of a man whom God instructed to love his enemies in Nineveh. True to life, the prophet Jonah did just the opposite of what God commanded. He refused to go to the people he hated. Instead, he tried to run away from the Lord.
Nineveh was a large, important city in Assyria, situated on the Tigris River. It posed a grave military threat to tiny Israel. Nineveh was also one of the most wicked cities in the world. God sent Jonah there, and he responded without hesitation: in Joppa he caught a boat going in the opposite direction.

6. PROPHET WHO RAN AWAY A. Amos B. Obadiah C. Jonah
Did God instruct Jonah to love his enemies in Nineveh?
Jonah was very willing to go to Nineveh? True or False
What did he try to do instead?
Nineveh was one of the most wicked cities in the world? True or False
Jonah caught a boat in Joppa going the opposite direction? True or False

7. OUTLINE OF JONAH Running from God (Chap. 1)
Jonah was a prophet, but a different sort of prophet from people like Elijah and Elisha. In the Old Testament, God spoke to prophets and gave them messages to give His people. Jonah was a prophet of God in the land of Israel. One day God said to Jonah, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.” Though the people of Nineveh were very wicked, God loved them and wanted them to turn to Him and be saved.
Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh to give the people God’s message; he thought that if they then changed their ways through hearing that message, God would forgive them all the city would not be destroyed for its wickedness. Jonah wanted this enemy destroyed, and he also wanted his warnings to come true.
So he disobeyed God’s command, and found a ship going to Tarshis which was in Spain, and in the opposite direction to Nineveh. God sends a storm so violent that even the sailors were afraid. Frantically, they tried to keep the ship from sinking by dumping their cargo into the sea. They began casting lots, a common practice in those days. When the lot fell on Jonah, all the sailors stared at him and began asking questions. After telling them he was running away from God, he told them to throw him overboard. Jonah is thrown overboard, but because God loved Jonah and still had a job for him to do, God prepared a big fish to swallow him. God kept Jonah alive three days and three nights in the fish’s belly, When troubles come our way , we may need to ask ourselves, “What is God trying to tell me?”
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8. OUTLINE OF JONAH Running to God (Chap 2)
If you found yourself suddenly in a fish’s stomach, what would you do? You’d probable do just what Jonah did—you’d start praying. During that time, he felt very miserable and began to think how stupid he had been to disobey God. God ordered the fish to put Jonah out on to the dry land. The voice of God then came Jonah a second time. “Go to Nineveh, and proclaim to the people of that great city the message I have given you.” Jonah did not need telling again. He knew better than to disobey this time and he set off straightaway for Nineveh.
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9. OUTLINE OF JONAH Running with God (Chap 3)
Now Nineveh was a huge city—so big that it took three days to walk through it. Jonah started walking and, after he had walked for a whole day, he decided that now was the time to give God’s message to the people.
“Nineveh will be destroyed in forty days!” he cried; and the message had an immediate effect for the people believed him and, realizing that they had been wicked, they began to fast and dress themselves in sackcloth to show that they had repented.
The news reached the ears of the King of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, took off his royal robes, and dressed himself in sackcloth too. He them sent out an official proclamation to all the people of Nineveh to do the same. “If we are truly sorry, God may not destroy our city”, he said.
When God saw that the people had repented, He was prepared to forgive them and to save their city, but one person was not at all happy about this, and that was Jonah.
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10. OUTLINE OF JONAH
RUNNING AHEAD OF GOD
Jonah should have been pleased that the Ninevites believed his message and turned to God, and therefore, their city was not destroyed at the end of 40 days. But Jonah was not happy. He was very disappointed and displeased. He went outside the city of Nineveh, built himself a booth, or shelter, out of dried branches. Sitting in his little booth on the east side of the city of Nineveh, Jonah watched and waited, probably hoping that God would still destroy Nineveh.
God made a leafy kind of plant grow up beside him to give shade for Jonah’s head and save him from the discomfort of the hot sun. Jonah was grateful for the shadow it cast. When the next morning dawned, however, a worm attacked the plant at God’s command, and it withered and died, and Jonah felt sorry for it.
When the sun had risen, a hot east wind began to blow; the heat of the sun came down fiercely upon Jonah’s head until he began to feel quite faint. “Let me die, Lord,” he said again. “It is better for me to die than live.”
When he recovered, he felt angry about the plant that had withered and would not now give him shade. He felt sorry that somehow the plant had been ill-treated, and in a way he was sorry for it; a withered plant is always a sad sight. “Are you right to feel angry about that plant?” asked God. “I have every right to be angry” said Jonah. “I’m angry enough to die.”
“This plant grew up in the night,” said God, “and it disappeared just as quickly the next day, and you pity it. Yet you did no work for it, and you did nothing to make it grow.”
Jonah understood that, but God had more to say. “How much more then,” He said, “should I, the Lord, not take pity on the great city of Nineveh, where there are 120,000 people, and their animals, all of whom I have made and over whom I have taken much trouble. They are helpless and ignorant, but they have asked for forgiveness. Should I not take pity on them?”

11. OUTLINE OF JONAH Running f__________God (Chap. 1)
Running to G________ (Chap. 2)
Running w_________God (Chap. 3)
Running A__________of God (Chap.4)
1. Can anyone ever run away from God?
2. Does God know everything about us?