Obadiah 10 - 12 "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. You should not look down on your brother in the day of his misfortune."
When a brother is plundered, and you stand off to the side in silence, you are a part of the violence. It is as though you have the sword in your own hand. Edom, the descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob, watched in pleasure as the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem. This silent assent was just as bad as if they were one of them and they were punished as if they were a part of the plundering.
In our own lives, this can range from silent satisfaction when a brother stumbles (yes, Christians do this), gloating over the failure of a local ministry, ignoring the murder of the unborn, all the way to inactivity while brothers and sisters around the world are slaughtered. I wish I knew the appropriate Christian response to these global tragedies, but at least I can eliminate silence as one of the options.
"On the day you stood aloof . . . . you were like one of them."
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