Brothers in Conflict: Reading the Prophet Obadiah Against the Context of the Political and Religious Hostility and Violence in Nigeria

• Main Author: Joel Kamsen Tihitshak Biwul
• Format: Article
• Language: Afrikaans
• Published: OTSSA 2017-02-01
• Series: Old Testament Essays
• Subjects: Brotherhood; conflict; Edom; Edomites; Hausa-Fulani; hostility; Israel; Nigeria; Obadiah; economic; political; religious

This article discusses the resemblances between the text of the Prophet Obadiah and Nigeria within the political, economic, ethnic, and religious contexts of conflict and hostility of the latter. It puts forward the divine scandal, parental attitude of favouritism, and the careless disposition as well as the manipulative role of the Israelite and Edomites’ progenitors as the foundational root factors for the expression of generational hostility presented in this prophetic book. In contrast, the article holds the British colonial legacy and the Muslim Hausa-Fulani political manipulative domination and its self-imposed superiority de facto status accountable as the propel- ling aggravating factors for the incessant political and religious conflicts and hostility in Nigeria. It concludes by proposing the application of divine moral laws by people in governance in order to achieve for the country a just, fair, equitable, and a cohesive Nigerian society of true brotherhood and nationhood.