Who Is Obed-Edom?

Who is Obed-Edom? Why be like him? His choices and his life led to blessings for himself and his family. Let us, together, learn who Obed-Edom was and about his life.

Obed-Edom is first mentioned in the Bible just after the death of Uzzah for touching the Ark of God. This happened during King David’s first attempt to move the Ark to Jerusalem. The Ark of God was placed in the home of Obed-Edom. He must have been a man of faith to allow this in his home; just after God had killed someone for touching it (this broke one of the commands of the Lord concerning the Ark). The ark of God remained with Obed-Edom for three months, and the Lord blessed his household and everything he owned.

When it came time to move the Ark to Jerusalem, (this time correctly) Obed-Edom had a choice. He could have stayed where he was and lived off of his past relationship with God or move with the Ark of God, staying in God’s presence and in relationship with God.

Obed-Edom had a desire for the Lord and moved with God. His desire for the Lord caused him to do whatever it took to be close to the Lord. He became a gatekeeper, a musician, and a doorkeeper for the Ark. Due to Obed-Edom’s desire and love for the Lord and his faithfulness, God begins again to bless him and promote him.

Obed-Edom becomes a worship leader and is mentioned along with Aspah the Chief Musician. Obed-Edom and his 68 associates minister regularly before the Lord in worship. Yet, he still continues to keep the gates.

Obed-Edom is not only blessed in ministry and relationship with the Lord, his family is also blessed. God gives him eight sons, his poor wife raising a football team. His sons and grandsons also worshiped the Lord and were blessed by the Lord. They were all leaders, capable men, with strength to do the work. There were 62 men in all. Obed-Edom, along with his other duties, was put in charge of the Southgate and his sons were keepers of the storehouse.

Obed-Edom, by his faith, attitude, and actions created a legacy of faith and relationship with the Lord. The Lord was faithful back to Obed-Edom, establishing a legacy of generational blessings.

Obed-Edom had to pack up and physically move to stay in the presence of God. His desire for a relationship with God established a relationship not only for himself, but also for his children and grandchildren. This relationship also established generational blessings from God for his family.

Today, we don’t have to travel to a specific place to know the presence of the Lord or to have a relationship with the Lord. We, as believers, all have the Holy Spirit within us. But it is up to each of us to stir up the desire to seek out our own relationship with God, Our Father. The Father desires for us to have a relationship with him. He waits patiently for His sons and daughters to seek him out and have an individual relationship with Him.

We can have this relationship with the Father by first, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, we will be filled. (Matthew 5:6) We must work to keep our hearts pure and we will see God. We must seek first the Kingdom of God and Its righteousness. (Matthew 6:37)

Our Father is crying out by His Spirit within us, for each of us to stir up our desire for Him. He wants us to be passionate for Him, to get hungry and thirsty for Him. When you are hungry and thirsty for something, you do what it takes to be satisfied.

The first step is to keep a pure heart. Unconfessed sin is a relationship and a blessing stopper with God. Keep short accounts with the Lord by following 1 John 1:9 and by keeping short accounts with others. No choice here. If you have done wrong, go to the person, confess it, ask for forgiveness and make it right. If you know someone has something against you, go to them, and don’t wait for them to come to you. Make it right. Be careful what you watch on TV, listen to on the radio, and what comes in over the Internet. Enough said.

Second, study the Word of God and meditate on it daily. Meditation is not mystical or hard. If you can worry, you can meditate. We all do a great job worrying. We take an issue and keep thinking the worst that can happen over and over again. Meditation is thinking about a particular scripture or the goodness of God, over and over again. This is simple, but it works; and the more you do it the easier it gets. Putting on worship music helps with meditation and will bring the Presence of God.  

A third step is just relax and rest in the Presence of God. We think that we must be doing something all the time for God. Relaxing and resting in God’s Presence is extremely important. It is in these times that we can clearly hear from the Lord. A Website that can help with this is www.soaking.net.

Finally, get up and get moving. Get involved in your church and/or your community. Obed-Edom did not wait for the Lord to tell him to do something, he just did it. He waited on the Lord by doing. You will find as you are doing the work of the ministry, God will give you direction in what to do.

So be an Obed-Edom. Have a desire for God. Keep your heart pure. Study and meditate on the Lord, and relax and rest in God’s presence. Get up and get involved. By doing these things, you will have a relationship with God and He will bless you and your family, create blessings for you, and generational blessings for your family.

Scripture References for Obed-Edom: 1 Chronicles Chapters 13:12-14, 15:18, 21, 24, 16:38, 26:4-6, 12-15.

Copyright © Richard Spangler. Used by permission.