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| Photo by Jim Tracy |
Obadiah is unique among the biblical prophets in that he spoke not to Israel or Judah, but to Edom. (Jonah and Nahum were the only other ones with a ministry directed at someone besides the descendants of Jacob).
Edom is descended from Jacob’s brother Esau. They were brothers to the nation Israel. However, they did not treat Israel the way relatives should.
While Israel was wandering in the wilderness, Edom wouldn’t even let them walk through their land. They refused them food and drink even though Israel offered to pay for all of it. They often sided with Israel’s enemies, looted the country after she had been conquered, and even apparently sold Israelites off as slaves.
God did not approve of their behavior and has Obadiah warn them of the coming punishment.
Obadiah is written in rhyme in Hebrew. This affects its wording, making it a bit clumsy in English.
Edom Dies
1 The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumor from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.
Obadiah received a special message from some special messenger (an angel?). God is telling Edom’s enemies to get ready to go to war.
2 Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised.
God is reducing Edom to insignificance.
3 The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, "Who shall bring me down to the ground?"
Edom was located in the hill area to the southeast of Judah. This was a very fortified area easily defended from attack.
4 Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.
It doesn’t matter how safe they think they are, God will destroy them.
5 If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? If the grape gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes?
Edom is going to be robbed and plucked and picked, but God won’t leave leftovers like thieves and harvesters would.
6 How are the things of Esau searched out! How are his hidden things sought up!
7 All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him.
Edom made a contract with Israel and Judah’s enemies to help them conquer. Now those friends are going to turn on Edom.
8 Shall I not in that day, saith the LORD, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?
9 And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.
All their highest ranking men will be killed. There will be no wise-men left.
Teman was a tribe named after Esau’s oldest grandson.
10 For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off forever.
11 In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.
You are as bad as Israel’s worst enemies.
12 But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.
You shouldn’t have celebrated when Israel was attacked.
13 Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of My people in the day of their calamity; Yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity;
You shouldn’t have looted Israel.
14 Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress.
You shouldn’t have taken those who escaped as slaves.
15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.
“The day of the Lord” is the Day of Judgment. “God is coming to judge all the ungodly nations, and guess what Edom? How you have treated Israel and Judah is how you will be treated.”
This is the basic law of the universe that God has written into creation; “Whatsoever you sow, so shall ye reap.” Eastern religions call it "Karma."
Edom had sown evil and violence and now they were fixing to reap evil and violence.
16 For as ye have drunk upon My holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.
17 But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
Though God will destroy Israel and Judah also, there is a difference. God will bring Judah back and restore her. Edom will vanish forever.
18 And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it.
Judah, under the leadership of the Maccabees, conquered what was left of the descendants of Edom in 163BC and 125BC forcing them to convert to Judaism and incorporating them into the nation Judah.
19 And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines: and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.
20 And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south.
21 And saviors shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’s.
Judah will become a leading nation again while Edom will be destroyed and disappear from the earth.
Babylon destroyed Edom in 667BC and she never really recovered. She was never recognized as a significant nation again. After the Maccabees, though their were people in the region, they were never identified as Edomites again (though we assume some of their descendants still lived there, they were known as Idoumaia.) They were simi Jews, religiously and culturally. The Romans finished the job of wiping them off the face of the earth in AD70.