Obadiah 1

1 The vision of Obadiah.

Edom Will Be Humbled

  Thus says the Lord GOD concerning Edom:
  We have heard a report from the LORD,
    and a messenger has been sent among the nations:
  “Rise up! Let us rise against her for battle!”
  Behold, I will make you small among the nations;
    you shall be utterly despised.
  The pride of your heart has deceived you,
    you who live in the clefts of the rock,
    in your lofty dwelling,
  who say in your heart,
    “Who will bring me down to the ground?”
  Though you soar aloft like the eagle,
    though your nest is set among the stars,
    from there I will bring you down,
      declares the LORD.
  If thieves came to you,
    if plunderers came by night—
    how you have been destroyed!—
    would they not steal only enough for themselves?
  If grape gatherers came to you,
    would they not leave gleanings?
  How Esau has been pillaged,
    his treasures sought out!
  All your allies have driven you to your border;
    those at peace with you have deceived you;
  they have prevailed against you;
    those who eat your bread have set a trap beneath you—
    you have no understanding.
  Will I not on that day, declares the LORD,
    destroy the wise men out of Edom,
    and understanding out of Mount Esau?
  And your mighty men shall be dismayed, O Teman,
    so that every man from Mount Esau will be cut off by slaughter.

Edom’s Violence Against Jacob

  Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob,
    shame shall cover you,
    and you shall be cut off forever.
  On the day that you stood aloof,
    on the day that strangers carried off his wealth
  and foreigners entered his gates
    and cast lots for Jerusalem,
    you were like one of them.
  But do not gloat over the day of your brother
    in the day of his misfortune;
  do not rejoice over the people of Judah
    in the day of their ruin;
  do not boast
    in the day of distress.
  Do not enter the gate of my people
    in the day of their calamity;
  do not gloat over his disaster
    in the day of his calamity;
  do not loot his wealth
    in the day of his calamity.
  Do not stand at the crossroads
    to cut off his fugitives;
  do not hand over his survivors
    in the day of distress.

The Day of the Lord Is Near

  For the day of the LORD is near upon all the nations.
  As you have done, it shall be done to you;
    your deeds shall return on your own head.
  For as you have drunk on my holy mountain,
    so all the nations shall drink continually;
  they shall drink and swallow,
    and shall be as though they had never been.
  But in Mount Zion there shall be those who escape,
    and it shall be holy,
  and the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions.
  The house of Jacob shall be a fire,
    and the house of Joseph a flame,
    and the house of Esau stubble;
  they shall burn them and consume them,
    and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau,
      for the LORD has spoken.

The Kingdom of the Lord

  Those of the Negeb shall possess Mount Esau,
    and those of the Shephelah shall possess the land of the Philistines;
  they shall possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria,
    and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.
  The exiles of this host of the people of Israel
    shall possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath,
  and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad
    shall possess the cities of the Negeb.
  Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion
    to rule Mount Esau,
    and the kingdom shall be the LORD’s.

(ESV)

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Obadiah 1 Commentary

by Brad Boyles

Obadiah is unique in the sense that he one of the only minor prophets to address a nation other than Israel or Judah. Most likely being a contemporary of Elijah and Elisha, He would call out Edom for their sins against God’s people.

Who Were The Edomites?

• Descendants from Esau, they settled in the area of Mount Seir
• In Numbers 20, they wouldn’t allow the Israelites through their land to enter the Promised Land
• In 1 & 2 Samuel, they opposed King Saul but were conquered by King David
• In 2 Chronicles, they joined with Moab and Ammon and attacked Judah
• In 2 Kings, they rebelled against Judah’s King Jehoram
• In the New Testament, Herod the Great was an Edomite

As you can see, these people had a long history of rebellion against God’s people dating all the way back to the tension between Jacob and Esau.

Backstory & Judgment

At the time of this prophecy, Edom was safe and secure on their mountain while Israel had just been scattered into exile. When the Babylonians came, Edom not only didn’t help their relatives, they handed them over to be slaughtered. Edom even murdered some of the refugees and proceeded to plunder Jerusalem. Obadiah would bring a message of judgment to their continual disobedience.

“Since we know not how soon we may be called upon to suffer, we should feel compassion for rather than exultation in the sufferings of others. Malice harbored in any form contains the seed of future suffering. The great day of God is at hand, Oba 1:15, which shall bring retribution to all who have set themselves against the kingdom of God.”

F.B Meyer