Obadiah 1-21
During the years of the totalitarian communist regime in Bulgaria, the authorities forbade the church to so much as mention the word “state,” or to include in its sermons any phrase “undermining the prestige of the party” and of the socialist system. That is why in the church we have heard very little about God’s attitude toward the governing of a nation. God, however, is not silent on this matter. In the Bible we find a word from God not only to Israel — God’s people — but also to the other nations. He is the God not only of Israel, but of the whole world. God has a relationship not only with individual persons, but with nations. They are not a matter of indifference to Him. He does not stand aloof from their politics and their development. On the contrary, He directs and He judges the nations. Moreover, He does not change. Therefore, seeing His judgment upon and His guidance of the nations in ancient times, we can discern His attitude toward the political situation today.
The book of the prophet Obadiah is the shortest in the Old Testament, yet it is full of content. It contains a prophecy directed not at Israel, but at one of Israel’s neighboring nations — Edom. God foretells the destruction of Edom and the restoration of Israel. If we take the reasons for Edom’s ruin — its pride and its violence — and turn them the other way around into humility and brotherly love, and if to this we add God’s plan for the restoration of Israel, we can draw a conclusion about what our own personal and national policy ought to be, so that the fate of Edom does not overtake us.
Realizing that God judges nations and individual persons by the very same principles, we can conclude that there are three things that stand at the foundation of all personal and national security:
- humility — the opposite of pride;
- good-neighborliness, brotherhood and mutual aid — the opposite of bitterness, hatred and enmity;
- the kingdom of God — the opposite of the world.
PRIDE GOES BEFORE A FALL (vv.1-9)
The chief reason for God’s judgment against Edom is its pride. It thinks itself unreachable. It boasts against everyone, even against God. In its self-confidence it says: “Who can bring me down to the ground?” (vv.1-3).
1 The vision of Obadiah. This is what the Sovereign Lord says about Edom— We have heard a message from the Lord: An envoy was sent to the nations to say, “Rise, let us go against her for battle”— 2 “See, I will make you small among the nations; you will be utterly despised. 3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’ (Obadiah 1:1-3)
The pride and haughtiness of Edom provoke the hatred of the surrounding nations. They band together against it, and in the end this pride of Edom’s leads to its final destruction (v.1).
We have heard a message from the Lord: An envoy was sent to the nations to say, “Rise, let us go against her for battle” (Obadiah 1:1)
The history of Edom is a perfect illustration of the proverb from Proverbs 16:18, which says:
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18)
WHAT DID EDOM BOAST IN?
First, in its geographical location. Edom lay to the south of the Dead Sea, in what is modern-day Jordan. Situated in a mountainous region, it formed a natural fortress. The Edomites carved their dwellings directly into the rocks (v.3, “you who live in the clefts of the rocks”), and the security of their homes and strongholds led them to think themselves unreachable.
Second, in its wealth. Edom had well-watered valleys, iron and copper mines, and an outlet to the sea. Ezion Geber was Edom’s maritime capital. Through its territory ran the trade routes from Ezion Geber to Damascus and to Egypt. In this way Edom amassed enormous wealth from tolls, taxes and duties. It traded with Syria, Assyria, Arabia, Egypt, India and Africa. Edom was also a country in which the slave trade flourished. In Amos 1:6,9 we read that Gaza and Tyre were Edom’s partners in that dreadful business.
Besides its land and its economy, Edom boasted also in its friends and allies — the Arabs, the Philistines, the Moabites and the Ammonites.
Edom had not only friends; it possessed prominent leaders, capable politicians, wise counselors and skilled military strategists — or, as we would put it in modern language, “a high intellectual potential.” Eliphaz the Temanite from the book of Job is an example of how the Edomites were renowned for their wisdom and their knowledge of the world. But their wisdom was not godly; it was worldly (James 3:15,16) — a wisdom for hatching intrigues and imposing themselves at any cost.
Finally, Edom boasted in its military might. Its army was made up of heroes who had performed great exploits and struck fear into their enemies.
Yes, Edom had grounds to be proud, but its pride did not help it — on the contrary, it deceived it (v.3)!
3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’ (Obadiah 1:3)
In its pride Edom insulted God. In Ezekiel 35:14,15 we read:
14 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: While the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate. 15 Because you rejoiced when the inheritance of Israel became desolate, that is how I will treat you. You will be desolate, Mount Seir, you and all of Edom. Then they will know that I am the Lord. (Ezekiel 35:14-15)
Pride is deceptive. If we let it into our heart, it will always lead us to failure and condemnation. For forty-five whole years the Bulgarian Communist Party, the party-state, cried out in Bulgaria: “There is no God!” and “Let us close the churches!” But instead of prosperity, this led our country to ruin. In Psalm 19:13 it is said:
Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression. (Psalm 19:13)
Edom’s location did not prevent God from bringing it down from its place (vv.3,4):
4 Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” declares the Lord. (Obadiah 1:4)
Edom’s wealth did not insure it against total impoverishment (vv.5,6):
5 “If thieves came to you, if robbers in the night— oh, what a disaster awaits you!— would they not steal only as much as they wanted? If grape pickers came to you, would they not leave a few grapes? 6 But how Esau will be ransacked, his hidden treasures pillaged! (Obadiah 1:5-6)
Edom’s allies betrayed it precisely when it had need of them (v.7):
7 All your allies will force you to the border; your friends will deceive and overpower you; those who eat your bread will set a trap for you, but you will not detect it. (Obadiah 1:7)
Its wise men were helpless in the day of its destruction (v.8):
8 “In that day,” declares the Lord, “will I not destroy the wise men of Edom, those of understanding in the mountains of Esau? (Obadiah 1:8)
Its warriors were terrified and routed (v.9):
9 Your warriors, Teman, will be terrified, and everyone in Esau’s mountains will be cut down in the slaughter. (Obadiah 1:9)
Position, wealth, friends, learning, physical strength — none of these can bring us security. The only security is in God! So humble yourself and put your trust in Him! Do not rely on unrighteous wealth, but be rich toward God! Live in the fear of the Lord! This is the beginning of wisdom. In the parable of the place of honor in Luke 14, Jesus says (v.11):
11 For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. (Luke 14:11)
The first thing that stands at the foundation of personal and national security is humility! Unlike pride, it will never mislead us. It gives rise to security, because, unlike pride, it places us on the side of God!
GOOD-NEIGHBORLINESS, BROTHERHOOD AND MUTUAL AID (vv.10-16)
The reasons for the Lord’s judgment upon Edom are two — on the one hand, Edom’s pride, and on the other, its cruelty and its constant hostility toward its twin brother Jacob. Since Edom is not in covenant with God as Israel is, God does not judge Edom for offenses against the law of Moses, but for “crimes against humanity.” In the past only God’s people had the Law, but all people had (and continue to have) a conscience. And from Obadiah, as well as from the other prophetic books, we can learn that crimes against humanity are in fact crimes against God (Obadiah 10-14).
10 Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever. (Obadiah 1:10)
11 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. (Obadiah 1:11)
12 You should not gloat over your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their trouble. (Obadiah 1:12)
13 You should not march through the gates of my people in the day of their disaster, nor gloat over them in their calamity in the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster. (Obadiah 1:13)
14 You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives, nor hand over their survivors in the day of their trouble. (Obadiah 1:14)
THE STORY OF AN IRRECONCILABLE FEUD
The history of the relations between Israel and Edom is the story of an irreconcilable feud. The forefather of Edom is Esau. The name Edom, translated from the Hebrew, means “red.” Israel and Edom were two brother-nations. In Deuteronomy 23:7a it is said:
7 Do not despise an Edomite, for the Edomites are related to you. (Deuteronomy 23:7)
The struggle between Jacob and Esau dated all the way back to the time when they were in the womb of their mother Rebekah (Genesis 25:22). From the very beginning Esau was “godless before the Lord” — he “sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son for a single meal” (Hebrews 12:16). Jacob, for his part, was a deceiver — he lied to his father Isaac that he was Esau, in order to receive the blessing of the firstborn. This so enraged Esau that he vowed to kill his brother (Genesis 27:41). Then Jacob fled to Paddan Aram, where he stayed for 20 years. Throughout all those years Esau did not stop harboring hatred and nursing bitterness against his brother! When Esau learned that his brother was returning, he set out against him together with his 400 men (Genesis 32:6). God, however, intervened, and the two brothers were reconciled.
Even so, Esau and his sons never managed to overcome the bitterness they nursed against Jacob and his descendants. Esau’s bitterness was passed down to the generations after him. Several centuries later, during the exodus from Egypt, the old feud once again came to the surface. Edom refused to let Israel pass through its lands on the way to the “promised land” (Numbers 20:14-21).
Later, however, in 1042 BC David subdued Edom and added it to his empire. The prophecy that “the older will serve the younger” (Genesis 25:23) was fulfilled (2 Samuel 8:14). After this God delivered Edom and its allies into the hand of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah (2 Chronicles 20:1-29). Edom, however, was still not fully subdued. In the days of King Jehoram, Jehoshaphat’s son, Edom won its independence (2 Chronicles 21:8-10; 2 Kings 8:20-22). Later King Amaziah attacked Edom and captured the stronghold of Sela (2 Chronicles 25:11,12; 2 Kings 14:7), killing 10,000 Edomites and taking another 10,000 captive. Judah, however, never succeeded in fully subduing Edom. Thus were fulfilled the prophetic words of Isaac to Esau concerning Jacob (Genesis 27:40):
you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck. (Genesis 27:40)
After 736 BC Edom became a vassal state of Assyria. Edom gloated over the fall of Jerusalem into Babylonian captivity in 586 BC (Psalm 137:7).
Remember, Lord, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. “Tear it down,” they cried, “tear it down to its foundations!” (Psalm 137:7)
Later, at the beginning of the 3rd century BC, the Nabateans (probably descendants of Nebaioth, son of Ishmael and brother-in-law of Esau — Genesis 25:13; 28:9), desert nomads who raided the trade caravans in the region of Petra, pushed the Edomites out of their land, and they settled in the southern part of Judea, later called Idumea (from Edom).
At the end of the 2nd century BC the Maccabees subjugated the remaining Edomites. Judas Maccabeus killed 20,000 Edomites, and John Hyrcanus (134-104 BC) enslaved those who were left, forcing them to be circumcised and to adopt the Jewish religion, laws and rituals. They became nominal Jewish proselytes, and by the hundredth year AD they were completely assimilated and vanished from history. This is the fulfillment of Obadiah v.18.
18 Jacob will be a fire and Joseph a flame; Esau will be stubble, and they will set him on fire and destroy him. There will be no survivors from Esau. The Lord has spoken. (Obadiah 1:18)
The history of Edom is an account of violence to its very end. Their hatred of the Jews became the reason the Romans installed the dynasty of the Herods — which was of Idumean descent (that is, Edomite) — to reign over Palestine. Herod the Great, in his attempt to kill Christ, slaughtered the infants of Bethlehem. Herod Antipas (the tetrarch) beheaded John the Baptist. Herod Agrippa I put the apostle James to death with the sword. In the Bible, Edom is a symbol of the earthly, fleshly, unspiritual people of this world, whose prince is Satan.
After the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, the Idumeans were absorbed by the Arabs and were lost as a people.
The history of the relations of Israel and Edom is the story of a feud spanning many centuries. And all of this because of a single bitterness that was never overcome. It is true that Jacob was guilty before Esau. We all sin. But we must forgive one another! For bitterness grows into hatred, into lasting enmity, into gloating and malice — taking pleasure in a brother’s suffering. In Proverbs 24:17-18 it is said:
17 Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice, 18 or the Lord will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from them. (Proverbs 24:17-18)
A feud passed down from generation to generation, which in the end ends in death and total destruction. Edom reaped what it had sown (v.15).
15 The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head. (Obadiah 1:15)
It is evident that God judges the nations according to the way they treat other nations, and especially according to how they treat Israel.
At the foundation of personal and national security stand humility and love — relationships of good-neighborliness, brotherhood and mutual aid — a forgiveness that springs from the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ!
ON WHICH HILL DO YOU STAND? (vv.17-21)
In the final part of his book, the prophet Obadiah speaks of two hills — “Mount Zion” and “the mountain of Esau.” The prophecy is that the house of Jacob will once again possess its inheritance (vv.17-20), while “there will be no survivors from Esau” (v.18).
17 But on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy, and Jacob will possess his inheritance. (Obadiah 1:17)
20 This company of Israelite exiles who are in Canaan will possess the land as far as Zarephath; the exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will possess the towns of the Negev. (Obadiah 1:20)
History shows that during its captivity Israel was freed from the idolatry that had been the cause of the pouring out of God’s wrath upon it. The captives return in order to possess their inheritance again. They return in order to worship God and to become His people. This prophecy is fulfilled at the return of God’s people from Babylonian captivity in the days of Zerubbabel in 538 BC, Ezra in 458 BC, and Nehemiah in 445 BC.
21 Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will be the Lord’s. (Obadiah 1:21)
On a spiritual level, “Mount Zion” is the Church (Hebrews 12:22-24).
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22-24)
The mountain of Esau, Mount Seir, is a symbol of rebellion, hatred, sin, darkness and death. It is the fate of those who place their trust in human power, wealth, connections and fleshly wisdom. The mountain of Esau will be judged (v.21)!
Mount Zion is a symbol of the security that the redeemed of the Lord possess; of the turning of Israel in the last times (Romans 11:25,26); a symbol of the kingdom of God.
On which hill do you stand?!
- On Mount Zion or on the mountain of Esau?
- On the hill of the redeemed or on the hill of the lost?
- On the holy hill or on the hill of sin?
- On the hill of the kingdom of God or on the hill of the kingdom of Satan?
For the mountain of Esau will be judged, and “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 11:15).
If you are proud and independent, humble yourself before you are humiliated and judged! If you are bitter against your brother, forgive him before your deeds return upon your own head! If you are still on the mountain of Esau, then run to Mount Zion, place your faith in the crucified Savior, escape the judgment of God, and secure your life for all eternity!