Obadiah 1

_The Scrolls/2. Neviim (Prophets)/31 - Obadiah/Obadiah

For reading purposes Obad-01

Setting

Who:

• Author: Obadiah
• Audience: Edom (primarily); House of Judah (secondarily)
• Bullet list Characters and People Groups:
  • Edom
  • Esau
  • Jacob
  • Teman
  • House of Jacob
  • House of Joseph
  • Nations

What:

• Main Storyline: Vision of judgment against Edom for pride and violence against brother Jacob; their destruction and the restoration of Israel’s possession.
• Edom stood aloof when Jacob (Israel/Judah) was attacked, gloated over their disaster, looted their wealth, and even handed over survivors to the enemy on the day of their calamity. They didn’t just fail to help; they actively profited from and participated in Jacob’s destruction (likely during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 586 BC).
• The specific actions of Edom condemned (gloating, looting, standing at the crossroads to cut down fugitives, handing over survivors) are not narrated in a single historical passage of Scripture. 2 Kings 25 and 2 Chronicles 36 describe the fall of Jerusalem but do not mention Edom. Instead, they are prophetically summarized in Obadiah itself, with parallel echoes and partial historical corroboration in the following passages:
  • Ps-137#v7 Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, ‘Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!’”
  • Lam-04#v21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom... The cup shall pass to you as well; you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.
  • Ezek-35#v1 Because you cherished perpetual enmity and gave over the people of Israel to the power of the sword...

When:

• Date Authored: Between 589 and 550 BC (most likely 586–582 BC)
• Date takes place: 586 BC (the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon), with possible aftermath raids 586–582 BC

Where:

• Edom, Mount Esau (modern: southern Jordan, including Petra region); Mount Zion (Jerusalem)

Scripture

• The vision of Obadiah.
• This is what the Lord Yahweh says
  • about Edom.
    • We //House of Judah through Obadiah// have heard
      • news from Yahweh,
      • and an Ambassador is sent
        • among the nations,
        • saying,
          • "Arise,
          • and let's //nations// rise up
            • against her //Edom// in battle.
  • Behold, I //YHWH// have
    • made you //Edom// small
      • among the nations.
    • You are greatly despised.
    • The pride of your heart
      • has deceived you, //nasha//
      • you
        • who dwell in the clefts of the rock^[1],
        • whose habitation is high,
        • who says in his heart,
          • 'Who will bring me down to the ground?'
    • Though you
      • mount on high as the eagle,
      • and though your nest is set among the stars,
      • I //YHWH//
        • will bring you //Edom//
          • down from there," says Yahweh.
    • "If thieves came to you //Edom//,
      • if robbers by night--
      • oh, what disaster awaits you--
        • wouldn't they //thieves and robbers// only steal
          • until they had enough?
      • If grape pickers came to you //Edom//, ,
        • wouldn't they leave some gleaning grapes?
        • How Esau //Esau as a representation of Edom//
          • will be ransacked!
          • How his hidden treasures are sought out!
    • All the men of your //Edom//, alliance
      • have brought you on your way,
        • even to the border.
      • The men who were at peace with you
        • have deceived you,
        • and prevailed against you.
      • Friends who eat your bread
        • lay a snare under you.^[2]
        • There is no understanding in him //Edom//, ."

Who will bring me down to the ground - Jer-49#v16 (same time as Obadiah) exact same phrase spoken about Edom. King of Babylon Isa-14#v13 (100 years later): ‘I will ascend to heaven… I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit.”

• • "Won't I \YHWH\
    • in that day", says Yahweh,
    • "destroy the wise men out of Edom,
    • and understanding out of the mountain of Esau?
    • Your mighty men,
      • Teman, //a location in Edom, home of the mighty men// (Gen-36#v8)
      • will be dismayed,
        • to the end that everyone may be cut off
          • from the mountain of Esau //Edom//,
            • by slaughter.
  • For the violence done to
    • your //Esau as a representation of Edom// brother
      Jacob, //as a representation of the surviving remnant of Israel at the time of this prophecy, House of Judah//
      • shame will cover you //Edom//,
      • and you //Edom//, will be cut off forever^[3].
  • In the day
    • that you stood on the other side,
    • in the day that strangers carried away his //House of Judah// substance //material wealth//,
    • and foreigners entered into his //Jerusalem// gates,
    • and cast lots for Jerusalem //the capital of Judah//,
      • even you //Edom//, were like one of them //strangers and foreigners//.
  • But
    • don't look down
      • on your //Edom//, brother //House of Judah//
        • in the day
          • of his disaster,
    • and don't rejoice
      • over the children of Judah //House of Judah//
        • in the day
          • of their destruction.
    • Don't speak proudly
      • in the day
        • of distress.
    • Don't enter into the gate
      • of my //YHWH// people //House of Judah//
        • in the day
          • of their calamity.
    • Don't look down
      • on their affliction
        • in the day of
          • their calamity, //House of Judah//
      • neither seize their wealth
        • on the day
          • of their calamity. //House of Judah//
    • Don't stand in the crossroads
      • to cut off those
        • of his who escape. //House of Judah//
    • Don't deliver up
      • those of his who remain //House of Judah//
        • in the day
          • of distress.
  • For the day of Yahweh is near //Day of the Lord//
    • all the nations!
    • As you //Edom// have done //to House of Judah//,
      • it will be done to you.
      • Your //Edom//, deeds will return
        • upon your own head.
      • For as you have drunk
        • on my //YHWH// holy mountain^[4] //Jerusalem//,
        • so will all the nations drink continually.
        • Yes, they //nations// will drink, swallow down,
          • and will be as though they had not been.

"all the nations shall drink continually" extends the judgment from Edom to all other nations, culminating in their destruction ("as though they had never been"). (e.g., Zeph-01:14-18; Joel-03#v12)

• • But in Mount Zion,
    • there will be those //Israelites//
      • who escape,
      • and it //Mount Zion// will be Holy.
      • The House of Jacob
        • will possess their possessions^[5].
    • The house of Jacob
      • will be a fire^[6],
    • the house of Joseph
      • a flame,
    • and the house of Esau //Edom//,
      • for stubble.
      • They //House of Jacob and Joseph//
        • will burn
          • among them //Edom// ,
        • and devour them.
        • There will not be any remaining
          • to the house of Esau.^[7]" //Edom//,
• Indeed, Yahweh has spoken.
  • Those of the South //House of Juda//
    • will possess the mountain of Esau, //Edom//,
  • and those of the lowland,
    • the Philistines.
  • They //House of Jacob and Joseph// will possess
    • the field of Ephraim,
    • and the field of Samaria.
  • Benjamin
    • will possess Gilead.
  • The captives
    • of this army
      • of the children of Israel, //Israelites//
      • who are among the Canaanites,
        • will possess even to Zarephath;
  • and the captives of Jerusalem,
    • who are in Sepharad,
      • will possess
        • the cities of the Negev.
  • Saviors will
    • go up on Mount Zion
      • to judge
        • the mountains^[8] of Esau, //Edom//,
• and the kingdom will be Yahweh's.

_The Scrolls/2. Neviim (Prophets)/31 - Obadiah/Obadiah

Connections

• Other Related Scriptures:
  • Jeremiah 49:7-22
  • Psalm 137:7
  • Ezekiel 25:12-14
  • Amos 9:12