Obadiah

BAEdom is frequently spoken of in the prophets. This people who, as well as Jacob, were descended from Isaac, had an inveterate hatred to the posterity of the younger son, who were favored as the people of the Lord. Psa. 137 tells of this hatred, in the seventh verse. In Psa. 83 Edom forms a part of the last confederacy against Jerusalem, the object of which was to cut off the name of Israel from the earth. Ezek. 35 dwells upon this perpetual hatred, and the desire of Edom to possess the land of Israel. Our prophet enlarges upon the details of the manifestation of this hatred, which burst forth when Jerusalem was taken. It is possible that there was something of this sort when Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchadnezzar. Edom is united with Babylon, in Psa. 137, as the inveterate enemy of Jerusalem. But it is evident that the prophecy extends to other events. Jerusalem shall again be attacked by these Gentiles, who seek to satiate their hatred to the city of the Lord, and to gratify their ambitious purposes. Edom plays a sorrowful part on this occasion, and its judgment is proportioned to its sin. The nation is entirely cut off. When the rest of the world rejoice, the desolation of Edom shall be complete. Edom had purposed to take advantage of the attack of the nations upon Jerusalem, to possess itself of the land, and had united with them to take part in the attack, by lying in wait-as was natural to a people whose habits where those of the Arab tribes-to cut off the retreat of the fugitives, laying hands, when possible, on their substance, and giving them up also to their enemies. The men of Edom knew not that the day of the Lord was upon all the nations, and that this conduct would but bring down an especial curse on their own heads. Their judgment is thus described: God takes away their wisdom, their pride deceives them, their strength fails them, in order that they may be entirely cut off. We have seen them joining the last confederacy against Jerusalem, and taking part in the destruction of that city; but it appears that their confederates deceive them (verse 7); and Edom, thus ill-treated by former allies, becomes small among the heathen" (verses 1, 2). The nations are the first instruments of the Lord's vengeance. But another, and yet more terrible event, is linked with the name of Edom, or Idumea, and is the occasion of the Lord's judgment falling upon that people. It is in Edom that the armies of the nations will be assembled in the last day. We have the account of this in Isa. 34 and 63 (See Isa. 34:5,6⁵For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment. ⁶The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea. (Isaiah 34:5‑6)), the rest of the chapters displaying the judgment of desolation in the strongest possible language. Isa. 63 shows us the Lord Himself, returning from the judgment, having trodden the wine-press alone, of the people there were none with Him.

Finally, Israel itself shall be an instrument in the hand of the Lord, for the judgment of Esau (Obad. 1:1, 18¹The 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 1)
¹⁸And 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. (Obadiah 18)). The destruction in Isaiah relates especially to the armies of the nations, who, in their movements, find themselves assembled in Edom. The part which Israel takes in the judgment, is on the people in general; and, I suppose, afterward, when Christ is at their head as the Messiah (comp. verses 17, 18, and Isa. 11:14¹⁴But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them. (Isaiah 11:14)), appears to confirm this view of the passage. At all events, it takes place after Israel's blessing.

That none shall be left of Edom, is also declared in Obad. 1:1,5,6,9,18¹The 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 1)
⁵If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes? ⁶How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up! (Obadiah 5‑6)
⁹And 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. (Obadiah 9)
¹⁸And 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. (Obadiah 18) Jer. 49:9,10-22⁹If grapegatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough. (Jeremiah 49:9)
¹⁰But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbors, and he is not. ¹¹Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me. ¹²For thus saith the Lord; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it. ¹³For I have sworn by myself, saith the Lord, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes. ¹⁴I have heard a rumor from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, Gather ye together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle. ¹⁵For, lo, I will make thee small among the heathen, and despised among men. ¹⁶Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord. ¹⁷Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof. ¹⁸As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof, saith the Lord, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it. ¹⁹Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make him run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me? ²⁰Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord, that he hath taken against Edom; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them. ²¹The earth is moved at the noise of their fall, at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red sea. ²²Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah: and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs. (Jeremiah 49:10‑22); and it will be observed, that there is no restoration of a remnant, as in the case of Elam and others. A part of the latter prophecy, establishes the same facts as that of Obadiah, in nearly the same words. The same judgment is pronounced in Ezek. 35, and in Isa. 34, already quoted. We see in these chapters, as well as in Isa. 63, that it is the controversy of Jerusalem, that the Lord pleads with Edom (Ezek. 30:5, 11⁵Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the mingled people, and Chub, and the men of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword. (Ezekiel 30:5)
¹¹He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, shall be brought to destroy the land: and they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain. (Ezekiel 30:11); Isa. 34:8; 63:4⁸For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. (Isaiah 34:8)
⁴For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. (Isaiah 63:4)). In these passages, the Lord does not forget His thoughts of love towards Zion, and His people.

He closes the prophecy of Obadiah with the testimony of the effect of His call to repentance, of His unchangeable faithfulness to his promises and unwearying love.

Power and might against those formidable enemies, should be given to Israel, who should in peace possess the territory which their enemies had invaded. Deliverance should be on Mount Zion, from thence Mount Esau. should be judged, and the kingdom should be the Lord's.

As corrupt power had been judged in Babylon, so in Edom hatred to the people of God.