Reflections on Obadiah 1

 Obadiah 01  (Contemporary English Version)

1. The LORD God gave Obadiah a message about Edom, and this is what we heard: "I, the LORD, have sent a messenger with orders for the nations to attack Edom."
   
2. The LORD said to Edom: I will make you the weakest and most despised nation.
   
3. You live in a mountain fortress, because your pride makes you feel safe from attack, but you are mistaken.
   
4. I will still bring you down, even if you fly higher than an eagle or nest among the stars. I, the LORD, have spoken!
   
5. If thieves break in at night, they steal only what they want. And people who harvest grapes always leave some unpicked. But, Edom, you are doomed!
   
6. Everything you treasure most will be taken from you.
   
7. Your allies can't be trusted. They will force you out of your own country. Your best friends will trick and trap you, even before you know it.
   
8. Edom, when this happens, I, the LORD, will destroy all your marvelous wisdom.
   
9. Warriors from the city of Teman will be terrified, and you descendants of Esau will be wiped out.
   
10. You were cruel to your relatives, the descendants of Jacob. Now you will be destroyed, disgraced forever.
    
11. You stood there and watched as foreigners entered Jerusalem and took what they wanted. In fact, you were no better than those foreigners.
    
12. Why did you celebrate when such a dreadful disaster struck your relatives? Why were you so pleased when everyone in Judah was suffering?
    
13. They are my people, and you were cruel to them. You went through their towns, sneering and stealing whatever was left.
    
14. In their time of torment, you ambushed refugees and handed them over to their attackers.
    
15. The day is coming when I, the LORD, will judge the nations. And, Edom, you will pay in full for what you have done.
    
16. I forced the people of Judah to drink the wine of my anger on my sacred mountain. Soon the neighboring nations must drink their fill-- then vanish without a trace.
    
17. The LORD's people who escape will go to Mount Zion, and it will be holy. Then Jacob's descendants will capture the land of those who took their land.
    
18. Israel will be a fire, and Edom will be straw going up in flames. The LORD has spoken!
    
19. The people of Israel who live in the Southern Desert will take the land of Edom. Those who live in the hills will capture Philistia, Ephraim, and Samaria. And the tribe of Benjamin will conquer Gilead.
    
20. Those who return from captivity will control Phoenicia as far as Zarephath. Captives from Jerusalem who were taken to Sepharad will capture the towns of the Southern Desert.
    
21. Those the LORD has saved will live on Mount Zion and rule over Edom. Then the kingdom will belong to the LORD.

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The book of Obadiah is a short prophesy against the nation of Edom. Edom, made up of the descendants of Esau, brother of Jacob from whom came the Israelites, had been a continual archenemy of Israel. Edom, no doubt, would have claimed innocense against the charges made in this prophesy, for the nation had for the most part been a bystander while other nations had wrecked havoc on Israel. But Edom had cheered on Israel's attackers and assisted them with such things as capturing and handing over any Israelites who tried to escape. One can get an idea of Edom's efforts against Israel by looking at the judgment God planned against her. For God said of it, "As you have done, so it will be done to you; what you deserve will return on your own head." Edom's blood relationship to Israel made this judgment of heightened concern to God, saying to Edom in verse 12: "Do not gloat over your brother in the day of his calamity."

Edom's pride, however, was another factor in God's judgment on her. The nation had become secure against invasion, was noted for having wise leaders, had established profitable alliances with other nations, and had become prosperous. In all this, Edom had become prideful and conceited. It was at the point of this pride that God aimed His judgment. Priding herself on her wise leaders and her wise alliances with other nations, it was these allies who betrayed the nation, doing so without a clue among Edom's wise leaders that it was coming. This is referred to in verse 7: "Everyone who has a treaty with you will drive you to the border; everyone at peace with you will deceive and conquer you."

Edom's judgment from God signaled a deliverance for Israel. Her archenemy was destroyed without a survivor. Israel would be restored and take possession of land held by the Edomites. Referring to a time yet future, this kingdom will "be the Lord's," and He will rule over it. (1:21)