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INTRODUCTION
Obadiah means .Servant of Jehovah, and he was a Bible character we do not know much
about. There are 12 other Obadiah's. in the Bible, but we have very little information regarding this prophet.
His prophecy is the shortest book in the Old Testament, and one of the most difficult of the prophets to
assign a date to.Two dates have generally been considered by scholars: 845 B.C. and 586 B.C. Those who take the later date say Obadiah prophesied around the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. However, there is no mention in Obadiah.s prophecy of Jerusalem.s destruction, the burning of the temple and royal palace, the carrying off of the Hebrews to Babylon, and the remnant that went into Egypt. So based on these omissions and the fact that he alludes to Ephraim (a reference to the Northern Kingdom) as
still existing (v. 19), I would be inclined to see why the earlier date of 845 B.C is assumed by many scholars. Many scholars place this chronologically as the earliest of the minor prophets writings.
Oba 1:1 The vision of Obadiah.
Thus says the Lord GOD concerning Edom
(We have heard a report from the LORD,
And a messenger has been sent among the nations, saying,
"Arise, and let us rise up against her for battle"):
Oba 1:2 "Behold, I will make you small among the nations;
You shall be greatly despised.
Oba 1:3 The pride of your heart has deceived you,
You who dwell in the clefts of the rock,
Whose habitation is high;
You who say in your heart, "Who will bring me down to the ground?'
Oba 1:4 Though you ascend as high as the eagle,
And though you set your nest among the stars,
From there I will bring you down," says the LORD.
Oba 1:5 "If thieves had come to you,
If robbers by night--
Oh, how you will be cut off!--
Would they not have stolen till they had enough?
If grape-gatherers had come to you,
Would they not have left some gleanings?
Oba 1:6 "Oh, how Esau shall be searched out!
How his hidden treasures shall be sought after!
Oba 1:7 All the men in your confederacy
Shall force you to the border;
The men at peace with you
Shall deceive you and prevail against you.
Those who eat your bread shall lay a trap for you.
No one is aware of it.
Oba 1:8 "Will I not in that day," says the LORD,
"Even destroy the wise men from Edom,
And understanding from the mountains of Esau?
Oba 1:9 Then your mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed,
To the end that everyone from the mountains of Esau
May be cut off by slaughter.
Oba 1:10 "For violence against your brother Jacob,
Shame shall cover you,
And you shall be cut off forever.
Oba 1:11 In the day that you stood on the other side--
In the day that strangers carried captive his forces,
When foreigners entered his gates
And cast lots for Jerusalem--
Even you were as one of them.
Oba 1:12 "But you should not have gazed on the day of your brother
In the day of his captivity;
Nor should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah
In the day of their destruction;
Nor should you have spoken proudly
In the day of distress.
Oba 1:13 You should not have entered the gate of My people
In the day of their calamity.
Indeed, you should not have gazed on their affliction
In the day of their calamity,
Nor laid hands on their substance
In the day of their calamity.
Oba 1:14 You should not have stood at the crossroads
To cut off those among them who escaped;
Nor should you have delivered up those among them who remained
In the day of distress.
Oba 1:15 "For the day of the LORD upon all the nations is near;
As you have done, it shall be done to you;
Your reprisal shall return upon your own head.
Oba 1:16 For as you drank on My holy mountain,
So shall all the nations drink continually;
Yes, they shall drink, and swallow,
And they shall be as though they had never been.
Oba 1:17 "But on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance,
And there shall be holiness;
The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
Oba 1:18 The house of Jacob shall be a fire,
And the house of Joseph a flame;
But the house of Esau shall be stubble;
They shall kindle them and devour them,
And no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau,"
For the LORD has spoken.
Oba 1:19 The South shall possess the mountains of Esau,
And the Lowland shall possess Philistia.
They shall possess the fields of Ephraim
And the fields of Samaria.
Benjamin shall possess Gilead.
Oba 1:20 And the captives of this host of the children of Israel
Shall possess the land of the Canaanites
As far as Zarephath.
The captives of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad
Shall possess the cities of the South.
Oba 1:21 Then saviors shall come to Mount Zion
To judge the mountains of Esau,
And the kingdom shall be the LORD's.
The Edomites are the brothers of the Judeans. Those that are doing these terrible things, these neighbours the Edomites, they are descendants of Esau Jacob's older brother. Firstly we will glance at Genesis 25.
Gen 25:22 But the children struggled together within her; and she said, "If all is well, why am I like this?|" So she went to inquire of the LORD.
Gen 25:23 And the LORD said to her:
"Two nations are in your womb,
Two peoples shall be separated from your body;
One people shall be stronger than the other,
And the older shall serve the younger."
The Lord told Rebekah that she would give birth to two nations, see how there was even a battle between the twins in their mother's womb. Edom was the nation that came from Esau - and the Hebrew word 'Edom' means 'red'. In Gen 25:25 you see that the first came out red. Esau, when he came out of his mothers womb, was red, that's why they called him Esau. And then as you look down further: 'And Esau', verse 30, 'said to Jacob', when he came in from the field hungry, 'Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom'. Oh, he was red and he was ruddy and hairy all over, but he was given - he was christened this name Edom', 'Red', because he sold his birthright for a moment's earthly pleasure.
Now let's go back to Obadiah. God is speaking here about the pride of the Edomites - so let's think about this! We minimize pride in our livestoday , don't we? We have convinced ourselves adultery is the worst sin you could commit, homosexuality or sodomy is awful, murder is awful, theft is awful- we have all these 'top ten' of abominable sins in the sight of God, but what about the sin of pride, for it is the seed of all sin. And Obadiah speaks in his message about pride. Pride is the sin that turned an angel into a devil. Pride: the sin that depopulated the very realms of Heaven. Pride is the sin that emptied the beautiful, idyllic, peaceful Garden of Eden. Pride is the sin that brought the Saviour to the cross and made Him bleed and die as a necessity for our forgiveness. Pride is the sin that keeps the sinners heart closed to the salvation of God and keeps him on a road bound for an eternal hell.
Obadiah says to the Edomites, 'You're small, and I as the Almighty God have made you small, yet in all your smallness, in all your insignificance you are still so full of pride'. And if pride was the first sin, the first murder was of a brother. Here in Obadiah, we have a continuation of a family feud right from Genesis chapter 25 onwards, one of pride, of murder and of hate. God has a message of vengeance and is declaring vengeance upon these people of Edom, firstly because they were proud. 'Edom' is derived from the Hebrew word 'Adam'. And the Hebrew word 'Adam' is synonymous with the word 'man'. Do you see here this about the pride of mankind? We see a picture of the old Adamic nature rife with pride. The Edomites have allied themselves with Jerusalem's destroyers and enemies.
See in verse 3 "The pride of your heart has deceived you, You who dwell in the clefts of the rock" The Edomite nation, and their army, prided themselves in the fact that none of their enemies could get at them because they were in the cleft of the rock. This gave them a pride deep within their souls. Do you see a similarityto the pride in men and women today? How many think they have no need of God, they are doing alright just as they are? Isn't this a picture of the sinne, the unconverted sinner ambitious in all his ways?He
thinks his life is impregnable, that no one will take his life from him, he has pride in the depths of his being,
he has defiance, he hates those that love God and anything to do with God. Cruelty across our world is
rampant, yet he is deceiving himself, and the word of God says in Corinthians.
2Co 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
What does God have to say us as believers over pride?
2Ch 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
In verse 10 and 11 you see that it says that they stood on the other side, they did nothing, and through their passivity in doing nothing, the word of God accuses them of taking part in the crime. The Edomites made the mistake of rejoicing when they saw Jerusalem attacked. They should not have gloated or spoken proudly or helped to loot the city or cut off the fleeing Jews as they sought to escape or handed over to the enemy those who remained among them .
Phi 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
1Jo 3:17 But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
We are new creations in Christ so surely there is a lesson for us here? Let's not stand back in passivity when God wants us to take action on something. Let's push pride aside, let's learn something of the servant spirit that we see in our Lord's actions. Imagine our Lord and Savior bathing the feet of the disciples just prior to the crucifixion.
The day of Gods wrath on the nations was near, and Edom would be punished for her treatment of Judah.
Verse 17 and following - Israels future deliverance is foretold in this last section of Obadiah. Israel and Judah shall be a flame to devour the house of Esau completely.
.
QUOTE
F.A.Tatford summarized the history of Edoms demise:The Edomites were expelled from their country by the Nabateans, but took possession of the Negev, which became known as Idumea, and even temporarily occupied part of Judah, until routed by Judas Maccabeus in 185 b.c. Simon of Gerasa later laid Idumea waste and the Edomites seem to have disappeared altogether in the first century a.d. It is true that Petra became the seat of a Christian patriarchate until the country was taken by the Mohammedans in the 7th century a.d. Today there is no trace of any who could be identified as an Edomite. Obadiahs prediction that there would be no survivor has been fulfilled.
The land of Edom will be given to the Israelites dwelling in the South (the Negev). Those on the coastal plains (Shephelah; the Lowland) will be given the land of the Philistines. The captives will once more possess portions of the land of the Canaanites. Saviors (or deliverers) will rule the mountains of Esau, and the Lord will reign over the entire kingdom.
Believers Bible commentary
Remember that we have to realise there is a war between the flesh and the spirit. Folks the Holy Spirit shoulds be in control of our lives. Christ has already won the battle over fleshly pride at the cross. We are on the victory side.
Gal 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
1Jo 5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith.
Father, we know that we are new creations in Christ yet so often the old Adam rears his ugly head. But yet we know that as we are born again of the Spirit of God, we have a new nature. Teach us to humble ourselves and to count our brothers and sisters as better than ourselves. Show us your way in all things. Thank you for the cross, thank you that the victory is already won. Your word says "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith." increase our faith oh Lord and help us to walk in the Spirit.
In Jesus Name,
Amen
Obadiah means .Servant of Jehovah, and he was a Bible character we do not know much
about. There are 12 other Obadiah's. in the Bible, but we have very little information regarding this prophet.
His prophecy is the shortest book in the Old Testament, and one of the most difficult of the prophets to
assign a date to.Two dates have generally been considered by scholars: 845 B.C. and 586 B.C. Those who take the later date say Obadiah prophesied around the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. However, there is no mention in Obadiah.s prophecy of Jerusalem.s destruction, the burning of the temple and royal palace, the carrying off of the Hebrews to Babylon, and the remnant that went into Egypt. So based on these omissions and the fact that he alludes to Ephraim (a reference to the Northern Kingdom) as
still existing (v. 19), I would be inclined to see why the earlier date of 845 B.C is assumed by many scholars. Many scholars place this chronologically as the earliest of the minor prophets writings.
Oba 1:1 The vision of Obadiah.
Thus says the Lord GOD concerning Edom
(We have heard a report from the LORD,
And a messenger has been sent among the nations, saying,
"Arise, and let us rise up against her for battle"):
Oba 1:2 "Behold, I will make you small among the nations;
You shall be greatly despised.
Oba 1:3 The pride of your heart has deceived you,
You who dwell in the clefts of the rock,
Whose habitation is high;
You who say in your heart, "Who will bring me down to the ground?'
Oba 1:4 Though you ascend as high as the eagle,
And though you set your nest among the stars,
From there I will bring you down," says the LORD.
Oba 1:5 "If thieves had come to you,
If robbers by night--
Oh, how you will be cut off!--
Would they not have stolen till they had enough?
If grape-gatherers had come to you,
Would they not have left some gleanings?
Oba 1:6 "Oh, how Esau shall be searched out!
How his hidden treasures shall be sought after!
Oba 1:7 All the men in your confederacy
Shall force you to the border;
The men at peace with you
Shall deceive you and prevail against you.
Those who eat your bread shall lay a trap for you.
No one is aware of it.
Oba 1:8 "Will I not in that day," says the LORD,
"Even destroy the wise men from Edom,
And understanding from the mountains of Esau?
Oba 1:9 Then your mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed,
To the end that everyone from the mountains of Esau
May be cut off by slaughter.
Oba 1:10 "For violence against your brother Jacob,
Shame shall cover you,
And you shall be cut off forever.
Oba 1:11 In the day that you stood on the other side--
In the day that strangers carried captive his forces,
When foreigners entered his gates
And cast lots for Jerusalem--
Even you were as one of them.
Oba 1:12 "But you should not have gazed on the day of your brother
In the day of his captivity;
Nor should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah
In the day of their destruction;
Nor should you have spoken proudly
In the day of distress.
Oba 1:13 You should not have entered the gate of My people
In the day of their calamity.
Indeed, you should not have gazed on their affliction
In the day of their calamity,
Nor laid hands on their substance
In the day of their calamity.
Oba 1:14 You should not have stood at the crossroads
To cut off those among them who escaped;
Nor should you have delivered up those among them who remained
In the day of distress.
Oba 1:15 "For the day of the LORD upon all the nations is near;
As you have done, it shall be done to you;
Your reprisal shall return upon your own head.
Oba 1:16 For as you drank on My holy mountain,
So shall all the nations drink continually;
Yes, they shall drink, and swallow,
And they shall be as though they had never been.
Oba 1:17 "But on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance,
And there shall be holiness;
The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
Oba 1:18 The house of Jacob shall be a fire,
And the house of Joseph a flame;
But the house of Esau shall be stubble;
They shall kindle them and devour them,
And no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau,"
For the LORD has spoken.
Oba 1:19 The South shall possess the mountains of Esau,
And the Lowland shall possess Philistia.
They shall possess the fields of Ephraim
And the fields of Samaria.
Benjamin shall possess Gilead.
Oba 1:20 And the captives of this host of the children of Israel
Shall possess the land of the Canaanites
As far as Zarephath.
The captives of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad
Shall possess the cities of the South.
Oba 1:21 Then saviors shall come to Mount Zion
To judge the mountains of Esau,
And the kingdom shall be the LORD's.
The Edomites are the brothers of the Judeans. Those that are doing these terrible things, these neighbours the Edomites, they are descendants of Esau Jacob's older brother. Firstly we will glance at Genesis 25.
Gen 25:22 But the children struggled together within her; and she said, "If all is well, why am I like this?|" So she went to inquire of the LORD.
Gen 25:23 And the LORD said to her:
"Two nations are in your womb,
Two peoples shall be separated from your body;
One people shall be stronger than the other,
And the older shall serve the younger."
The Lord told Rebekah that she would give birth to two nations, see how there was even a battle between the twins in their mother's womb. Edom was the nation that came from Esau - and the Hebrew word 'Edom' means 'red'. In Gen 25:25 you see that the first came out red. Esau, when he came out of his mothers womb, was red, that's why they called him Esau. And then as you look down further: 'And Esau', verse 30, 'said to Jacob', when he came in from the field hungry, 'Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom'. Oh, he was red and he was ruddy and hairy all over, but he was given - he was christened this name Edom', 'Red', because he sold his birthright for a moment's earthly pleasure.
Now let's go back to Obadiah. God is speaking here about the pride of the Edomites - so let's think about this! We minimize pride in our livestoday , don't we? We have convinced ourselves adultery is the worst sin you could commit, homosexuality or sodomy is awful, murder is awful, theft is awful- we have all these 'top ten' of abominable sins in the sight of God, but what about the sin of pride, for it is the seed of all sin. And Obadiah speaks in his message about pride. Pride is the sin that turned an angel into a devil. Pride: the sin that depopulated the very realms of Heaven. Pride is the sin that emptied the beautiful, idyllic, peaceful Garden of Eden. Pride is the sin that brought the Saviour to the cross and made Him bleed and die as a necessity for our forgiveness. Pride is the sin that keeps the sinners heart closed to the salvation of God and keeps him on a road bound for an eternal hell.
Obadiah says to the Edomites, 'You're small, and I as the Almighty God have made you small, yet in all your smallness, in all your insignificance you are still so full of pride'. And if pride was the first sin, the first murder was of a brother. Here in Obadiah, we have a continuation of a family feud right from Genesis chapter 25 onwards, one of pride, of murder and of hate. God has a message of vengeance and is declaring vengeance upon these people of Edom, firstly because they were proud. 'Edom' is derived from the Hebrew word 'Adam'. And the Hebrew word 'Adam' is synonymous with the word 'man'. Do you see here this about the pride of mankind? We see a picture of the old Adamic nature rife with pride. The Edomites have allied themselves with Jerusalem's destroyers and enemies.
See in verse 3 "The pride of your heart has deceived you, You who dwell in the clefts of the rock" The Edomite nation, and their army, prided themselves in the fact that none of their enemies could get at them because they were in the cleft of the rock. This gave them a pride deep within their souls. Do you see a similarityto the pride in men and women today? How many think they have no need of God, they are doing alright just as they are? Isn't this a picture of the sinne, the unconverted sinner ambitious in all his ways?He
thinks his life is impregnable, that no one will take his life from him, he has pride in the depths of his being,
he has defiance, he hates those that love God and anything to do with God. Cruelty across our world is
rampant, yet he is deceiving himself, and the word of God says in Corinthians.
2Co 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
What does God have to say us as believers over pride?
2Ch 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
In verse 10 and 11 you see that it says that they stood on the other side, they did nothing, and through their passivity in doing nothing, the word of God accuses them of taking part in the crime. The Edomites made the mistake of rejoicing when they saw Jerusalem attacked. They should not have gloated or spoken proudly or helped to loot the city or cut off the fleeing Jews as they sought to escape or handed over to the enemy those who remained among them .
Phi 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
1Jo 3:17 But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
We are new creations in Christ so surely there is a lesson for us here? Let's not stand back in passivity when God wants us to take action on something. Let's push pride aside, let's learn something of the servant spirit that we see in our Lord's actions. Imagine our Lord and Savior bathing the feet of the disciples just prior to the crucifixion.
The day of Gods wrath on the nations was near, and Edom would be punished for her treatment of Judah.
Verse 17 and following - Israels future deliverance is foretold in this last section of Obadiah. Israel and Judah shall be a flame to devour the house of Esau completely.
.
QUOTE
F.A.Tatford summarized the history of Edoms demise:The Edomites were expelled from their country by the Nabateans, but took possession of the Negev, which became known as Idumea, and even temporarily occupied part of Judah, until routed by Judas Maccabeus in 185 b.c. Simon of Gerasa later laid Idumea waste and the Edomites seem to have disappeared altogether in the first century a.d. It is true that Petra became the seat of a Christian patriarchate until the country was taken by the Mohammedans in the 7th century a.d. Today there is no trace of any who could be identified as an Edomite. Obadiahs prediction that there would be no survivor has been fulfilled.
The land of Edom will be given to the Israelites dwelling in the South (the Negev). Those on the coastal plains (Shephelah; the Lowland) will be given the land of the Philistines. The captives will once more possess portions of the land of the Canaanites. Saviors (or deliverers) will rule the mountains of Esau, and the Lord will reign over the entire kingdom.
Believers Bible commentary
Remember that we have to realise there is a war between the flesh and the spirit. Folks the Holy Spirit shoulds be in control of our lives. Christ has already won the battle over fleshly pride at the cross. We are on the victory side.
Gal 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
1Jo 5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith.
Father, we know that we are new creations in Christ yet so often the old Adam rears his ugly head. But yet we know that as we are born again of the Spirit of God, we have a new nature. Teach us to humble ourselves and to count our brothers and sisters as better than ourselves. Show us your way in all things. Thank you for the cross, thank you that the victory is already won. Your word says "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith." increase our faith oh Lord and help us to walk in the Spirit.
In Jesus Name,
Amen
