Obadiah 1:1-21
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?’
4 Though you soar like the eagle
and make your nest among the stars,
from there I will bring you down,”
declares the Lord.
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!
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.
8 “In that day,” declares the Lord,
“will I not destroy the wise men of Edom,
those of understanding in the mountains of Esau?
9 Your warriors, Teman, will be terrified,
and everyone in Esau’s mountains
will be cut down in the slaughter.
10 Because of the violence against your brother Jacob,
you will be covered with shame;
you will be destroyed forever.
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.
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.
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.
14 You should not wait at the crossroads
to cut down their fugitives,
nor hand over their survivors
in the day of their trouble.
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.
16 Just as you drank on my holy hill,
so all the nations will drink continually;
they will drink and drink
and be as if they had never been.
17 But on Mount Zion will be deliverance;
it will be holy,
and Jacob will possess his inheritance.
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.
19 People from the Negev will occupy
the mountains of Esau,
and people from the foothills will possess
the land of the Philistines.
They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria,
and Benjamin will possess Gilead.
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.
21 Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion
to govern the mountains of Esau.
And the kingdom will be the Lord’s.
Obadiah is the shortest book in the Bible...Obadiah means servant of God...He is one of the minor prophets...Obadiah delivered his message to the Edomites probably during or after the the war with Babylon -where the Israelis were exiled to Babylon...The Edomites must have helped the Babylonians in the war against Judah...The Babylonians overthrew Judah first around 586 b.c...Obadiah's message is to the Edomites for arresting and killing Israeli refugees, who were running for and needing help from the Babylonian invaders...Instead of helping their neighboring and brothers they rejoiced at the problems and the troubles of Israel...
Isaac the son of Abraham and he had twin boys...The twins were Esau and Jacob...The descendants of Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, were called Edom...Edom is the country now is Jordan...Esau was the older brother and had forfeited his birthright to Jacob...The people of God took the name of the younger twin son, Jacob...After wrestling with an angel Jacob took the name Israel (Genesis 32:22-32)...He was named by the angel, Israel...Israel means he struggles with God...The nation of Israel and Edom did not get along because of their history...
When Obadiah says the day of the LORD is near for all nations, and the Kingdom will be the LORD's some think that Obadiah is talking about the Messiah, a perfect time to be in the world when He comes...When God will become flesh and enter into humanity -while other believers think this is referring to the second coming of Jesus, and the world will be a utopia world, a Paradise where Jesus is King of Kings...
Delivers and future leaders would would restore Mount Zion and govern the mountains of Esau and the nation of Edom would no longer exist...Israel would still be a nation while Edom would vanish and no longer return...This would show God's power, His Divine Providence, and the LOVE for His people...