Obadiah Commentary

“Am I my brother’s keeper?” This ancient question, posed by Cain when the Lord inquired about his missing brother Abel, has become a metaphor for sidestepping responsibility. But Cain was in fact guilty of murdering his brother. Even to stand aloof when innocent people are violated is to share in the crime. Edom, a neighbor and relative of Judah, watched in delight and participated as Babylon destroyed Jerusalem. Now God would hold Edom accountable. God’s judgment always follows such injustice.

Setting

The people of Edom were descended from Jacob’s brother, Esau (see Gen 25:30). The Edomites mostly inhabited the highlands east of the Arabah and south of the Dead Sea. Edom existed throughout most of Israel’s monarchy (around 1050–586 BC) and was often a vassal to the southern kingdom of Judah (2 Sam 8:14; 1 Kgs 11:14-16; 2 Kgs 8:20-22; cp. 2 Kgs 3:9-14). Edom was probably infiltrated and supplanted by Arab kingdoms around 600–400 BC. In postexilic and New Testament times, Edom resurfaced in southern Judah under the Greek name Idumea, whose most infamous citizen was Herod the Great, the self-styled “King of the Jews.”

As a nation, Edom replayed Esau’s original animosity toward Jacob. For example, Edom opposed Israel’s exodus from Egypt (Num 20:14-21; 21:4). Much later, when the kingdom of Judah was attacked and taken into exile by the Babylonians, Edom not only rejoiced in the event but also sided with the Babylonians against Israel, seeking to enrich themselves. This infidelity toward their “brother” Israel prompted Obadiah’s prophecy.

Summary

Obadiah is built around two related themes: the destruction of Edom, and the vindication and restoration of Judah.

In Obadiah’s introduction (1:1-9), a messenger is sent to call the nations to battle against Edom, and Edom’s judgment is announced. The overthrow of Edom would completely destroy the pride of this nation that was secure in its physical location and its intellectual achievements.

The second section (1:10-14) gives the reasons for Edom’s humiliation in a series of taunts. The errant nation had a duty to its brother Jacob that it not only ignored but actively repudiated.

In the third and final section (1:15-21), Obadiah envisions a coming day of the Lord that will culminate in a universal Kingdom belonging to God. Those who do evil will suffer terrible consequences (1:15-16), and those who have suffered unjustly will be restored (1:17-21). The people of Jerusalem will repossess the land inherited from their forefathers and will spill over their borders in every direction. Their nemesis, Edom, will be subjugated as an example of what happens to those who oppose the Lord’s rule, and the whole world will recognize the Lord as King.

Authorship and Date

Obadiah’s name means “servant of the Lord.” He is known only from his prophecy and from clues that the text provides as to his time and place. Several individuals in Old Testament Israel were named Obadiah, including King Ahab’s palace supervisor at an earlier time (1 Kgs 18:3-16).

Obadiah’s prophecy was motivated by the invasion of the kingdom of Judah. In 586 BC, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar terminated Judah’s independence and exiled its last king, Zedekiah (2 Kgs 25:1-30). Outside of the book of Obadiah, there is little reference to Edom’s specific response to this event (see also Isa 34:5-10). Obadiah probably wrote his prophecy shortly after Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BC.

Literary Features

Obadiah’s message about Edom echoes that of other prophets, and parts of it closely follow Jeremiah 49:9, 14-16. It should probably be read in conjunction with other prophecies regarding Edom’s future and may even function as an expansion of such passages as Joel 3:19 and Amos 9:12.

Meaning and Message

On first reading, it is easy to regard Obadiah’s prophecy as little more than a prophetic tirade in which the Lord’s wrath is directed toward Israel’s enemies. The Lord’s wrath is real, and evil does not go unpunished, but the book has far more to say than this.

Nations, like individuals, should attend carefully to what they plant, because the time of harvest will quickly come. God is offended by wrongdoing, and he brings justice for the oppressed. What Edom did to Judah, whether actively or passively, would rebound on them according to the ancient law of retribution (lex talionis): “As you have done . . . so it will be done to you” (1:15).

The day of the Lord will break in, bringing full justice to the oppressed, punishment to the oppressors, and the onset of a universal kingdom in which the Lord rules over all nations. On a local and historical level, this meant that Israel would be restored to her land and given sovereignty over the lands of Edom. On a universal level, Edom’s punishment was only part of a larger scenario of judgment. Not just Edom, but “all . . . nations” (1:16) will drink the cup of the Lord’s wrath. When the Lord returns as King to a restored Jerusalem, Mount Zion will be at the very center of the new order.

This picture of God dominates Obadiah’s theology and forces modern readers to face a decision. Whom will we serve—a god who is indifferent to evil, or the God of justice that we find in Obadiah? Only a God who judges evil can reassure us that evil will not ultimately triumph. Obadiah looks forward to that new day when “the Lord himself will be king” (1:21). This hope of Israel became the hope of the whole world when Christ announced, “The Kingdom of God is near” (Mark 1:15; Luke 10:9-12; 21:31-33).

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Prophecy of Obadiah

This is the shortest of all the books of the Old Testament, the least of those tribes, and yet is not to be passed by, or thought meanly of, for this penny has Caesar's image and superscription upon it; it is stamped with a divine authority. There may appear much of God in a short sermon, in a little book; and much good may be done by it, multum in parvo - much in a little. Mr. Norris says, "If angels were to write books, we should have few folios." That may be very precious which is not voluminous. This book is entitled, The Vision of Obadiah. Who this Obadiah was does not appear from any other scripture. Some of the ancients imagined him to be the same with that Obadiah that was steward to Ahab's household (Kg1 18:3); and, if so, he that hid and fed the prophets had indeed a prophet's reward, when he was himself made a prophet. But that is a conjecture which has no ground. This Obadiah, it is probable, was of a later date, some think contemporary with Hosea, Joel, and Amos; others think he lived about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, when the children of Edom so barbarously triumphed in that destruction. However, what he wrote was what he saw; it is his vision. Probably there was much more which he was divinely inspired to speak, but this is all he was inspired to write; and all he writes is concerning Edom. It is a foolish fancy of some of the Jews that because he prophesies only concerning Edom he was himself an Edomite by birth, but a proselyte to the Jewish religion. Other prophets prophesied against Edom, and some of them seem to have borrowed from him in their predictions against Edom, as Jer 49:7, etc.;Eze 25:12, etc. Out of the mouth of these two or three witnesses every word will be established.

This book is wholly concerning Edom, a nation nearly allied and near adjoining to Israel, and yet an enemy to the seed of Jacob, inheriting the enmity of their father Esau to Jacob. Now here we have, after the preface (Oba 1:1). I. Threatenings against Edom, 1. That their pride should be humbled (Oba 1:2-4). 2. That their wealth should be plundered (Oba 1:5-7). 3. That their wisdom should be infatuated (Oba 1:8, Oba 1:9). 4. That their spiteful behaviour towards God's Israel should be avenged (Oba 1:10-16). II. Gracious promises to Israel; that they shall be restored and reformed, and shall be victorious over the Edomites, and become masters of their land and the lands of others of their neighbours (Oba 1:17-20), and that the kingdom of the Messiah shall be set up by the bringing in of the great salvation (Oba 1:21).

This is the shortest book in the Old Testament. The name means "servant of Jehovah." Obadiah stands fourth among the minor prophets according to the Hebrew arrangement of the canon, the fifth according to the Greek. Some consider him to be the same as the Obadiah who superintended the restoration of the temple under Josiah, 627 B.C. (Ch2 34:12). But Oba 1:11-16, Oba 1:20 imply that Jerusalem was by this time overthrown by the Chaldeans, and that he refers to the cruelty of Edom towards the Jews on that occasion, which is referred to also in Lam 4:21-22; Eze 25:12-14; Eze 35:1-15; Psa 137:7. From comparing Oba 1:5 with Jer 49:9, Oba 1:6 with Jer 49:10, Oba 1:8 with Jer 49:7, it appears that Jeremiah embodied in his prophecies part of Obadiah's, as he had done in the case of other prophets also (compare Isa. 15:1-16:14 with Jer. 48:1-47). The reason for the present position of Obadiah before other of the minor prophets anterior in date is: Amos at the close of his prophecies foretells the subjugation of Edom hereafter by the Jews; the arranger of the minor prophets in one volume, therefore, placed Obadiah next, as being a fuller statement, and, as it were, a commentary on the foregoing briefer prophecy of Amos as to Edom [MAURER]. (Compare Amo 1:11). The date of Obadiah's prophecies was probably immediately after the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, 588 B.C. Five years afterwards (583 B.C.). Edom was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah must have incorporated part of Obadiah's prophecies with his own immediately after they were uttered, thus stamping his canonicity.

JEROME makes him contemporary with Hosea, Joel, and Amos. It is an argument in favor of this view that Jeremiah would be more likely to insert in his prophecies a portion from a preceding prophet than from a contemporary. If so, the allusion in Oba 1:11-14 will be to one of the former captures of Jerusalem: by the Egyptians under Rehoboam (Kg1 14:25-26; Ch2 12:2, &c.), or that by the Philistines and Arabians in the reign of Joram (Ch2 21:16-17); or that by Joash, king of Israel, in the reign of Amaziah (Ch2 25:22-23); or that in the reign of Jehoiakim (Kg2 24:1, &c.); or that in the reign of Jehoiachin (Kg2 24:8-16). On all occasions the Idumeans were hostile to the Jews; and the terms in which that enmity is characterized are not stronger in Obadiah than in Joe 3:19 (compare Oba 1:10; Amo 1:11-12). The probable capture of Jerusalem alluded to by Obadiah is that by Joash and the Israelites in the reign of Amaziah. For as, a little before, in the reign of the same Amaziah, the Jews had treated harshly the Edomites after conquering them in battle (Ch2 25:11-23), it is probable that the Edomites, in revenge, joined the Israelites in the attack on Jerusalem [JAEGER].

This book may be divided into two parts: (1) Oba 1:1-6 set forth Edom's violence toward his brother Israel in the day of the latter's distress, and his coming destruction with the rest of the foes of Judah; (2) Oba 1:17-21, the coming re-establishment of the Jews in their own possessions, to which shall be added those of the neighboring peoples, and especially those of Edom.

Next: Obadiah Chapter 1