Welcome back to my study/review of The Book of Obadiah. If you missed the previous parts of this study, you can find them HERE.
Obadiah 1-9
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:
"Rise up! Let us rise against her for battle!"
2 Behold, I will make you small among the nations;
you shall be utterly despised.
3 The pride of your heart has deceived you,
you who live in the clefts of the rock,
in your lofty dwelling,
who say in your heart,
"Who will bring me down to the ground?"
4 Though you soar aloft like the eagle,
though your nest is set among the stars,
from there I will bring you down,
declares the Lord.
5 If thieves came to you,
if plunderers came by night—
how you have been destroyed!—
would they not steal only enough for themselves?
If grape gatherers came to you,
would they not leave gleanings?
6 How Esau has been pillaged,
his treasures sought out!
7 All your allies have driven you to your border;
those at peace with you have deceived you;
they have prevailed against you;
those who eat your bread have set a trap beneath you—
you have no understanding.
8 Will I not on that day, declares the Lord,
destroy the wise men out of Edom,
and understanding out of Mount Esau?
9 And your mighty men shall be dismayed, O Teman,
so that every man from Mount Esau will be cut off by slaughter.
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Edom The name of Esau (q.v.), Genesis 25:30 , "Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage [Heb. haadom, haadom, i.e., 'the red pottage, the red pottage'] ...Therefore was his name called Edom", i.e., Red.Idumea ( Isaiah 34:5Isaiah 34:6 ; Ezekiel 35:15 ). "The field of Edom" ( Genesis 32:3 ), "the land of Edom" ( Genesis 36:16 ), was mountainous ( Obadiah 1:8Obadiah 1:9Obadiah 1:19Obadiah 1:21 ). It was called the land, or "the mountain of Seir," the rough hills on the east side of the Arabah. It extended from the head of the Gulf of Akabah, the Elanitic gulf, to the foot of the Dead Sea ( 1 Kings 9:26 ), and contained, among other cities, the rock-hewn Sela (q.v.), generally known by the Greek name Petra ( 2 Kings 14:7 ). It is a wild and rugged region, traversed by fruitful valleys. Its old capital was Bozrah ( Isaiah 63:1 ). The early inhabitants of the land were Horites. They were destroyed by the Edomites ( Deuteronomy 2:12 ), between whom and the kings of Israel and Judah there was frequent war ( 2 Kings 8:20 ; 2 Chr 28:17 ).
At the time of the Exodus they churlishly refused permission to the Israelites to pass through their land ( Numbers 20:14-21 ), and ever afterwards maintained an attitude of hostility toward them. They were conquered by David ( 2 Samuel 8:14 ; Compare 1 Kings 9:26 ), and afterwards by Amaziah ( 2 Chronicles 25:11 2 Chronicles 25:12 ). But they regained again their independence, and in later years, during the decline of the Jewish kingdom ( 2 Kings 16:6 ; RSV marg., "Edomites"), made war against Israel. They took part with the Chaldeans when Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem, and afterwards they invaded and held possession of the south of Palestine as far as Hebron. At length, however, Edom fell under the growing Chaldean power ( Jeremiah 27:3 Jeremiah 27:6 ).
There are many prophecies concerning Edom ( Isaiah 34:5 Isaiah 34:6 ; Jeremiah 49:7-18 ; Ezekiel 25:13 ; 35:1-15 ; Joel 3:19 ; Amos 1:11 ; Obad.; Malachi 1:3 Malachi 1:4) which have been remarkably fulfilled. The present desolate condition of that land is a standing testimony to the inspiration of these prophecies. After an existence as a people for above seventeen hundred years, they have utterly disappeared, and their language even is forgotten for ever. In Petra, "where kings kept their court, and where nobles assembled, there no man dwells; it is given by lot to birds, and beasts, and reptiles."
The Edomites were Semites, closely related in blood and in language to the Israelites. They dispossessed the Horites of Mount Seir; though it is clear, from Genesis 36 , that they afterwards intermarried with the conquered population. Edomite tribes settled also in the south of Judah, like the Kenizzites ( Genesis 36:11 ), to whom Caleb and Othniel belonged ( Joshua 15:17 ). The southern part of Edom was known as Teman.
I'll quickly summarize some things that were touched upon by the introduction to the study. Edom is descended from Esau (he settled among them) and is geographically associated historically with Mt. Seir.
Mount Seir (Hebrew: הַר-שֵׂעִיר, Har Sēʿīr) is the ancient and biblical name for a mountainous region stretching between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba in the northwestern region of Edom and southeast of the Kingdom of Judah. It may also have marked the older historical limit of Ancient Egypt in Canaan. A place called "Seir, in the land of Shasu" (tꜣ-šꜣsw sʿr – ta-Shasu se`er), thought to be near Petra, Jordan, is listed in the temple of Amenhotep III at Soleb (ca. 1380 BC).
The Nabataean equivalent is šrʾ, and the modern Arabic equivalent is thought to be Jibal ash-Sharah (Arabic: جبال الشراة, romanized: Jibāl ash-Sharāh, lit. 'Mountains of Sharāh') in Jordan.
Edom in Genesis has a relatively friendly relationship with the patriarchs (Esau and Jacob bury their father together and live together peacefully), but over time, "Edom" came to be used as a stand-in for the neighboring nations to Israel, who hated Israel. This animosity can be traced through Edom's refusal to let the Israelites cross over their land on the way back to Canaan and eventually Edom's complicity alongside Babylon in the destruction of Judah. Specifically, this aid given to Babylon leads to multiple oracles of judgment given against Edom - including the Book of Obadiah which we are looking at - but also Ezekiel 35-36, Isaiah 34, Jeremiah 49:7-22, Amos 1:11-12, Malachi 1:2-5. The judgment of Edom carries with it a lot of eschatological tie-ins, which we'll cover more in future posts beyond this one. The end of Obadiah (v. 18 and 21 in particular) seem to link the judgment of Edom with the Day of the Lord, true end of the exile, and the true restoration of Israel.
All the foregoing out of the way, we'll start by looking at The Pulpit Commentaries note for verse 1:
Obadiah 1:1
The vision of Obadiah. This is the title of the book, declaring from whom and through whom the revelation comes (Isaiah 1:1). Under the word "vision" in prophetic language is included, not only what the seer saw, the mental picture presented to his inner senses, but also all that he is commissioned to disclose or enunciate. Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom. The prophet declares that God speaks through him. One might have expected that the actual words of Jehovah would follow here instead of tidings heard from him. And this difficulty has led some to suppose these introductory words spurious or the insertion of a later hand, others to include them and the rest of the verse in a parenthesis, so as to begin the "vision" with God's words in Obadiah 1:2. But these suggestions are unnecessary. The prophet, as the mouthpiece of God, calls his own words the message of the Lord—signifies that what had been revealed to his mind he was bound to communicate to others as a direct warning from God. The Edomites were the descendants of Esau, and bound by ties of blood to the Israelites; but they had always been their most bitter enemies (Amos 1:11). They are regarded as a type of the powers of the world hostile to true religion, whose end is destruction. We have heard. "We"—I myself and other prophets; or the Judaeans, the prophet identifying himself with his countrymen. Septuagint, ἤκουσα, I heard, so Jeremiah 49:14; Arabic, "ye have heard." A rumour; a report (Isaiah 53:1); ἀκοὴν; auditum (Vulgate). It means here "tidings" (comp. Matthew 24:6, ἀκοαί πολέμων: and Romans 10:16, Romans 10:17). An ambassador; a messenger; as though the prophet saw the minister of God's wrath going forth among the heathen to rouse them to war against Edom. Perowne thinks that there is an allusion to the composite character of Nebuchadnezzar's army with which he attacked the Edomites. The Septuagint renders, περιοχήν: so the Syriac, Chaldee, and Symmachus translate "message." This rendering is explained by the following clause. The heathen (goyim); the nations, as Jeremiah 49:2, Jeremiah 49:15. Arise ye, and let us rise. This has been taken as if "arise ye" were the herald's message, and "let us rise" the response of the nations echoing his words; but it is more forcible to consider the whole clause as the message, the ambassador joining himself with the heathen as their leader and comrade in the war of vengeance. Jeremiah 49:1-9 are incorporated in Jeremiah 49:7-22.
Obadiah 1:2
Behold, I have made thee small. Here is the effect of the summons. So in Jeremiah 49:15, "For, lo, I will make thee small." Jehovah is the Speaker, and he regards the future as past. What he determines is as good as accomplished. At this time the Edomites were a powerful nation, and possessed an almost impregnable seat at Petra. Small; in numbers, territory, honour.
Verse 1 sets the stage for the rest of the book. Verse 2 then telegraphs the outcome. Language choices will be an integral part of how we look at a lot of the rest of the Book.
vision = חָזוֹן châzôwn, khaw-zone'; from H2372; a sight (mentally), i.e. a dream, revelation, or oracle:—vision.
Messenger / envoy = שָׁלַח shâlach, shaw-lakh'; a primitive root; to send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications):—× any wise, appoint, bring (on the way), cast (away, out), conduct, × earnestly, forsake, give (up), grow long, lay, leave, let depart (down, go, loose), push away, put (away, forth, in, out), reach forth, send (away, forth, out), set, shoot (forth, out), sow, spread, stretch forth (out).
As we continue on to verses 3 and 4, the text begins to use vocabulary which is associated with the putting down of divine rebellion. Continuing in The Pulpit Commentaries:
Obadiah 1:3
Hath deceived; Septuagint, ἐπῆρε, "elated;" Vulgate, extulit. The pointing varies. In Obadiah 1:7 Jerome translates the word by illudere. The clefts; Septuagint, ὀπαῖς: Vulgate, scissuris. The word occurs in the parallel passage, Jeremiah 49:16, and in So Jeremiah 2:14, where it has the meaning of "refuge." Of the rook. This may be Sela, or Petra, as 2 Kings 14:7. The country inhabited by the Edomites lay on the eastern side of the Arabah, and extended from the south end of the Dead Sea to the Elanitic Gulf. It was a region of mountain and valley, difficult, and in many parts inaccessible from the west. Rock-hewn dwellings are found everywhere in those hills, the Edomites, when they expelled the aboriginal Troglodytes (Deuteronomy 2:12, Deuteronomy 2:22), having adopted their habitations and excavated new ones on the same model throughout the whole district. These were useful, not only as being secure from hostile attack, hut as cool retreats in the summer of that scorching tract, and offering a warm shelter in winter when fuel was scarce. Petra, the capital, lay completely hidden at the end of a rocky defile some two miles long, and could easily be defended against an enemy by a handful of men. (For a description of this remarkable place, see the Introduction, § I.)
The verse can be translated literally and symbolically. As the note above points out, Edom historically is located in a mountainous terrain. However, note the words used. When we think of the spiritual world, in the big picture, who is judged for pride? Who is pulled down and cast low? The words here in Obadiah are evoking Isaiah 14 - or failing that - they both evoke the same divine rebellion motif.
Isaiah 14:
12"How you are fallen from heaven,
O Day Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
13 You said in your heart,
'I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.'
15 But you are brought down to Sheol,
to the far reaches of the pit.
Both passages - Obadiah and Isaiah - refer to the physical world and metaphorically to the spiritual world. The language choices here link the Edom judgment to the above passage in Isaiah. As a result, Edom is painted with the same brush that Babylon is painted with and that the divine rebellion is painted with.
lofty = מָרוֹם mârôwm, maw-rome'; from H7311; altitude, i.e. concretely (an elevated place), abstractly (elevation, figuratively (elation), or adverbially (aloft):—(far) above, dignity, haughty, height, (most, on) high (one, place), loftily, upward.
The word can be used both literally and figuratively and it should be read both ways. Verse 4 makes it even more clear that a divine rebellion brush is being used to paint Edom. From The Pulpit Commentaries:
Obadiah 1:4
Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle. The Hebrew gives "nest" as the subject of both clauses, thus: "Though thou exaltest … and settest thy nest." Job (Job 39:27, Job 39:28) speaks of the eagle making its nest in the highest rocks. The metaphor is found in Numbers 24:21; Habakkuk 2:9. Will I bring thee down (Amos 9:3). The seizure of Petra by the Nabathaeans is the judgment referred to in this part of the prophecy; the complete ruin is mentioned later (Habakkuk 2:18, etc.).
The note here refers to a historical judgment (the seizure of Petra by the Nabathaeans.) However, keep in mind that the judgment of Edom is also believed to be a future event as well. Much of the prophecy in the Bible should be looked at through the lens of "already, but also not yet." Events that have already occurred become typologically or eschatologically linked to future events also.
Ellicott's Bible Commentary notes the following about verse 4:
(4) Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle.—"Had, then, the ancient builders of these rock-works wings like the eagles, with which they raised themselves to those perpendicular precipices?" "Who now, even with the feet of the chamois, could climb after them?" (v. Schubert, ii. 429; quoted by Pusey). (Comp. also Miss Martineau, Eastern Life, ii. 320, iii. 20.)
This is one of the passages which identifies the nesher, always translated "eagle" in the Authorised Version, with the griffon-vulture. "While the eagles and other birds are content with lower elevations, and sometimes even with trees, the griffon alone selects the stupendous gorges of Arabia Petræa and of the defiles of Palestine, and there in great communities rears its young, where the most intrepid climber can only with ropes and other appliances reach its nest" (Tristram, Nat. Hist. of the Bible, p. 175; comp. Job 39:27-28).
And though thou set thy nest among the stars . . .—The image of the eagle nesting among the stars is among the most forcible even in Hebrew poetry. Shakespeare approaches it in "eagle-winged pride of sky - aspiring and ambitious thoughts" (Richard II., i. 3).
Thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord.—In the original, more striking," it is Jehovah's declaration." This sentence against pride, not only national, but individual too, is indeed the Divine declaration, uttered in warning voice from one end of Scripture to the other. The doom pronounced against Edom is but one special instance of the universal truth told so powerfully by Isaiah at the end of Isaiah 2:0 : "The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low." And it was the more than once repeated declaration of the Son of God: "He that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."
Returning to the Pulpit Commentaries for the next verses, wherein we start getting a description of what Edom's judgment will look like. We learn that Edom will be pillaged - just as Judah and Jerusalem were pillaged.
Obadiah 1:5
Thieves... robbers. The former are ordinary thieves who pilfer secretly; the latter are robbers who act with violence, or members of a marauding expedition. How art thou cut off! An interposed ejaculation of the prophet, sympathizing with the Edomites for the utter desolation which he sees in vision. Septuagint, Ποῦ ἄν ἀπεῤῥίφης; "Where wouldst thou have been east away?" taking a different reading; Vulgate, Quomodo conticuisses? "How wouldst thou have been silent?" i.e. for fear. Till they had enough. Would they not have taken such plunder as they wanted, and then decamped? The grape gatherers would leave some bunches untouched, which escaped their notice. There is no reference to the charitable law in Leviticus 19:10; Deuteronomy 24:21, which would not affect, or be known unto, these grape plunderers.
Obadiah 1:6
Obadiah contemplates Eden's ruin, in retribution of her plundering Jerusalem, and speaks of it as past. How are the things of Esau searched out! literally, how are the things searched out, Esau! i.e. the people and property that belong to Esau. The enemy leave no place unexamined. So in Zephaniah 1:12 the Lord says, "I will search Jerusalem with candles." (For "Esau" as equivalent to "Eden," see Genesis 25:30.) His hidden things (matspon, ἅπαξ λεγόμενον); hidden treasures; Septuagint, τὰ κεκρυμμένα αὐτοῦ. Jeremiah (Jeremiah 49:10) gives, "secret places." Keil notes that Petra was a great emporium of the trade between Arabia and Syria, and that in it great treasures were stored (Diod. Sic; 19.95).
Esau's pillage and plunder will be thorough and complete. Note again that a couple of things are going on. First, Edom was conquered and its people no longer exist today as a unique people. In that sense, the specific judgment would seem to have been fulfilled. Second... Edom - as a symbol of those nations which are hostile to Israel generally - is still yet to be judged. There is clear linkage between the judgment of Edom and "The Day of the Lord" - which we will get to before we finish with the book.
Returning to Ellicott for verse 7:
(7) All the men of thy confederacy. . . .—This desertion by allies is doubtless put prominently forward as the due retribution on Edom for his treachery and cruelty to his natural ally, his brother Jacob. The members of the confederacy are not specified. In Jeremiah 27:3 we find Edom associated with Moab, Ainmon, Tyre, and Sidon, in the warning to submit to Nebuchadnezzar. The two former would be the natural allies of Edom, and in Ezekiel 25:8 Seir is joined with Moab as reproaching Israel. From Psalms 60:8, we may add to these Philistia (comp. also Obadiah 1:19). The expression "have brought thee to the border" is variously understood. The most natural explanation is that the fugitives from the ruin of Edom, flying into the territory of neighbouring and allied tribes for help, are basely driven back to their own frontier, and left to their fate.
The men that were at peace with thee.—As in margin, the men of thy peace, an expressive Hebrew idiom occurring in Jeremiah 20:10; Jeremiah 38:22, and in Psalms 41:9, where it is translated "mine own familiar friend."
Great difference of opinion exists as to the connection of this and the following clause, and as it stands the text presents considerable difficulty. By dropping the italicised words in our version, and omitting the semicolon, we get, "The men of thy peace have deceived thee, prevailed against thee and thy bread, have laid a wound under thee." There are two verbal difficulties—(1) "wound," Heb., mazôr, which occurs in Hosea 5:13 in the sense of a festering wound or abscess, but which the older translators here render ambush, or snare; ἔνεδρα (LXX.); insidiœ (Vulg.). Ewald and Hitzig, among moderns, prefer net, and defend it etymologically. This certainly gives good sense, and if zûr, of which it is a derivative, can have the sense of binding, may be correct. Our translators in Jeremiah 30:13, and Aquila and Symmachus in this passage, evidently give it that force (see also Lee's Heb. Lex., sub voce). To squeeze or crush, however, seems the true meaning of zûr: as in Judges 6:38, of Gideon's fleece; Job 39:15, of the eggs of the ostrich. The preposition tachath = under, also offers a difficulty; "Laid a wound under thee" suggests no intelligible meaning. But on the authority (though possibly somewhat doubtful) of 2 Samuel 3:12, where the word is translated "on behalf of," but where the context requires "without his knowledge," and on the analogy of all other languages, we may (with Vatablus, Drusius, Luther, and L. de Dieu; see Keil) translate the word deceitfully, or without thy knowledge, a rendering in accordance with the parallelism. But the syntax of the passage still remains unexplained. What is the construction of lachmeka=of thy bread? From Psalms 41:9, "The man of my peace which did eat of my bread," we are led to the conjecture that it forms part of a familiar, perhaps proverbial, expression for one bound by the closest ties of fellowship and hospitality, and we must, therefore, either supply a participle, these eating, as in the Psalm, or understand a second anshêy=men of. It is true there is no other instance of the phrase "men of thy bread," but it is a conceivable Hebrew idiom. Keeping the parallelism we now get an intelligible rendering of the passage.
"Unto the border they sent thee, all the men of thy confederacy.
Deceived thee, ruined thee,
Men of thy peace, men of thy bread;
(They) gave thee a wound in secret.
No understanding (is) in him."
For the arrangement of the second clause, which is put for deceived thee the men of thy peace, ruined thee the men of thy bread, see Song of Solomon 1:5, and Note there. In the last clause the margin reads of it: i.e., of the injury just mentioned, instead of in him. But it is better to take it as an abrupt declaration in the prophet's manner (comp. "how art thou cut off!" in Obadiah 1:5) of the utter bewilderment that had come or was coming on Edom, unable either by counsel or force to withstand his foes.
When Edom faces its day of calamity, it finds out that it has no friends. This is also what happened to Judah. Again, bear in mind that the punishment of Edom is a mirror to what happened to Judah. Edom should be Judah's natural ally, but rather than act as a brother (Esau and Jacob), Edom participated in the plunder alongside Babylon.
In the next verses, Obadiah provides more language which conveys a spiritual aspect to Edom's judgment .
"mighty men" =גִּבּוֹר gibbôwr, ghib-bore'; or גִּבֹּר gibbôr; (shortened) intensive from the same as H1397; powerful; by implication, warrior, tyrant:—champion, chief, × excel, giant, man, mighty (man, one), strong (man), valiant man.
The word can refer to "mighty" in the usual sense, but it is also a word that is used to refer to literal giants (gen. 6:4.) Obadiah is not making a reference to actual giants here, but by using this word choice, he will likely bring them to mind. For an educated Jew, the story of Genesis 6, the Nephilim, and the Great Flood would have been well known. Again, Obadiah is painting Edom with the same brush that spiritual evil has been painted with.
From The Pulpit Commentaries:
Obadiah 1:8
In that day; when Edom is abandoned by its friends. Destroy the wise men out of Edom. God shall take their wisdom from them, so that they shall be no more able to offer prudent counsel or suggest plans of safety (Isaiah 19:11-16; Isaiah 29:14; Isaiah 47:12, Isaiah 47:13). The Edomites were celebrated for wisdom or practical philosophy. Mount of Esau (Obadiah 1:9, Obadiah 1:19, Obadiah 1:21). Mount Seir—a designation of Edom from the nature of the country.
Obadiah 1:9
O Teman; Septuagint, οἱ ἐκ Θαιμάν, "those from Thaeman;" Vulgate, a meridic, taking the word as an appellative; so the Chaldee. The southern district of Idumea was so called (see note on Amos 1:12). One of Job's friends, and the cleverest of them, was a Temanite (Job 2:11). To the end that. This judicial blindness is inflicted in order that all may perish. By slaughter. Murder at the hands of the enemy. The LXX; Vulgate, and Syriac connect these words with the following verse. But the Masoretic punctuation, as in the Anglican Version, is doubtless correct (see Keil).
Verse 9 completes the message as to what will happen to Edom. In verse 10, Obadiah starts explaining why this will happen - and it relates as we've mentioned to Edom's actions against Judah.
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