TWENTY-ONE VERSES.
This, shortest of all the prophetical writings in the Old Testament, announces the doom of the Lord upon Edom, the land possessed by the descendants of Esau—Jacob's brother. Edom will be utterly destroyed in the future deliverance of Judah, and her judgment will be executed by the victorious hosts of Jehovah—the Jewish people (Ezek. 25:1414And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord God. (Ezekiel 25:14); Isa. 11:44But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. (Isaiah 11:4)). The pride and arrogancy of the Edomites, secure in their mountain fastnesses and rocky dwellings, is the subject of Obad. 33The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? (Obadiah 3) and 4; their destruction would be full and entire, and their friends and confederates would aid in their unsparing doom (Obad. 55If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes? (Obadiah 5), 6, 7); their wisdom in allying themselves with the successful invaders of Judah, would be baffled and all, yea, individually they would be cut off by slaughter (Obad. 88Shall I not in that day, saith the Lord, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau? (Obadiah 8), 9). Language could not be conceived more precise or definite intimating judgment which would clear the land of the Edomites, and utterly exterminate the whole race and house of Esau, than is supplied in Obad. 1818And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the Lord hath spoken it. (Obadiah 18); only be it remembered that this final judgment is yet future, that the people against whom the Lord hath indignation forever is not extinct; they will reappear in the closing days, as will all the nations in their representatives. To man, nations and peoples referred to in that important and early chapter, Gen. 1018And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad. (Genesis 10:18), have entirely passed off the scene, but not so to God. All collective and individual responsibility has to be answered for in the future; on this earth all the nations who have played their part, will come up in the closing days in their descendants or representatives, and will have meted out to them the judgment due. The land and possessions of Edom and of the Philistines and Canaanites will yet be fully occupied by restored Israel (Obad. 1919And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines: and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Gilead. (Obadiah 19), 20); the blessed and glorious conclusion of all is stated in Obad. 2121And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord's. (Obadiah 21); the world-kingdom of Christ will secure righteousness, power, and glory.
The ground of these judgments upon Edom, the ancient and bitter enemy of Israel, is given us in the touching Obad. 10-1410For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. 11In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them. 12But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress. 13Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity; 14Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress. (Obadiah 10‑14), in which God rehearses the doings of Esau to His beloved people. It is a serious thing to meddle with the saints of God; they are as the apple of His eye. To do them a wrong is to enter into a controversy with God Himself; to do them a blessing is to merit His hearty commendation.
Esau, the brother of Jacob, thus in a certain external relationship to God began his history by profanely despising the God of blessing (Heb. 12:16,1716Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. 17For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. (Hebrews 12:16‑17)), and in the course of his descendants we see manifested the most inveterate hatred to Israel. They actively assisted the Babylonians in their attacks upon Jerusalem, seizing the property of the Jews, cutting off their retreat from the city and delivering up those whom they captured, besides proudly rejoicing over the distress of the people and desolation of the city. The Psalmist thus prays: "Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof" (Psa. 137:77Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof. (Psalm 137:7)). Edom is also prominent in the scenes of the last days, being first named in the wicked confederacy of the nations purposing to cut off the very remembrance of Israel from the earth (Psa. 83:4-184They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. 5For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee: 6The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; 7Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; 8Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah. 9Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison: 10Which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth. 11Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb: yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna: 12Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession. 13O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind. 14As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire; 15So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm. 16Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O Lord. 17Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish: 18That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth. (Psalm 83:4‑18)). The land of Edom will also witness to the Lord's vengeance upon the nations; there they will assemble and there be utterly destroyed—Isaiah 344And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree. 5For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment. 6The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea. 7And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness. 8For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. 9And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. 10It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever. 11But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness. 12They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing. 13And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls. 14The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. 15There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate. 16Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them. 17And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein. 1The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. (Isaiah 34:4‑35:1)—giving us the details. Edom's desolation will be "perpetual," even as she had a "perpetual" hatred to Israel (Ezek. 354I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. 5Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end: 6Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: sith thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee. 7Thus will I make mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it him that passeth out and him that returneth. 8And I will fill his mountains with his slain men: in thy hills, and in thy valleys, and in all thy rivers, shall they fall that are slain with the sword. 9I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return: and ye shall know that I am the Lord. 10Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas the Lord was there: 11Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them, when I have judged thee. 12And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, and that I have heard all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume. 13Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words against me: I have heard them. 14Thus saith the Lord God; When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate. 15As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it: and they shall know that I am the Lord. 1Also, thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord: 2Thus saith the Lord God; Because the enemy hath said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession: 3Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an infamy of the people: (Ezekiel 35:4‑36:3)).
It is interesting to note in reference to Jacob and Esau (Rom. 9:1313As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. (Romans 9:13)) that the Lord's call of and love to Jacob are fully expressed in the first book of Scripture, but "Esau have I hated" in the last book of Old Testament Scripture—that is the race descended from Jacob's twin brother had fully developed their character, ways, and doings before God records His hatred of them.
NOTE.
Mr. Kelly in his Lectures Introductory to the Study e the Minor Prophets, remarks: "What has been employed to prove a late date is invalid, from forgetting that the prophetic vision presents things future, as already seen. For present time with a prophet is when a prophecy is accomplished, not when it is given. I believe he (Obadiah) was early, not late."