The Relevance of Obadiah.
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"):
2 "Behold, I will make you small among the nations; You shall be greatly despised.
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?'
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.
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?
6 "Oh, how Esau shall be searched out! How his hidden treasures shall be sought after!
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.
8 "Will I not in that day," says the Lord, "Even destroy the wise men from Edom, And understanding from the mountains of Esau?
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.
10 "For violence against your brother Jacob, Shame shall cover you, And you shall be cut off forever.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
17 "But on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance, And there shall be holiness; The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
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.
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.
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.
21 Then saviors shall come to Mount Zion To judge the mountains of Esau, And the kingdom shall be the Lord's.
Why do we Christians read such books as Obadiah? Do we read them because they are historical books or is there relevance in the prophetic message in these books.
The author's name is Obadiah, which means "servant (or worshiper) of the Lord." His was a common name.
There are about twelve Obadiah’s in the Old Testament and it is not sure if one of these is the minor prophet. (see 1Ki 18:3-16; 1Ch 3:21; 7:3; 8:38; 9:16; 12:9; 27:19; 2Ch 17:7; 34:12; Ezr 8:9; Ne 10:5; 12:25).
The time of writing this prophecy could be dated to two times.
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The rebellion of Edom against Judah during the reign of Jehoram (853-841 b.c.); see 2Ki 8:20-22; 2Ch 21:8-15. In this case, Obadiah would be a contemporary of Elisha.
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The Babylonian attacks on Jerusalem (605-586). Obadiah would then be a contemporary of Jeremiah. This alternative seems more likely.
When studying this book of Obadiah, I read it first as an historical account of what happened to the nation of Edom at this time in history but as I read, I remembered what I had been taught by other scholars. That, where history was concerned, it was His Story and where Israel and prophecy is concerned, history is cyclical.
If you want to know what is going to happen in the future, look at what happened in the past.
Prophets in the Old Testament prophesied for three time frames.
1. They prophesied for the times in which they lived.
2. For the time of the first coming of the Messiah.
3. For the times of the end, for the last days which will include the second coming of Jesus Christ, who is the true Messiah of Israel and the world, which will be followed by the Wrath of God.
The narrative of Obadiah is that God sent Obadiah to prophecy the downfall of Edom because of their failings to help Israel in their time of need.
Not only for their failing to help, but because they helped the enemy of Israel.
Edom, meaning red, is the brother Esau of Jacob, his twin, the two sons of Isaac.
Esau was the father of the Edomites and Jacob, the son of the promise to Abraham, father of the Jews.
There was hatred towards Jacob by Esau, which we see played out in this book of Obadiah.
10 "For violence against your brother Jacob, Shame shall cover you, And you shall be cut off forever.
This hatred began in the Garden of Eden when God said to Lucifer:
Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Edom was the ancient land bordering ancient Israel, in what is now southwestern Jordan, between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. The Edomites probably occupied the area about the 13th century bc.
The landscape was the towering mountains of Edom. Those mountains are made of granite and are notable red. The Edomites thought they were impregnable and this made them proud.
Adam – (אדם) literally means "red"
Esau – Genesis 25:25 And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau.
Edom – red
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?'
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.
Obadiah is not just an historical account but a Prophetic word from God.
Obadiah announces Edom's downfall to Babylon, which is an image of how God will bring down all arrogant and pride and violent nations.
Lucifer, Satan was judged for his pride and cast down to the earth.
Ezekiel 28:15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.
Ezekiel 28:17a You thought you were so handsome that it made your heart proud. You thought you were so glorious that it spoiled your wisdom. -
You said in your heart,
Isaiah 14:13-14 “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” -
Satan was judged in the Garden, he was judged at the cross and he will be judged in the future.
Ultimately, Satan will be judged at the end of the reign of Christ on the earth.
Revelation 20:7-15 7 Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison
8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.
9 They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.
10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where[a] the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
God is against pride.
Proverbs 8:13 “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate.
Jeremiah 50:31 “Behold, I am against you, O arrogant one,”Declares the Lord God of hosts, “For your day has come,The time when I will punish you.
The prophecy is against Edom for being proud and their standing by whilst their brother Israel was being attacked.
10 "For violence against your brother Jacob, Shame shall cover you, And you shall be cut off forever.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Not only did they stand by without helping Israel but they cut off the escape of some and delivered them up to the enemy.
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.
As you have done, it shall be done to you;
This verse reminds us of the promise to their grandfather Abraham.
Genesis 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
This is God’s cyclical word to all those down through the ages that hate and curse the nation of Israel.
This has happened time and time again throughout history.
From the Babylonians, to Egypt, from Greece, to Rome, from Spain, to Germany, from Russia and all the other nations that have hated and persecuted Israel.
All of these nations suffered downfall. They suffered the wrath of God.
All the “ites” of the Bible, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the Amorites.
Where are they all today? Gone, and who remains, the Israelites and where are the Israelites today. Exactly where God said they should be, in the land that God gave to their father Abraham.
The Jews have always been a hated people. Although generally the Jews rejected Messiah, there is still a remnant that will come to Him in the last days.
Even the church has persecuted the Jews. The Roman Catholic Church has persecuted the Jews, Martin Luther wrote a book called “The Jews and their Lies” causing many Christians to blame the Jews for all the world’s problems.
Even Adolph Hitler quoted Martin Luther in his persecution of the Jews.
They have been called Christ killers, even though Jesus Himself was a Jew and all the first Christians were Jews.
The greatest preacher of the Gospel, the Apostle Paul was a fervent Jew.
They never stopped being Jews, when they were converted and they embraced converted Gentiles as brothers in Christ.
Jewish and Gentile Christians are two sides of the same coin. Heads and Tails, but part of the same coin.
A Gentile Christian will never be Jewish and a Jewish Christian will never be a Gentile.
Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as were baptised into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
See also: https://jeffreyunsworth.wixsite.com/teleiosbibleblogs/whyarethejewshated
God has not finished with the nation of Israel.
The Bible is clear: God is not finished with the Jewish people!
Romans chapters 9-11 confirm that the Jews are still His chosen people. Of course that doesn’t mean all of them are devoutly following the God of the Old Testament or that they are saved (except those who have accepted Jesus as their Messiah, Lord and Saviour), but their failure to receive Jesus as their long-foretold Messiah doesn’t mean God is done with them. Remember, the Abrahamic Covenant, was an unconditional covenant, (Genesis 12:2-3, 15, and 17:7). Many Old Testament covenants had conditions, but this one had none. It rests not on man’s performance but on God’s character—and His eternal plan.
God does not go back on His word.
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
After the Rapture of the church, God will return His attention to the nation of Israel.
15 "For the day of the Lord upon all the nations is near;
The wrath of God came upon Edom and Babylon and they are no more.
The wrath of God came upon Egypt, Greece, Rome, Spain, Germany and Russia and God’s wrath will come on any nation that comes against His people Israel and the church of Jesus Christ.
There is coming a day that is yet future when the armies that surround Israel will come against Israel and God will intervene and His wrath will be poured out on these aggressors.
Finally, Jesus will come again and receive the believing church made up of both Jew and Gentile at the Harpazo, the Rapture and then shall God’s wrath be poured out on an unbelieving world.
1 Thess 1:10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
Obadiah 1: 21 And the kingdom shall be the Lord's.
Obadiah is not only an historical account of what happened in the past but a prophecy of what is happening today and what will happen in the future.
See Full Blog on Obadiah Page 289.
