When Israel was leaving Egypt they asked permission of their brother Esau (Edom) to pass through their land. Edom refused, sending force to prevent them from crossing. (Numbers 20: 14-21) Esau hated Jacob (Israel) and would be their enemy, but God protects Israel.
Oba 1:1 The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.
The vision of the prophet Obadiah. The name means "servant/worshiper of God" Edom (Red) is the nation of Jacob's brother Esau. They represent the enemies of Israel and probably are those of the Arab nations currently around Israel. Spiritually Edom represents the flesh nature that wars with the Spirit. The time frame is after the fall of Judah, around 586 BC.
Oba 1:2 Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised.
The LORD was dealing with Edom and they would be cut down in size and hated by God.
Mal 1:2 I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,
Mal 1:3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
Oba 1:3 The 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?
Jer 49:16 Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the LORD.
The LORD was judging their pride "who shall bring me down?" They dwelt in high in the clefts of the rocks Their capital city Sela, was a fortress stronghold in the high hill fifty miles south of the dead sea. This city may be Petra in Jordan.
Oba 1:4 Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.
Self exaltation brought satan down and it would bring down Edom. America has exalted itself and our symbol is also the eagle.
Hab 2:9 Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil!
Oba 1:5 If 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?
Oba 1:6 How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up!
What God has ordained for Edom will be more grievous then robbers and thieves.
Jer 49:9 If grapegatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough.
Jer 49:10 But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not.
Oba 1:7 All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him.
Their friends had betrayed them just as Judah had been betrayed by her friends.
Jer 38:22 And, behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judah's house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon's princes, and those women shall say, Thy friends have set thee on, and have prevailed against thee: thy feet are sunk in the mire, and they are turned away back.
Oba 1:8 Shall I not in that day, saith the LORD, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?
Speaking of the day of the LORD when all of God's enemies shall be destroyed.
Job 5:12 He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
Job 5:13 He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.
Job 5:14 They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night.
This brings to mind our own prideful leaders who think they are so wise. Some are only wise to do evil and to destroy, but God will destroy the destroyer.
Oba 1:9 And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.
Teman is another name for Edom.
Jer 49:7 Concerning Edom, thus saith the LORD of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished?
Oba 1:10 For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.
Oba 1:11 In 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.
Edom is judged because of violence against Jacob. They would be shamed and cut off from God forever because they joined with the enemies of Jacob in her time of peril. We are not to aid the enemy or rejoice in harming a brother. We had better know who we are and behave like the children of God. Do we join with evil to attack a brother because of our un forgiveness?
Jealousy is evil
Gen 27:41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob. Violence against Judah
Joel 3:19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
Oba 1:12 But 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.
Oba 1:13 Thou 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;
Oba 1:14 Neither 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.
Edom is being charged for their criminal activity.
They rejoiced in Judah's destruction.
They took part in the looting of the people of Jerusalem, God's holy city.
Edom set up ambushes and roadblocks at the crossways, to prevent the people from escaping.
They brought greater pain and distress to the fleeing people.
The LORD remembers their transgressions
Eze 35:12 And 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.
Eze 35:13 Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words against me: I have heard them.
Eze 35:14 Thus saith the Lord GOD; When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate.
Eze 35:15 As 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, (Edom) even all of it: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Oba 1:15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.
The day of the LORD is judgement to the enemies of God and restoration to the nation of Israel. When Jesus returns will be the day of the LORD bringing wrath and restoration.
There is a reaping of what was sown.
Gal 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Gal 6:8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
Gal 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
Oba 1:16 For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.
They will drink a bitter cup. The things coming for the enemies of God are not pleasant.
Joel 3:16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
Joel 3:17 So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
The Lord shall return on Mt Zion.
Oba 1:17 But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
Oba 1:18 And 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.
Esau will be completely cut off.
Joel 2:32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.
Jerusalem purified by fire
Zec 12:6 In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.
Oba 1:19 And 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.
Oba 1:20 And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south.
Israel shall occupy the land promised to Abraham
Amo 9:11 In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:
Amo 9:12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this.
Oba 1:21 And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD'S.
The saviours, or the saved ones shall come up on mount Zion. This is the Millennial kingdom; Jesus shall reign.
Psa 22:28 For the kingdom is the LORD'S: and he is the governor among the nations.
Dan 7:14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
Rev 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Points to remember. You may have a position of power and strength and be full of pride, but God will not allow you to escape his judgement.
If you side with the enemy and persecute those being afflicted, God remembers and it will all come back to you. Those who hate Israel will not escape God's judgement.
Seek Jesus and forgiveness and you will be forever with those who are the faithful of God, beginning with God's Millennial kingdom.
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