Obadiah 1
Judgment Declared Against Edom 1–4
Edom's Destruction and Betrayal 5–9
The Charge: Violence Against Jacob 10–14
The Day of the Lord is Near 15–16
Israel's Deliverance and Dominion 17–21
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain
Study Notes for Obadiah 1
Verse 1
Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom — Edom is Esau, who took the name from the red pottage (Gen 25:30). ‘Obadiah’ means servant of the LORD. The words ‘We have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen’ are almost word for word in Jer 49:14, where the same judgment on Edom is announced.
Verse 3
The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee — Nasha, to deceive; it returns in v.7, where Edom’s allies ‘have deceived’ him, so he is deceived first by himself. His home was Mount Seir (Gen 36:8), ‘in the clefts of the rock’ (sela); Jer 49:16 repeats the line. ‘Bring me down’ (v.3) is answered in v.4 by the same verb.
Verse 4
set thy nest among the stars — The eagle (nesher) builds its nest on the heights, and Edom claims the highest place of all. The LORD’s answer takes up Edom’s own question from v.3: ‘thence will I bring thee down.’ Jer 49:16 has the same line, ‘though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence.’
Verse 5
would they not leave some grapes? — Thieves take ‘till they have enough’; grapegatherers leave gleanings, which the law kept for ‘the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow’ (Deut 24:21). Edom’s loss is greater than either would leave. ‘Cut off’ here is damah, to be silenced or brought to ruin; compare Jer 49:9.
Verse 7
the men of thy confederacy — Literally men of thy covenant (berith) and of thy peace; ‘they that eat thy bread’ are table companions. Betrayal by such friends is the pattern of Ps 41:9, ‘which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me’, quoted by Christ in John 13:18. ‘None understanding’ is answered in v.8.
Verse 8
the wise men out of Edom — Wisdom was Edom’s reputation: Teman, named in v.9, was the home of Eliphaz the Temanite (Job 2:11), and Jer 49:7 asks, ‘Is wisdom no more in Teman?’ The same judgment is spoken on a people’s wisdom in Isa 29:14: ‘the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.’
Verse 10
thy brother Jacob — Esau and Jacob were born together, Jacob’s hand on Esau’s heel (Gen 25:26), and Israel is told of Edom, ‘he is thy brother’ (Deut 23:7). Chamas, ‘violence’, is bloodshed and wrong. It began with Esau’s resolve, ‘then will I slay my brother Jacob’ (Gen 27:41); Ezek 35:5 calls it ‘perpetual hatred’. The sentence matches: cut off ‘for ever’.
Verse 11
thou stoodest on the other side — Edom stood aloof while ‘strangers’ (zur) and ‘foreigners’ (nokri) took Jerusalem and ‘cast lots’ for it, as in Joel 3:3. ‘Even thou wast as one of them’ makes the bystander a party to it. Ps 137:7 recalls what Edom said that day: ‘Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.’ ‘Forces’ here is chayil, translated ‘substance’ in v.13.
Verse 12
neither shouldest thou have rejoiced — Verses 12–14 list what Edom ‘shouldest not have’ done, and the word ‘day’ falls on nearly every clause. ‘Spoken proudly’ is literally to make large the mouth (gadal, peh); Ezek 35:13 says, ‘with your mouth ye have boasted against me.’ Compare Prov 24:17, ‘Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth.’
Verse 13
in the day of their calamity — The phrase comes three times in this verse (eyd, disaster). The speaker is the LORD, who says ‘my people’. ‘Substance’ is chayil, the word rendered ‘forces’ in v.11. Ezek 35:5 says Edom shed Israel’s blood ‘in the time of their calamity’.
Verse 14
the crossway — Pereq, a fork in the road; this is the only place the KJV renders it ‘crossway’ (Nah 3:1 has ‘robbery’). Edom is faulted for standing there to cut off those who escaped. ‘Delivered up’ is sagar, to shut up, as in Ps 31:8, ‘hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy’. ‘Remain’ (sarid) returns in v.18.
Verse 15
the day of the LORD — The ‘day’ of Edom’s offences in vv.11–14 is answered by this day, which reaches ‘all the heathen’; Ezek 30:3 calls it ‘the time of the heathen’. ‘As thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee’ is the principle Christ states: ‘with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again’ (Matt 7:2). Compare Hab 2:8.
Verse 16
ye have drunk upon my holy mountain — The cup is the cup of the LORD’s fury, which the nations drink in Jer 25:15 and which Edom is told of by name in Jer 49:12: ‘thou shalt surely drink of it.’ Judah drank it first on the holy mountain (some read ‘ye’ of Edom); now ‘all the heathen’ drink ‘continually’, and ‘swallow down’ (la’a). Isa 51:22 speaks of it as ‘the cup of trembling’.
Verse 17
upon mount Zion shall be deliverance — Peleytah, an escape or remnant saved; Joel 2:32 says ‘in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance’. ‘Holiness’ and the verb ‘possess’ (yarash) mark the turn from Edom to Jacob: ‘possess’ returns in vv.19 and 20, where the house of Jacob takes the lands about it. Compare ‘possess the remnant of Edom’ (Amos 9:12).
Verse 18
the house of Jacob shall be a fire — Jacob is a fire, Joseph a flame, and Esau stubble. ‘Joseph’ is the northern kingdom, ‘the stick of Ephraim’ (Ezek 37:16), joined to Judah in one hand (Ezek 37:19). Fire consuming stubble is the image of Isa 5:24. ‘Remaining’ (sarid) takes up v.14: Edom delivered up those of Judah that ‘remain’, and none will be left of Esau’s house.
Verse 19
they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau — The land spreads in every direction: the south (Negev) takes Esau’s mount, the plain (shephelah) the Philistines’, Israel the fields of Ephraim and Samaria, and Benjamin Gilead. Amos 9:12 has Israel possessing ‘the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name’.
Verse 20
Sepharad — This is the only occurrence of the name in the Bible. Zarephath is a city ‘which belongeth to Zidon’ (1 Kings 17:9), the ‘Sarepta, a city of Sidon’ of Luke 4:26. The captives of Israel take the Canaanites’ land as far as that city, and the captives of Jerusalem ‘in Sepharad’ take ‘the cities of the south’ (Negev, as in v.19).
Verse 21
saviours shall come up on mount Zion — Yasha, to save; in the participle it is the word for the deliverers raised up in Judges (Judg 3:9) and for the ‘saviours’ of Neh 9:27. They come up on Zion to judge the mount of Esau. The book ends with the claim of Ps 22:28, ‘the kingdom is the LORD’S’, and Rev 11:15 gives the same in the voice of heaven.