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Obadiah 1; Psalms 82-83    Listen

Edom! You're going to fall too! (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.

Edom was the land southeast of Israel. Obadiah prophesied their fall. That's what the whole book is about - all 21 verses. We don't know when Obadiah was written, but we do know what period of time he was prophesying about. It was the period immediately after the fall of Jerusalem.

You will recall that the Edomites were descendants of Esau, Jacob's brother. From the sound of this passage, it would appear that the Edomites turned against Israel in the time leading up to Jerusalem's fall in 586 B.C. This prophecy says that this action will be punished by their own demise; they will fall to the Babylonians as well. They disappeared in the sixth century, never to reappear as a nation ever again. We do find references to the region in the New Testament in Mark 3:8, "and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how many things He was doing, came to Him." However, they were not an autonomous nation then and disappeared from any reference in history after the first century A.D.

That being said, there are two likely possibilities for the time of the writing of Obadiah. The first is during the reign of Jehoram, 853-841; the second is after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. As far as the fulfillment of this prophecy against Edom, we only know that they disappeared after the Assyrians and later, the Babylonians conquered the region.

Other prophets also prophesied concerning Edom:

• Isaiah 11:11-16 (see notes
• Jeremiah 49:7-22 (see notes)
• Daniel 11:41 (see notes)
• Amos 2:1-11 (see notes)
• Ezekiel 25:12-14 (see notes)
• Ezekiel 35 (see notes)
• Malachi 1:2-5 (see notes)

We see in verses 5-6 the utter destruction that will befall Edom. Even their allies will turn against them (verse 7). And why this judgment? Verse 10 has the answer, "For violence against your brother Jacob, Shame shall cover you, And you shall be cut off forever." It will be for their ill treatment of their brethren, Jacob's descendants, Israel. The outline of their offense against Israel is to be found in verses 11-14 as follows:

• Edom stood by while Jerusalem was invaded (verse 11)
• Edom rejoiced over the captivity of Judah (verse 12)
• Edom assisted in the destruction of the city (verse 13)
• Edom even helped set up roadblocks to hamper the escape of the Jewish people (verse 14).

Obadiah's reference to the "day of the LORD" in verse 15, based upon the accompanying prophetic events, certainly directly refers to what Believers today understand to be the second coming of Jesus Christ as seen in Revelation 19:11-21 (see notes). It should be noted, however, that Edom's overthrow is now historical to us - not future. Notice verse 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." That prophecy has been fulfilled already.

Here's a technical aside: Many scholars think that the phrase in verse 3, "You who dwell in the clefts of the rock, Whose habitation is high," is really a direct reference to the capital city of Edom, Sela. The general Hebrew word for "rock" is "sela." Since no differentiation between words and names exists in Hebrew manuscripts, many think that this verse should read "You who dwell in the clefts of Sela." Since "petra" means "rock" in Greek, the capital city of Sela was called "Petra" by the Greeks (we are told). To add strength to their argument, many cite the Septuagint rendering of the phrase. However, the Septuagint renders the Greek phrase in the Genitive plural case appropriately translated "in the clefts of the rocks." Since the Hebrew phrase shows a singular "sela," but the Greek Septuagint phrase shows a plural "petra" ("petron"), a proponent of that theory can only conclude that the Septuagint's translation of that verse slightly misses the mark - the difference between the singular name of a city as opposed to the plural reference to rocks. "Who cares?" one might say. It is only significant in light of a prophetic teaching that those who flee the wrath of the second half of the tribulation will take flight to Petra, the capital city of Edom. For a full discussion of this theory of prophecy, click here to read the notes on Micah 2:12. Regardless of the merit of that prophetic theory, no validity is lent to it based upon Obadiah 3.

An overview of Psalms 82-83
Chronologically, why read these two Psalms here? We don't know the time in which these two Psalms were written, but notice some interesting verses in 83:6-8. In these verses we find a confederation of nations who assist the Ammonites and Moabites against Israel. You will recall that Jehoshaphat experienced such warfare from these neighbors. II Chronicles 20:1 (see notes) says, "It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat." Now here's the interesting aspect of the confederation of nations listed in Psalm 83:6-8, Assur is listed as one of those nations in verse 8. "Assur" is Assyria who emerged after the Kingdom of Israel split. Incidentally, that's modern-day Iraq.

So, when a nation that did not emerge as a threat until after the division of Israel is mentioned in a Psalm, coupled with the account of a battle in II Chronicles 20 (see notes) that seems to fit the description, some have concluded that this Psalm was written around the time of Jehoshaphat's reign (873-848). Whoooops! There's a problem, though. The introductions of Psalms 82-83 clearly say, "A Psalm of Asaph." Asaph was, without question, David's music guy. So, was Asaph writing a little prophecy into his songs, or was there another named Asaph during Jehoshaphat's day? That's one we'll need to address when we get to Heaven, if you're still interested then.

There's another fascinating aspect of these two Psalms. Jesus refers to Psalm 82:6 (see notes) in one of his verbal battles with the Pharisees in the Book of John. Psalm 82:6 says, "I said, 'You are gods, And all of you are children of the Most High.'" Now notice the way Jesus used this verse in John 10:33-35 (see notes):

33 The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”
34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, “I said, ‘You are gods” ’?
35 If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),

Here's a note from the Expositor's Bible Commentary with regard to Jesus' usage of Psalm 82:6:

Had Jesus not meant to convey a claim to deity, he undoubtedly would have protested the action of the Jews by declaring that they had misunderstood him. On the contrary, Jesus introduced an a fortiori argument from the Psalms to strengthen his statement. Psalm 82:6 represents God as addressing a group of beings whom he calls "gods" (Heb. elohim ) and “sons of the Most High.” If, then, these terms can be applied to ordinary mortals or even angels, how could Jesus be accused of blasphemy when he applied them to himself whom the Father set apart and sent into the world on a special mission? Jesus was not offering a false claim; he was merely asserting what he was by rights.

It's amusing that Jesus used a passage from the Old Testament that the Pharisees obviously did not understand to thoroughly confuse them. Let's face it; those Pharisees were just no match for Jesus.

Psalms 82

A Psalm of Asaph.
1 ¶ God stands in the congregation of the mighty;
He judges among the gods.
2 How long will you judge unjustly,
And show partiality to the wicked?
Selah
3 Defend the poor and fatherless;
Do justice to the afflicted and needy.
4 Deliver the poor and needy;
Free them from the hand of the wicked.
5 They do not know, nor do they understand;
They walk about in darkness;
All the foundations of the earth are unstable.
6 I said, “You are gods,
And all of you are children of the Most High.
7 But you shall die like men,
And fall like one of the princes.”
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth;
For You shall inherit all nations.

This psalm declares that all powers on earth are subject to the one true God. Jesus quoted verse 6 in John 10:33-35 (see notes). See the note in the introduction of this Psalm for the exact context of his usage. Since Jesus declares that these "gods" are mere men, the notion adopted by some commentators that the "gods" of nations surrounding Israel are in view here cannot be correct. This Psalm, therefore, is a condemnation of unjust judges.

Psalms 83

A Song. A Psalm of Asaph.
1 ¶ Do not keep silent, O God!
Do not hold Your peace,
And do not be still, O God!
2 For behold, Your enemies make a tumult;
And those who hate You have lifted up their head.
3 They have taken crafty counsel against Your people,
And consulted together against Your sheltered ones.
4 They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation,
That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”
5 For they have consulted together with one consent;
They form a confederacy against You:
6 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites;
Moab and the Hagrites;
7 Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek;
Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
8 Assyria also has joined with them;
They have helped the children of Lot.
Selah
9 Deal with them as with Midian,
As with Sisera,
As with Jabin at the Brook Kishon,
10 Who perished at En Dor,
Who became as refuse on the earth.
11 Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb,
Yes, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 Who said, “Let us take for ourselves
The pastures of God for a possession.”
13 O my God, make them like the whirling dust,
Like the chaff before the wind!
14 As the fire burns the woods,
And as the flame sets the mountains on fire,
15 So pursue them with Your tempest,
And frighten them with Your storm.
16 Fill their faces with shame,
That they may seek Your name, O LORD.
17 Let them be confounded and dismayed forever;
Yes, let them be put to shame and perish,
18 That they may know that You, whose name alone is the LORD,
Are the Most High over all the earth.

We see in this psalm the formation of a confederacy who seek the total annihilation of Israel. We see in verses 6 and 7 that this confederation of nations is made up of Edom, the descendants of Ishmael, the Moabites, the Hagarenes, Gebal, Ammon, Amalek, the Philistines and finally the inhabitants of Tyre. Wow...that's quite a list of enemies.

In verses 9-18, the Psalmist prays for God's vengeance upon this confederacy of nations who seek Israel's demise. Incidentally, the name "JEHOVAH" is transliterated from the Hebrew text in verse 18 (sometimes rendered YAHWEH instead. Usually this Hebrew name for God, also known by Jews as the "tetragrammation," is simply translated in our Bibles as "LORD" (all capital letters).