Obadiah 1:1-16

1 The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord GOD1concerning Edom: 2We have heard a report from the LORD, and a messenger has been sent among the nations: "Rise up! Let us rise against her for battle!"
2 Behold, I will make you small among the nations; you shall be utterly despised.[a]
3 3The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock,[b] in your lofty dwelling, 4who say in your heart, "Who will bring me down to the ground?"
4 Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the LORD.
5 If 5thieves came to you, if plunderers came by night-- how you have been destroyed!-- would they not steal only enough for themselves? If 6grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings?
6 7How Esau has been pillaged, his treasures sought out!
7 All your allies have driven you to your border; those at peace with you have deceived you; they have prevailed against you; 8those who eat your bread[c] have set a trap beneath you-- 9you have[d] no understanding.
8 10Will I not on that day, declares the LORD, destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of 11Mount Esau?
9 And your mighty men shall be dismayed, 12O Teman, so that every man from 13Mount Esau will be cut off by slaughter.

Edom's Violence Against Jacob

10 14Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, 15and you shall be cut off forever.
11 16On the day that you stood aloof, 17on the day that strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates 18and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them.
12 19But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune; 20do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; 21do not boast[e] in the day of distress.
13 22Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; 23do not gloat over his disaster in the day of his calamity; 24do not loot his wealth in the day of his calamity.
14 25Do not stand at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives; do not hand over his survivors in the day of distress.

The Day of the Lord Is Near

15 For 26the day of the LORD is near upon all the nations. 27As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head.
16 28For as you have drunk on 29my holy mountain, so all the nations shall drink continually; they shall drink and swallow, and shall be as though they had never been.

Obadiah 1:1-16 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO OBADIAH

The title of this Book, in the Hebrew copies, is usually "Sepher Obadiah", the Book of Obadiah: the Vulgate Latin version calls it the Prophecy of Obadiah; and so the Arabic version: and in the Syriac version it is, the Prophecy of the Prophet Obadiah. His name signifies a "servant" or "worshipper of the Lord". Who he was, what his parentage, and in what age he lived, are things uncertain. The Seder Olam Zuta {a} places him in the reign of Jehoshaphat: and he is thought by some to be that Obadiah that was one of the princes he sent to teach the people, 2Ch 17:7. The ancient Jewish Rabbins take him to be the same with him that lived in the times of Ahab, and in his court, who hid the prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them, 1Ki 18:3,4; to which Aben Ezra objects, because he is not called a prophet, only one that feared the Lord; whereas to be a prophet is something greater. They also say he was an Edomite by birth, but was proselyted to the Jewish religion, and so a fit person to be employed in prophesying against Edom; and it is a tradition with them that his widow is the woman whose cruse of oil Elisha multiplied, 2Ki 4:1. Some have been of opinion that he was the captain of the third fifty, whose life Elijah spared in the times of Ahaziah; and who upon that left the king's service, and followed the prophet, and became a disciple of his; so Pseudo-Epiphanius {b}, and Isidorus Hispalensis {c}, who say that he was of Sychem, a city of Samaria, and of the field of Bethachamar, or Bethaccaron. Others would have him to be one of the overseers of the workmen in the house of the Lord, in the times of Josiah, 2Ch 34:12; to which Mr. Lively {d} inclines; though others, going according to the order of the books in the canon of Scripture, which is not to be depended on, place him earlier, and make him contemporary with Hosea, Joel, and Amos, as Grotius {e}, Huetius {f}, and Lightfoot {g}: but he seems rather to be contemporary with Jeremiah and Ezekiel, with whose prophecies this agrees, as may be observed by comparing it with Jer 49:1-39, Eze 25:1-17; and to have lived and prophesied after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans; in which the Edomites, against whom he prophesies, had a concern; see Ob 1:11-14, Ps 137:7; though Dr. Lightfoot thinks these prophecies refer either to the sacking of Jerusalem by Shishak king of Egypt, 1Ki 14:25; or by the Philistines and Arabians, 2Ch 21:16,17; or by Joash king of Israel, 2Ch 25:21; so that, upon the whole, it is not certain; and, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi own, it is not known in what age this prophet lived: Bishop Usher {h} places his prophecy in the twelfth year of Jeconiah's captivity. However, there is no doubt to be made of the authenticity of the prophecy; as may be concluded, not only from the title of it, and the solemn manner in which it begins; but from the matter of it, and the accomplishment of what is contained in it; as well as from the testimony borne to it in the New Testament, in which not only the book of the minor prophets, in which this stands, is quoted, Ac 7:42; but a passage in it, Ob 1:8; is referred to in 1Co 1:19; as is thought by some learned men. I have only to observe, that, according to Pseudo-Epiphanius {i}, he died in Bethachamar, where he is said to be born, and was buried in the sepulchre of his ancestors; but, according to Jerom {k} and Isidore {l}, his sepulchre is in Sebaste or Samaria; which remained to the times of Jerom, near those of the Prophet Elisha and John the Baptist. Monsieur Thevenot {m} says that John Baptist here lies buried between the Prophets Elisha and Abdias.

{a} P. 103. {b} De Prophet. Vid. c. 15. {c} De Vita & Mort. Sanct. c, 44. {d} In loc. {e} In loc. {f} Demonstrat. Evangel. Prop. 4. p. 290. {g} Works, vol. 1. p. 96. {h} Annales Vet. Test. A. M. 3417 or 587 B.C. {i} Ut supra. (De Prophet. Vid. c. 15.) {k} Comment. in loc. & in Epitaph. Paulae, fol. 59. M. {l} Ut supra. (De Vita & Mort. Sanct. c, 44.) {m} Travels, par. 1. B. 1. ch. 56. p. 216.

\\INTRODUCTION TO OBADIAH 1\\

This prophecy of Obadiah is the least of the minor prophets, consisting but of one chapter; the subject of it is Edom, whose destruction is foretold, and is to be considered as a type of the enemies of Christ and his kingdom, and especially of the Roman antichrist. After the preface, the rumour of war, and preparation for it, which would issue in the ruin of Edom, are observed, Ob 1:1,2; because of their pride, confidence, and security, Ob 1:3,4; which should be complete and entire, Ob 1:5,6; notwithstanding their allies, who would deceive them; and the wisdom of their wise men, which should be destroyed; and the strength of their mighty men, who would be dismayed, Ob 1:7-9; and this should come upon them, chiefly because of their ill usage of the Jews at the time of Jerusalem's destruction, which is enlarged upon, Ob 1:10-14; and this would be when all the nations round about them would be destroyed, Ob 1:15,16; and then deliverance is promised to the Jews, who should not only enjoy their own possessions, but the land of the Edomites, wasted by them, Ob 1:17-20; and the book is concluded with a glorious prophecy of the kingdom of the Messiah, Ob 1:21.

Cross References 29

  • 1. See Jeremiah 49:7-22; Ezekiel 25:12-14
  • 2. For ver. 1-4, see Jeremiah 49:14-16
  • 3. [Numbers 24:21, 22]
  • 4. [Isaiah 14:13-15]
  • 5. Jeremiah 49:9
  • 6. Jeremiah 49:9
  • 7. [Jeremiah 49:10]
  • 8. [Psalms 41:9]
  • 9. [Jeremiah 49:7]
  • 10. [Isaiah 29:14]
  • 11. [Ezekiel 35:2]
  • 12. Amos 1:12; See 1 Chronicles 1:45
  • 13. [See ver. 8 above]
  • 14. Numbers 20:20, 21
  • 15. [Ezekiel 35:9]
  • 16. Psalms 137:7; [Jeremiah 12:14]
  • 17. See 2 Kings 25:10-20
  • 18. Joel 3:3
  • 19. [Psalms 22:17]
  • 20. [Micah 4:11; Micah 7:8]
  • 21. [1 Samuel 2:3]
  • 22. [Proverbs 17:5]
  • 23. [Proverbs 17:5]
  • 24. [Ezekiel 35:10]
  • 25. [Ezekiel 21:21]
  • 26. See Joel 1:15
  • 27. Jeremiah 50:29; Ezekiel 35:15; Habakkuk 2:8
  • 28. See Jeremiah 25:27, 28
  • 29. See Joel 3:17

Footnotes 5

  • [a]. Or Behold, I have made you small among the nations; you are utterly despised
  • [b]. Or Sela
  • [c]. Hebrew lacks those who eat
  • [d]. Hebrew he has
  • [e]. Hebrew do not enlarge your mouth
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.