Obadiah 1 Footnotes

10-14 God used pagan nations, Assyria and Babylon, to discipline his people Israel (722 BC) and Judah (586 BC). As Babylon made its third and most devastating invasion of Judah, their neighbors, the Edomites, helped the Babylonians capture the king of Judah. The Babylonians rewarded Edom by inviting them to join in the plunder of Jerusalem. This was especially painful to the residents of Judah since the Edomites were heirs of Abraham and Isaac through Esau. The Lord was not pleased with the Edomites’ attitudes or actions and raised up Obadiah to prophesy against them. Obadiah charged Edom with one of the oldest crimes on earth—fratricide, or brother turning against brother (Gn 4:1-15). Both human decency and the Mosaic law called for the Edomites to help their kinsmen instead of gloating over them and adding to their pain.