Edom Pays the Price of Arrogance
Other than naming Obadiah, this shortest of Old Testament books offers no personal information about the prophet whose oracle against Edom the work records. The long history of strife between the Edomite descendants of Esau and the Hebrew descendants of Jacob provides the background against which Obadiah's prophecy stands. But the centuries-long period spanned by the conflict makes it difficult to pinpoint the particular historical circumstances that sparked Obadiah's oracle. Similarly, it proves difficult to place the prophet in time, though his apparent awareness of events surrounding the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 587/86 B.C. suggests that he prophesied after that disaster (vv. 10-14).
Verse i introduces the divine revelation to Obadiah (= "servant of Yahweh") as a "vision," but the 21-verse book takes the form of an oracle. In this context "vision" carries a wider meaning: general prophetic perception, which encompasses both visual and verbal revelations.
As elsewhere in the Old Testament, "Esau" serves as the poetic equivalent of "Edom" (cf. also "Tetuan," probably an area of southern Edom; v. 9), and "Jacob" stands for Israel.
Edom Pays the Price of Arrogance
Obadiah announces that God is mustering the nations for battle against Edom, the historic enemy of the Hebrews. The rocky, mountainous terrain of northern Edom, which overlooked the southern end of the Dead Sea from the east, offered the Edomites countless naturally defensible positions N. 3). Their capital, Sela ("Mount Esau," vv. 8-9, 21), became in the 3rd century the site of the impregnable Nabatean fortress of Petra, in modern Jordan. But Edom's defensive strength generated in it a sense of national invincibility. This political and military arrogance resulted not only in Edom's sins of omission against its neighboring cousins but also in gloating over the misfortune of Jerusalem/Judah and even in inhumane opportunism at the Hebrews' expense (vv. 10-14). Obadiah's description of Edom's sins against the southern kingdom recall the events surrounding the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 587/86, after which the Edomites invaded southern Judah (cf. Ezek. 35:1-15).
In its self-serving pride, however, Edom failed to consider the sovereignty of God, who now determines to punish the nation at the hands of her own allies (v 7; the eating of bread denotes the sharing of a meal to seal a covenant). The Edomites will reap what they have sown (v. 15). Their arrogance will lead to national humiliation (v 2). These looters of Jerusalem will themselves suffer a ransacking that exceeds the plundering of thieves, who take only what they want, and the gleaning of harvesters, required by Mosaic law to leave portions for the underprivileged N. 5). The merciless Edomites who murderered fugitives from Judah will suffer slaughter by the Hebrew survivors on Mount Zion (= Jerusalem). In verse 18, the "house of Jacob" denotes the southern kingdom of Judah, and the "house of Joseph" stands for the coalition of the io northern tribes dominated by Ephraim and Manasseh.
The resurgence of the Hebrews will involve wiping out not only Edom, but also the nations, who have joined Edom in drinking to the misfortune of Judah. The revelers will now get drunk on the destructive cup of God's wrath (v. i6), while the Hebrews take over their territory. Verses 19-20 foresee the repossession of the promised land by Hebrew exiles returned from distant locations: Zarephath, on the Phoenician coast north of Israel, and Sepharad, probably Sardis in far western Asia Minor. The judgment of Edom emanates from Mount Zion/Jerusalem, home to the temple and center of God's rule over his reestablished kingdom (v 21).