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Proud Edom Will Be Brought Low

¹ The vision of Obadiah.

Thus says the Lord G od concerning Edom:

We have heard a report from the L ord,

and a messenger has been sent among the nations:

“Rise up! Let us rise against it for battle!”

I will surely make you least among the nations;

you shall be utterly despised.

Your proud heart has deceived you,

you that live in the clefts of the rock,

whose dwelling is in the heights.

You say in your heart,

“Who will bring me down to the ground?”

Though you soar aloft like the eagle,

though your nest is set among the stars,

from there I will bring you down,

says the L ord.

Pillage and Slaughter Will Repay Edom’s Cruelty

If thieves came to you,

if plunderers by night

—how you have been destroyed!—

would they not steal only what they wanted?

If grape-gatherers came to you,

would they not leave gleanings?

How Esau has been pillaged,

his treasures searched out!

All your allies have deceived you,

they have driven you to the border;

your confederates have prevailed against you;

those who ate your bread have set a trap for you—

there is no understanding of it.

On that day, says the L ord,

I will destroy the wise out of Edom,

and understanding out of Mount Esau.

Your warriors shall be shattered, O Teman,

so that everyone from Mount Esau will be cut off.

Edom Mistreated His Brother

For the slaughter and violence done to your brother Jacob,

shame shall cover you,

and you shall be cut off forever.

On the day that you stood aside,

on the day that strangers carried off his wealth,

and foreigners entered his gates

and cast lots for Jerusalem,

you too were like one of them.

But you should not have gloated over your brother

on the day of his misfortune;

you should not have rejoiced over the people of Judah

on the day of their ruin;

you should not have boasted

on the day of distress.

You should not have entered the gate of my people

on the day of their calamity;

you should not have joined in the gloating over Judah’s disaster

on the day of his calamity;

you should not have looted his goods

on the day of his calamity.

You should not have stood at the crossings

to cut off his fugitives;

you should not have handed over his survivors

on the day of distress.

For the day of the L ord is near against all the nations.

As you have done, it shall be done to you;

your deeds shall return on your own head.

For as you have drunk on my holy mountain,

all the nations around you shall drink;

they shall drink and gulp down,

and shall be as though they had never been.

Israel’s Final Triumph

But on Mount Zion there shall be those that escape,

and it shall be holy;

and the house of Jacob shall take possession of those who dispossessed them.

The house of Jacob shall be a fire,

the house of Joseph a flame,

and the house of Esau stubble;

they shall burn them and consume them,

and there shall be no survivor of the house of Esau;

for the L ord has spoken.

Those of the Negeb shall possess Mount Esau,

and those of the Shephelah the land of the Philistines;

they shall possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria,

and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.

The exiles of the Israelites who are in Halah

shall possess Phoenicia as far as Zarephath;

and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad

shall possess the towns of the Negeb.

Those who have been saved shall go up to Mount Zion

to rule Mount Esau;

and the kingdom shall be the L ord’s.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Prophet now laughs to scorn the Idumeans, because they relied on their own fortresses, and thought themselves, according to the common saying, to be beyond the reach of darts; and hence they petulantly insulted the Israelites and despised God himself. The Prophet therefore says, that the Idumeans in vain felicitated themselves, for he shows that all they promised to themselves were mere delusions. The import of what is said then is, “Whence is this your security, that ye think that enemies can do you no harm? Yea, ye despise God as well as men; whence is this haughtiness? whence also is the great confidence with which ye are puffed up? Verily, it comes only from mere delusions. The pride of thine heart has deceived thee.”

And yet there was not wanting a reason why the Idumeans were thus insolent, as the Prophet also states: but he at the same time shows that they had deceived themselves; for God cared not for their fortresses; nay, he counted them as nothing. Thou dwellest, he says, (this is to be regarded as a concession,) in the clefts of the stone; some read, “between the windings of the rock;” ⁷³⁷³ Blayney renders the same words in Jeremiah 49:16, “the encirclings of the rock:” but Parkhurst renders them “the cracks, or fissures of the rock.” — Ed. though others think סלע Salo to be the name of a city. But though I should allow that the Prophet alludes to the name of a city, I yet do not see how can that stand which they hold; for clefts comfort not with a city situated on a plain, though within the ranges of mountains. I do not then doubt but that סלע Salo here means mount Seir. As then the Idumeans had fortresses amidst rocks, they thought that all enemies could easily be kept out.

And hence it follows, The height is his habitation, that is, he dwells in lofty places; and hence he says in his heart, Who shall draw me down to the ground? He afterwards subjoins what I have already stated, — that though their region was exceedingly well fortified, yet the Idumeans were greatly deceived, and indulged themselves in vain delusions, “If thou shouldest raise up thy seat, he says, like the eagle”, — literally, ‘If thou shouldest rise as the eagle,’ — “and if thou shouldest among the clouds ⁷⁴⁷⁴ Literally it is, “among the stars,” בין כוכבים. — Ed. set and nest, I will thence draw thee down, saith Jehovah”. We now see that the Prophet did not without reason deride the confidence with which the Idumeans were inflated, by setting up their fortresses in opposition to God: for it is the greatest madness for men to rely on their own power and to despise God himself. At the same time he could, as it were, easily dissipate by one blast every idea of defense or of power that is in us; but this subject will be more fully handled by us tomorrow.

⁷³ Blayney renders the same words in Jeremiah 49:16, “the encirclings of the rock:” but Parkhurst renders them “the cracks, or fissures of the rock.” — Ed.

⁷⁴ Literally it is, “among the stars,” בין כוכבים. — Ed.