Obadiah 1 explained: A Warning to Proud Edom

Edom's pride brought low (vv. 1-4)

Edom was a small kingdom southeast of the Dead Sea whose towns sat in high rocky mountains, which made its people feel no one could ever reach them. The LORD says their pride has fooled them, and he will pull them down from even the highest perch.

Robbed and betrayed (vv. 5-9)

Thieves take only what they want, and grape pickers leave a few grapes behind, but Edom will be stripped of everything, even its hidden treasures. Its allies will turn on it, and its famous wise men and its warriors (Teman was a region of Edom) will be helpless.

Turning on a brother (vv. 10-14)

Edom's people traced their roots to Esau, and Israel's to his twin brother Jacob, so this was violence against family. When foreign armies took Jerusalem (most likely the Babylonian conquest, though the date is debated), Edom watched, gloated, looted the city, and blocked escaping refugees to kill them or hand them over.

What you did returns (vv. 15-16)

The "day of the LORD" means a coming time when God steps in to judge, and here the rule is simple: Edom will be treated as it treated others. Drinking is an image for swallowing God's anger like a bitter cup, and scholars are unsure whether the "you" who drank on God's holy hill means Judah or Edom.

Zion restored, Edom judged (vv. 17-21)

Survivors will find safety on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, and the whole people, pictured as the fire of Jacob and the flame of Joseph (Joseph standing for the northern tribes), will burn Edom like dry straw with no survivors. Exiles, including some in a place called Sepharad whose location is uncertain, will reclaim lands in every direction, and Christians read the closing line, that the kingdom will be the LORD's, as pointing ahead to God's rule through Jesus.

Key verse: Obadiah 1:15

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether the promises of return and restored land in verses 17 to 21 were fulfilled in Judah's return from exile, are fulfilled spiritually in Christ and the church, or still await a future fulfillment for the people of Israel.

Something to think about

Is standing by and enjoying someone's downfall a different kind of wrong from causing it, and where would you draw that line?