Obadiah is the shortest of the books of the Old Testament of the Bible , a mere twenty-one verses long. Most religious scholars believe it was written by one of seven “post-exile prophets,” the book is self-titled, and has much in common with the Old Testament books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Amos in their criticism and condemnation of the ancient Middle-Eastern nation of Edom. It clearly must also be associated with other prophecies of Hebrew/Israelite/Jewish restoration within the community of nations on Earth, such as those noted in Joel 3:17-21, Amos 9:11-15, and Micah 7:8-20.
Little known outside the halls of biblical scholarship, the book of Obadiah may well be one of the most profound in dealing with the rights and justice of nations toward one another in the eyes of the single God of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Almost nothing is known of the prophet Obadiah. His name is translated as “servant of the Lord” and is one of at least a dozen others by the same name referred to in the bible and there is no autobiographical information within the scriptures or in any other known source about the prophet. There, too, is some question as to exactly when the Book of Obadiah was written. It is felt that there are two potential eras in which it could have been recorded – after the Arab-Philistine attack on what is now the Holy Land, c.844 B.C., or more likely two-and-a-half centuries later in the years after the sacking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian Empire in 586 B.C.
Edom, a nation to the south and east of the Hebrew monarchy of Judah, aided and abetted Babylon in the conquest and destruction of Jerusalem. This might be considered a continuation of Edomite-Judean antagonism whose origins stretched back at least as far as the Exodus of the Hebrew nation from Egypt 839 to 651 years previously. During this initial encounter between the nations, Edom refused to grant the Hebrews passage toward their destination of Canaan. And while there was a period of peaceful co-existence in the intervening years, by the time of Jerusalem’s destruction relations were poor. Soldiers of Edom helped to sack the city, carrying off innumerable riches and wealth alongside their Babylonian allies. All this antagonism, ironically, occurred despite the common lineage of the nations to the biblical patriarch Isaac’s sons Esau and Jacob – Edom descended from Esau and Judah’s lineage traced to Jacob. Whatever was the cause and reasons of the animosity, the result was that the destruction of Jerusalem led to a long Diaspora of the Israelite nation that would continue for some 2534 years.
Edom straddled what is today’s southern Israeli border areas with Egyptian Sinai to the west and Jordan to the east, from the central Negev to the north, down to today’s Red Sea seaport of Eilat on Israel’s southern tip. Edom’s capitol was Bozrah, today the small Jordanian town of Bouseira.
Interestingly, many modern Christians believe that Bouseira will be one of the major venues of the Last Judgement. It is their belief that here the Messiah will return to earth to judge the holy and the wicked.
Nevertheless, it was the destruction of Jerusalem and the following Diaspora that apparently led to Obadiah’s short Biblical book.
Today, Edom’s most widely known city is the famed cave-city of Petra, of which there may be some reference within Obadiah’s work: “…Your capital is a fortress of solid rock...” although Bozrah’s ruins appear to have also been built of rock. But there is no doubt that Obadiah accurately predicted the utter and total destruction of Edom and its eventual absorption by a Hebrew nation some two-and-a-half millennia after the sack and destruction of Jerusalem. Obadiah 19 states, “People from southern Judah will occupy Edom; Those from the western foothills will capture Philistia; Israelites will possess the territory of Ephraim and Samaria; The people of Benjamin will take Gilead…”
This eventually occurred beginning in 1947 the newly established United Nations (knowingly or otherwise) began the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy and mandated the re-establishment of a Jewish nation. And it did indeed lead to the fulfillment of Obadiah’s prophecy when on May 15, 1948, Israel declared independence. Outmanned and outgunned, owning a rag-tag air force and navy barely deserving of the names, and an army of militia, the new Israeli nation fought overwhelming and incredible odds beginning even before independence. This new Hebrew nation, miraculously, was able to defeat the combined might of six Arab nations, the Palestinians living in the region, and the benign neglect of its British colonial predecessor. It conquered Israel, Judah and Philistine of Biblical times, and drove south to secure what had been the Edomite heartland of 2500 years before. The Israeli Order of Battle followed the prophecy of Obadiah almost to the letter, though its complete fulfillment would eventually come within a generation in later years and in later wars.
Obadiah’s prophecy is clearly a lesson to all nations that they are their brothers’ keepers. Edom was a neighbor and, by their common ancestry to Isaac, a brother nation in the region. With Edom’s lack of assistance to Judah and support of the Babylonian Empire, Nebuchadnezzar was able to effectively destroy Hebrew governance in the area for two-and-a-half millennium. While for the vast majority of that period this looked to be the end of the Hebrew nations of Israel, Judah, and the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, clearly it was not. Israel’s re-establishment in 1948 is ample testimony of God’s power over the nations. Over seven million Jews live today within the borders of the State of Israel, the new Hebrew nation, as do millions of others all over the World.
God stated in the prophecy of Obadiah 8-10:
On the day I punish Edom, I will destroy their clever men and wipe out all their wisdom.
The fighting men of Teman will be terrified, and every soldier in Edom will be killed.
Because you robbed and killed your brothers, the descendants of Jacob, you will be destroyed and dishonored forever.
Today, one can see and tour the sites and ruins of Bozrah and Petra and marvel at the incredible architecture and craftsmanship of the artisans and workers who built an apparently talented, great and wealthy nation. Thousands do today and the Edomite city of Petra has even been featured in an Indiana Jones movie. Yet today there is not a single Edomite alive.
This is a stark and important lesson to other nations today. I would even argue that even now God is at work through his lessons in Obadiah. Barely three generations ago the earth saw two of the World’s greatest nations refuse to come to the aid of their fellow weaker nations and those great powers have since paid a heavy price.
In 1938 France and Great Britain, at the time the greatest colonial and military powers on Earth, pledged to stand by Czechoslovakia as a resurgent, newly bellicose, Godless and pagan Germany threatened. Both nations failed to assist the endangered nation, approving an agreement allowing Germany to roll into the disputed western Czechoslovakian region of Sudetenland effectively destroying the nation’s sovereignty. Eleven months later, to the day, Germany invaded Poland as both Britain and France again stood by. The best that either nation could or would do was when the Royal Air Force dropped propaganda leaflets instead of bombs over the German Ruhr and the French Army occupied three square miles of uninhabited Germany territory for three days before retreating back into France.
Of course, these tepid responses plunged the earth into the Second World War, which then led both directly and indirectly to the nearly complete dissolution of both the French and British empires within a single generation. Today, both nations are slowly being absorbed into the greater nation of the European Union and may be but a memory by the end of this century.
The lesson of Obadiah’s writing and prophecy is that God is the king over the Earth and of all nations and man. It is the responsibility of man and the nations of man to assist and defend their neighbors, and to do so for the glory of God and his people on Earth. The failure of the great European powers led to the loss of empire and their relegation to rump nations and their eventual loss of sovereignty into the European Union. The failure of Edom to do the same two-and-a-half millennia previously led to the total and utter destruction of the nation. Today, Edom has its portions divided between Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, with a vast majority within the boundaries of Israel.
Does this lesson bode poorly for America’s and Europe’s response to Russia’s aggression in the tiny Republic of Georgia? What happens if we do not stand up to an identically resurgent, newly bellicose, Godless and pagan Russia? Is Georgia a new Czechoslovakia?
This is an issue that needs to be closely and carefully studied. Edom will never be restored as a nation as there is not a single Edomite left to return. God’s prophecy has been fulfilled – completely and totally.
