Section III The Day of the Lord

Obadiah 15-21

Obadiah indicates that judgment for Edom will not end simply by her being soon driven out of her long-cherished homeland. He goes on to make reference to the day of the Lord (15), one of the great Old Testament themes (Joel 1:15; 3:14; Zeph. 1:7). Although it is often spoken of as being near, that is, surely approaching and imminent, the exact time of its coming is not stated. Nor do we know just the manner and methods of the day. We do know, however, something of its character. In that day the Lord alone shall be exalted (Isa. 2:11), and all the nations that forget God will receive retribution (Ps. 9:17),

Edom will be among those godless nations to be finally judged. Obadiah tells them, As thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee (15). This suggests the New Testament teaching in such passages as Matt. 6:14-15; 18:21-35; Luke 6:31; Jas. 2:13.

The prophet reminds the Edomites of their drunken orgy in Jerusalem at the time of its plunder by Nebuchadnezzar. Obadiah says that similarly all the heathen (16)—all nations who live without God—will drink of His wrath and their destruction will be as though they had not been (cf. Jer. 25:15-28).

In contrast, upon mount Zion (17) in Jerusalem, the site of the holy Temple, there will be deliverance (escape, RSV) from divine wrath. And there shall be holiness. Holiness here is only partially related to the moral quality so stressed in the NT. Obadiah refers to freedom from defilement from the godless nations, and so suggests safety from any assault (Joel 2:32; 3:17). The house of Jacob, i.e., Judah, shall recover the territories which God had of old given them. The Septuagint puts it interestingly: “The House of Jacob shall take for an inheritance those that took them for an inheritance” (17).

The house of Joseph (18) refers to the northern kingdom of Israel, which had been overthrown by Sargon in 721 B.C. In accord with the prophecies of Hos. 1:11 and Ezek. 37:16-22, Israel is to join with Judah, the southern kingdom, and together they, like a flame burns stubble, shall destroy Edom (cf. Isa. 11:13-14).

Verses 19 and 20 speak of the extent of Israel's inheritance. History recounts that during the exile of Israel the Edomites occupied towns in the south (19) of Judah, the Negeb, an area south of Hebron toward the wilderness of Paran. After the Exile, they of the south, i.e., the men of Judah who return from exile, will possess Edom, the mount of Esau. The plain would be the lowlands lying west of Hebron toward the sea. They who possess Ephraim, and … Samaria probably refers to the men of Israel who had formerly possessed the hill country of Palestine. These conquests were accomplished in the second century B.C. when the Jews under the Maccabees pressed out into the areas indicated.

The captivity (20) refers to the exiles. This host of the children of Israel would be the Jews deported from the northern kingdom by Sargon after Samaria's fall in 721 B.C. The Canaanites were the Phoenicians. Zarephath was a city between Tyre and Sidon (see map 1), the Sarepta of Luke 4:26. The captivity of Jerusalem was the Jews of the Southern Kingdom taken off by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. to Sepharad, probably Sardis in Asia Minor.

The two main themes of the Book of Obadiah are summarized in the final verse. The prophet says that Israelite saviours, wise men of spiritual insight and faith, will rule over Edom, the territory once occupied by the irreligious, fleshly sons of Esau. God's plan is that the spiritual shall at last rise above the profane. And the kingdom shall be the Lord's: the Lord shall rule over all (Ps. 22:28; 103:19; Zech. 14:9; Rev. 11:15).