Obahiah

God hates
pride and arrogance. He will destroy those nations or peoples who believe that they are above His reach. As a nation and a people we need to be humble and never think that we are better than others. This oracle is about brother against brother. God alone judges and His ways are not ours. In the end, those who humble themselves before Him will be corrected but saved and those who refuse to humble themselves will be destroyed. God protects those who put their trust in Him, not in man.

The Coming Judgment on Edom

1 The vision of Obadiah.

Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom

We have heard a report from the Lord,

And a messenger has been sent among the nations, saying,

"Arise, and let us rise up against her for battle"

2 "Behold, I will make you small among the nations;

You shall be greatly despised.     

3 The pride of your heart has deceived you,

You who dwell in the clefts of the rock,

Whose habitation is high;

You who say in your heart, 'Who will bring me down to the ground?'

4 Though you ascend as high as the eagle,

And though you set your nest among the stars,

From there I will bring you down," says the Lord.

7 All the men in your confederacy

Shall force you to the border;

The men at peace with you

Shall deceive you and prevail against you.

Those who eat your bread shall lay a trap for you.

No one is aware of it.

10 "For violence against your brother Jacob,

Shame shall cover you,

And you shall be cut off forever.

11 In the day that you stood on the other side—

In the day that strangers carried captive his forces,

When foreigners entered his gates

And cast lots for Jerusalem—

Even you were as one of them.

12 "But you should not have gazed on the day of your brother

In the day of his captivity;

Nor should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah

In the day of their destruction;

Nor should you have spoken proudly

In the day of distress.

13 You should not have entered the gate of My people

In the day of their calamity.

Indeed, you should not have gazed on their affliction

In the day of their calamity,

Nor laid hands on their substance

In the day of their calamity.

15 "For the day of the Lord upon all the nations is near;

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

Your reprisal shall return upon your own head.

17 "But on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance,

And there shall be holiness;

The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.

18 The house of Jacob shall be a fire,

And the house of Joseph a flame;

But the house of Esau shall be stubble;

They shall kindle them and devour them,

And no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau,"

For the Lord has spoken.

21 Then saviors shall come to Mount Zion

To judge the mountains of Esau,

And the kingdom shall be the Lord's.

The NKJ puts it this way:

A national oracle is directed against Edom, a country east of the Dead Sea and south of Moab. God would bring about a reversal of Edom's inflated self-importance. Edom's presumed physical safety led the Edomites to become haughty; this would be their downfall. Edom's physical location became a metaphor for the proud and haughty spirit that the nation
had displayed at the time of Judah's distress. Trusting in its high places and mountainous strongholds, Edom reckoned that no one could bring it to account for its actions. The defining characteristic of the nation
of Edom was pride. Interestingly, Jeremiah uses the word pride symbolically as a synonym for Babylon (Jer. 50:31, 32). Pride incites insolence and rebellion toward God, and it brings shame (Prov. 11:2) and destruction (Ezek. 7:10–12). The "pride of your heart" of which Jeremiah speaks is "presumptuous godlessness," the arrogance of those who think that they can thrive without their Creator.
Rather than being robbed randomly, the nation would be systematically pillaged (see Jer. 49:7–10).In your confederacy referred to the nations who were allied with Edom in a covenant relationship, at peace and eating bread with them. Jacob: Esau and Jacob were brothers, the sons of Isaac and Rebekah. The Judeans who had been taken into captivity would come back as deliverers, and they would reign over the people of Edom. the kingdom shall be the Lord's: These were Obadiah's last words against all human arrogance, pride, and rebellion. Edom had thought itself indestructible; but the Lord humbled that nation and restored the fallen Judah. Many people are tempted to consider themselves beyond the reach of God. But God will bring them low, just as He will lift those who humble themselves before Him. And one great day, He will establish His just rule over all.