Obadiah means Yahweh’s servant. Almost nothing is known about the prophet. Obadiah probably came from Judah, because he was deeply concern about the Edomites’ migration into his land. There have been great debates about the date of the prophet. There are scholars who argue for a date of 885 BC, which suggests the time during the reign of Jehoram and Athaliah (2 Kings 8:18; 2 Kings 11:1-16). Other scholars placed him during Jehoshaphat’s reign (2 Chronicles 17:7). If their assessment is accurate, we have a reference to Obadiah in ancient history. Obadiah’s name was very common during that generation just as the name Joe is today. Other scholars give a date of 585 BC because they believe that Obadiah was Jeremiah’s contemporary.
Obadiah is the smallest book in the Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures because it is made up of 21 verses. However, the book’s few words do not make it less significant for modern readers today because the book’s message is crucial, relevant, realistic, and distressing. The Book of Obadiah illustrates the Edomites’ destiny. The Edomites are people who descended from Esau, just as the Israelites are people who are descended from Jacob. Esau and Jacob’s story describes twin brothers who were Isaac and Rebekah’s sons. They were opposite twins, according to Genesis 25:24-34.
Esau hated his spiritual inheritance. The man who had the patrimony was in contact with God because he was his family’s priest. He was the man who had a covenant relationship with God. However, Esau exchanged his birthright for a soup bowl rather than have a relationship with God. Since Esau rejected God, God says “I have loved you,” says the Lord. “Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” Says the Lord. “Yet Jacob I have loved; But Esau I have hated, And laid waste his mountains and his heritage For the jackals of the wilderness,” according to Malachi 1:1-3 (NKJV). These are strange words for God to say about any man because God does not hate people. However, the explanation is found in Obadiah’s writings.
Obadiah presents Esau as a puffed up personality. What was tiny in Esau evolved many times more in the nation. God never said at the beginning that He hated Esau, but it was not until he became a nation and revealed his disposition, which caused God to hate him: “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?”(Obadiah 1:3).
It was Esau’s pride that God hated. Esau, like Jacob, had become a great nation. Israel’s descendants sojourned into the land of Canaan; Esau’s descendants migrated into the rocky Mideast regions, where archaeologists discovered the city of Petra, which was carved out of hard stone. It became an impenetrable fortification and safe from foreign invasion. A few heavily armed men could guard the narrow passages from enemy attacks. The Edomites were living in a false security. Their pride made them believe that the God of their ancestors was irrelevant and they removed God completely out of their civilization by replacing Him with false pagan gods.
Obadiah predicts that God will someday judge the Edomites. In contrast to Edom’s future defeat and humiliation, God will bless His Israeli people. After their exile in Babylon (this represents the world), they will return to possess and permanently occupy the land that God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’s descendants (Obadiah 1:15-21).
SUMMARY OF ESAU’S FUTURE
Obadiah writes that God chose Jacob and not Esau, because Esau did not honor or worship God. According to a few eschatologists, Esau’s descendants are today’s Arab nations. The Arabs are bordering the Israelis on all sides, except the Mediterranean Sea. When we analyze Obadiah 1:15-21 and Psalm 83 prophecies, we realize that the prophets were giving unfulfilled prophecies about the Arab nations’ ultimate outcome along with other ethnic populations directly surrounding future Israel. These groups include: Egypt, Babylon (Iraq), Edom (Jordan), Dedan (Saudi Arabia) and other nations. Obadiah 1:15-21 and Psalm 83 appears to accurately identify the Arab nations and these verses predict the pres
RELATED SOURCES
The Holy Bible; The Bible by Jim Bell and Stan Campbell; Learn The Bible in 24 Hours by Dr. Chuck Missler ;The Bible by Stan Campbell and James S. Bell, Jr ;The Last Days by Richard H. Perry ; and The Book of Revelations by Dr. Larry R. Helyer, PhD, and Richard Wagner; Isralestine by Bill Salus, Defend and Proclaim the Faith Blog by Dr. John Mcternan; The Next World War by Dr. Grant Jeffrey; Mideast Blog by Dr. Maurice Sklar.