Judgment on Proud and Rebellious Edom

Obadiah 1:1-9 

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.

5 "If thieves had come to you,
If robbers by night—
Oh, how you will be cut off!—
Would they not have stolen till they had enough?
If grape-gatherers had come to you,
Would they not have left some gleanings?

6 "Oh, how Esau shall be searched out!
How his hidden treasures shall be sought after!

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.

8 "Will I not in that day," says the LORD,
"Even destroy the wise men from Edom,
And understanding from the mountains of Esau?

9 Then your mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed,
To the end that everyone from the mountains of Esau
May be cut off by slaughter.

The prophet Obadiah, "servant of Jehovah," brought this message against Esau’s descendants known as Edom for their pride in rising above the chosen people of God through Esau’s brother Jacob.  As it is written in Malachi 1:2-3 and explained in Romans 9:11-13 about God’s hatred for the sinful rebellious pride of Esau when he gave up what was given him (Genesis 25:34, Hebrews 12:16) as if a birthright from the Almighty meant nothing, this is the root of the judgment on the nation of his likeminded descendants.  God therefore pronounced this word to hold them accountable and destroyed after being humiliated to set them rightly in the place they chose for themselves.  These who relied on their physical strongholds in the mountains defied Jacob’s (Israel) descendants and rose up against them and even God Himself as the Deceiver did (Isaiah 14:12-13, 14-15) in puffed up self importance and perceived power over Him.  God’s messenger brought the clear answer, that Edom would be defeated and thrown down in humility from that proud stance.  They would be robbed of the glory of God they had supposed to take for themselves because they were His vessels of wrath (Romans 9:22) and not God’s chosen vessels of mercy (Romans 9:23).  The enemies of Edom would be brought to bear on them no matter who Edom tried to ally with.  Their end of doom was set and they would be cut off from the living for their pride of rebellion against God and His chosen people.  This passage has much to teach us about the election of grace and judgment on those not of the sheep of Christ, demonstrating the called and chosen versus the ones chosen to be left in their sin which they were born in.  It demonstrates how the grace and mercy of God is according to God’s choice of His chosen and not our own earned worthiness; we are saved by grace alone and not by earning salvation by seeking out God or doing enough good to be credited to our account.  No, rather we have unmerited favor of the choice of God as His children to credit His righteousness to us because we are His, while those not of the sheepfold (John 6:44-45, 8:47, 10:26-28) do not receive anything but what we are all due from birth (Romans 3:23, 6:23).  Like Jacob, those chosen by God from before the creation of the world (Ephesians 1:4) and fall of man are spared judgment, while the children after the mindset of brother Esau are left to the judgment earned as wages of sin (Romans 6:23) which they earned.  God is infinitely fair and just in these things, not to mention infinitely merciful to those He chooses to lavish His love on.  The works of each reflect who they are (John 3:18-20).  May we read and take these things to heart in humility and gratitude for the grace of God and not think of ourselves as better than any other.  Remember the judgment on proud and rebellious Edom.