Obadiah Introduction
Introduction
This book, the shortest among the twelve minor prophets, is a single twenty-one-verse oracle against Edom. Nothing is known of the author, although his prophecy against Edom, a neighbor and rival of Israel, indicates a date of composition sometime after the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C., when the Edomites apparently took advantage of the helpless people of Judah and Jerusalem (v. 11; Ps 137:7). The relations and rivalries between Israel and Edom are reflected in oracles against Edom (Is 34; Ez 35) and in the stories of their ancestors, the brothers Jacob and Esau (Gn 25–33).
The prophecy is a bitter cry for vengeance against Edom for its pride and its crimes. Mount Esau in Edom will be occupied and ravaged by the enemy, while Mount Zion will be restored to its former sanctity and security. The triumphant refrain of Israelite eschatology will be heard once more: “The kingdom is the Lord’s!” The opening verses of this prophecy (vv. 1–5) are very similar to part of an oracle against Edom in Jer 49 (vv. 9, 14–16), suggesting that Israel’s prophets drew upon traditional language and idioms in the composition of prophetic speech.
The book may be divided as follows:
I. Edom’s Fall Decreed (1–7)
II. Edom’s Betrayal of Judah (8–14)
III. Edom’s Fall and Judah’s Restoration (15–21)
Edom’s Fall Decreed
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Obadiah Introduction: NABRE
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Obadiah Introduction
Introduction
Obadiah is a very short book of only one chapter of 21 verses. It is a concise prophecy of judgment against the country of Edom, Judah's neighbor south of the Dead Sea. Edomites traced their ancestry to Abraham's grandson, Esau, and thus were ancestrally related to the Israelites, whose lineage was from Esau's brother, Jacob (later known as Israel). While these were anciently related peoples, there were also age-old animosities between them.
Speaking for God, the prophet Obadiah, whose name means “Servant of the Lord,” declares that God will bring severe judgment on Edom because of their prideful cruelty toward the people of Judah. When the Babylonian armies crushed Jerusalem and Judah in 586 b.c., and left it in ruins, Obadiah reports that Edom celebrated that event, took unfair advantage of Judah's helplessness to loot Judean towns, and turned refugees over to Babylonian forces. The prophecy says that for this inexcusable perfidy a day of judgment is coming for Edom, a day when they will suffer defeat and be wiped out themselves. But for Judah and Jerusalem, Obadiah declares, its people and places will be restored.
Outline
God's Judgment on Edom and the Nations (1-16)
Israelite Restoration and Expansions (17-21)
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.