The shortest book in the Old Testament, and it is about one thing: what Edom did on the day Jerusalem fell. Which was nothing, and then rather worse than nothing.

The prophet we know nothing about

We know nothing of the man. His name means servant, worshipper of Yahweh, which at least tells us his parents were godly people. From the prophecy itself we can assume he lived in or around Jerusalem in the last days of the city, before it fell to Nebuchadnezzar.

The prophecy is closely paralleled in Jeremiah 49. Obadiah and Jeremiah were contemporaries, and there is every indication that they knew each other and probably talked over the revelations they were each being given.

The quarrel is older than either nation

The Edomites were the descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob (Genesis 36:1, 8–9). You can read the story of the two brothers in Genesis 25 – 36, and it is worth doing before you read these twenty-one verses, because the prophecy assumes you have.

From the womb, Esau’s line was designated to serve Jacob’s (Genesis 25:22 onwards). And Esau was careless and indifferent to spiritual things — willing to sell his covenant rights, which is to say what God had promised to the line of Abraham, for a bowl of soup (compare Hebrews 12:16).

The family type held. The Herods of the New Testament were Edomites, and showed the same complete lack of interest in the things of God (Matthew 2); Luke 13:31 onwards; 23:8; Acts 12:21 onwards.

Relations between the two nations were never friendly, even though they were blood. Read Numbers 20:14–21; Deuteronomy 2:1–18; II Samuel 8:14; II Kings 14:7; II Chronicles 28:17. Centuries of grievance, and then one day that put an end to the argument.

What happened

The final invasion of Jerusalem came when the city fell to the Babylonians in 587 or 586 BC. The account is in II Kings 24:13–16 and 25:4–17; II Chronicles 36:18, 20; Jeremiah 6:1 – 9:22; Ezekiel 4:1 – 7:27.

Note in particular the fugitives in II Kings 25:4–5 — people going out of the broken city by night, running south. It appears that, seeing Israel defeated, Edom joined in against them: siding with Nebuchadnezzar, and handing the fugitives back.

Read the other witnesses to it: Ezekiel 25:12; 35:5–6; 35:11–15; 36:2–6; Lamentations 1:17; 2:15–17; 4:21; Psalm 137:7. The survivors remembered it, and they remembered it for a long time.

The charge, in the prophet’s own words

“While you stood there doing nothing, strangers carried off Jacob’s wealth. Foreigners entered his gates and threw dice for Jerusalem. You acted like one of them. Don’t gloat over your relative’s misfortune or be happy when the people of Judah are destroyed. Don’t brag so much when they’re in distress.”Obadiah 11–12 · GW

Notice how the indictment begins. Not with an act — with a posture. While you stood there doing nothing. The joining in comes afterwards, and the prophet treats the two as one offence: standing by and taking part turn out to be the same door.

Notice too the word he keeps using. Not Judah, not Israel. Your relative. Your brother. That is the whole weight of the book — not that Edom attacked a neighbour, but that Edom attacked family, on the worst day family ever had.

Why a nation feels safe

“Your arrogance has deceived you. You live on rocky cliffs. You make your home up high. You say to yourself, ‘No one can bring me down to earth.’ Even though you fly high like an eagle and build your nest among the stars, I will bring you down from there.”Obadiah 3–4 · GW

This is geography turned into theology, and it is exact. Edom’s cities were cut into sandstone cliffs, reached through gorges a handful of men could hold. The place really was close to impregnable, and living somewhere unassailable had done to their thinking what such places do.

Their confidence was not irrational. It was simply misplaced — which is the more dangerous of the two, because you cannot argue a man out of a thing his own eyes confirm every morning.

The outline

I. Title and introduction  verse 1

II. God’s judgment on Edom  verses 2–14 — the judgment announced (2–7): the breaking of pride (2–4), then total destruction (5–7). Then the reaffirmation of it (8–14): shame and destruction (8–10), and Edom’s specific crime (11–14).

III. The day of the LORD  verses 15–21 — deliverance for God’s people (15–18), and the LORD’s kingdom established (19–21).

How it ends

“Those who are victorious will come from Mount Zion to rule Esau’s mountain. The kingdom will belong to the LORD.”Obadiah 21 · GW

Judah is being punished, and Judah will still be the line that gives birth to Messiah — and His kingdom will be standing when Edom is a name nobody can place. Edom is judged, and there is nothing left of it.

Obadiah is one more statement that we sin against God when we act unlovingly toward our fellow man. Edom’s sin was to kick a brother while he was down; to gloat over his misfortune, and to make what it could out of it.

Which is a small enough sin to commit and a hard one to see in yourself, and it is why twenty-one verses about a vanished nation are still in the book.