Edom, Obadiah and The Empire Strikes Back, Part 1

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Short Summary
The discourse explores the prophetic significance of Edom, descendants of Esau, focusing on their hostility toward Israel and alliance with Babylon, which led to their divine judgment as detailed in Obadiah and other scriptures. It highlights the repeated biblical themes of Edom’s arrogance, betrayal, and eventual destruction, while also pointing to a future restorative judgment and kingdom where Israel and the faithful will reign, bringing cleansing and blessing to all nations. The talk sets the stage for a continuation addressing Edom’s prophetic identification, the Antichrist, and related historical and spiritual insights.

Long Summary
Detailed Summary of the Discourse: “Edom, Obadiah, and The Empire Strikes Back, Part One”

Introduction and Context Setting
– The speaker, Brother Tom, opens expressing gratitude for the brethren’s flexibility in allowing the talk despite not being physically present.
– The talk focuses on the biblical prophecies concerning Edom, primarily through the book of Obadiah, and its relationship with Israel.
– The starting scripture is Isaiah 35:1:
*“The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.”*
This verse symbolizes the future restoration and blessing of God’s kingdom, applying to Israel and beyond.

Who Were the Edomites?
– Edomites are descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob (Israel).
– Esau’s story is briefly summarized: born red and hairy (Genesis 25:22-26), he sold his birthright to Jacob for a “mess of red pottage.”
– Isaac’s blessing on Esau and Jacob is contrasted (Genesis 27:28-29 and Genesis 27:39-40), highlighting a difference in the blessings related to dominion and provision.
– The speaker notes translation variations regarding Esau’s blessing, emphasizing the barren and harsh land Esau inhabited (Mount Seir, associated with red rocks and the name “Edom” meaning red).

Historical Relationship Between Israel and Edom
– Edom’s animosity toward Israel is traced back to their origins and subsequent historical conflicts:
– Edom refused the Israelites passage during the Exodus despite peaceful assurances.
– King David conquered Edom; later Edom revolted under Jehoram of Judah.
– Edom allied with Babylon, participating in the capture and destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of Israelites.

Prophecies Concerning Edom (Obadiah and Parallel Scriptures)
– Obadiah 1:1 announces God’s judgment on Edom due to their actions against Israel: *“Arise and let us go against her for battle.”*
– Jeremiah 49 and other prophets repeat similar messages about Edom’s downfall, showing a pattern of prophetic repetition for emphasis and clarity.
– Edom is portrayed as arrogant, dwelling in inaccessible rocks and cliffs, feeling secure (Obadiah 1:3-4), but God declares He will bring them down (Job 39:27-29).
– Edom’s betrayal is highlighted: their covenant partners will betray them (Obadiah 1:7).
– The capital city, Teman, known for wisdom, will lose its wise men (Obadiah 1:8).
– Violent actions against Israel and their betrayal during Israel’s calamity result in shame and destruction (Obadiah 1:10-14; Ezekiel 25:12; Psalm 137:7).

Edom’s Punishment and Restoration Themes
– Edom is condemned for standing aloof and rejoicing over Israel’s destruction (Obadiah 1:11-14).
– The prophecy lists eight “do nots” forbidding Edom from gloating or exploiting Israel’s misfortune, indicating complete condemnation (Obadiah 1:12-14).
– Despite judgment, there is a theme of restoration and hope:
– Isaiah 35 and Jeremiah 49:38 envision a future where God sets His throne and restores order.
– Psalm 149:7-8 and Revelation 14:1 portray the righteous executing judgment and restoration.
– Obadiah 1:17-21 speaks of survivors possessing lands and the kingdom belonging to Yahweh.

Symbolism and Prophetic Parallelism
– Mountains represent governments/kingdoms (Obadiah 1:21).
– Fire and flame symbolize God’s judgment that totally consumes (Obadiah 1:18; Zechariah 12:6).
– Wilderness and exile signify purification and renewal (Jeremiah 31:14-15), paralleling Israel’s spiritual renewal and the wilderness experiences of Elijah and John the Baptist.

Edom’s Fate and the Broader Judgment of Nations
– Edom’s destruction serves as a case study for the judgment of all nations that oppose God’s people (Obadiah 1:15-16; Amos 1:6-9).
– The day of Yahweh involves universal judgment where “as you have done, it will be done to you.”
– Nations who attacked Israel will be judged similarly, and ultimately, God’s kingdom will be established with Israel and the faithful as kings and priests (Amos 9:12; Zechariah 14:16-21).

Connection to New Testament and Future Hope
– The 144,000 mentioned in Revelation 14:1 are linked to the remnant who will judge and restore the nations, including Edom.
– Revelation 19:17-21 speaks of the ultimate defeat of evil and the invitation to receive the water of life freely, symbolizing restoration and salvation.
– The judgment of Edom and Babylon are related but distinct, both cooperating in opposition to God’s people but ultimately defeated.

Conclusion and Preview of Part Two
– The talk concludes with an acknowledgment that many Old Testament prophecies about Edom overlap and reinforce the same themes of judgment and restoration.
– Part two will explore the identification of Edom prophetically, the Antichrist requirements, and further historical details.
– Emphasis on the grace of God, the call to repentance, and the restoration of all nations in God’s kingdom.

—

Key Bible Verses Mentioned:

Isaiah 35:1
*“The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.”*

Genesis 25:22-23
*“Two nations are in your womb… the older will serve the younger.”*

Genesis 27:28-29
*“Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth… Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee.”*

Genesis 27:39-40
*“Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth… and by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother.”*

Hebrews 11:20
*“By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.”*

Obadiah 1:1
*“Thus says the Lord Yahweh concerning Edom… arise and let us go against her for battle.”*

Job 39:27-29
*“Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up… His eyes see it from afar.”*

Obadiah 1:10-14
Commands against rejoicing in Israel’s calamity and exploiting their misfortune.

Ezekiel 25:12
*“Because Edom has acted against the house of Judah… the Lord will punish them.”*

Psalm 137:7
*“Remember, O Yahweh, against the sons of Edom the day of Jerusalem.”*

Zechariah 14:16
*“All the nations that are left… will go up year to year to worship the King Yahweh of hosts.”*

Amos 1:6-9, 15
*“For the day of Yahweh draws near on all nations… as you have done, it shall be done to you.”*

Obadiah 1:17-21
Promise of deliverance, possession, judgment of Edom, and the kingdom belonging to Yahweh.

Isaiah 52:7
*“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news.”*

Revelation 14:1
*“The 144,000 were standing with the Lamb on Mount Zion.”*

Revelation 19:17
*“The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come!’… let him who thirsts come.”*

—

Summary of Themes:

– Edom’s origin from Esau and its longstanding hostility towards Israel.
– Prophetic condemnation of Edom’s violence, betrayal, and arrogance.
– The repeated biblical motif of Edom’s judgment as a symbol of divine justice against nations opposing God’s people.
– The intertwining of historical events (Babylonian captivity) with prophetic symbolism.
– The ultimate restoration of Israel and the inclusion of nations in God’s kingdom.
– The role of God’s faithful in judging and restoring the world.
– The grace and opportunity for repentance and renewal through God’s plan.

—

This discourse thoroughly explores the biblical narrative and prophecy surrounding Edom, integrating Old and New Testament scriptures to reveal a comprehensive picture of judgment, restoration, and hope within God’s overarching plan.

Transcript

Brother Tom stated the talk title is Edom Obadiah and the Empire Strikes Back, Part one. We appreciate the Brethren’s willingness to again to be so flexible on how to allow us to be able to serve even if we were not there with you personally, and we would have liked to have been and had lunch with you afterwards, but that’s another time for another talk, perhaps in the future. So anyway, we’re going to start with Isaiah, chapter 35, verse 1. This is one of my favorite scriptures and it’s a beautiful depiction of God’s kingdom for all.

It says the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the robes. You know, how often do we stop and consider the context of this and think about the words, you know, the, the two words here I’m going to highlight in red for them. It says that it shall be glad for them. Well, who exactly?

While if we go back and we look at this context, it starts back in Isaiah chapter 33, but Isaiah chapter 34 is it’s immediate context and it’s about Edom and it’s capital, Basra and some of the other things relating to the prophecies about edom. But Isaiah 34 talks about.

These brothers of Israel and we’ll talk a little bit about Edom’s origin and we’ll get into that a little bit further as we go. But who were the Edomites? They were the descendants of Esau, remember? I’m sorry to interrupt. Just really quick on the slides, there’s a, there’s a kind of a black box to the left that blocks a little bit of the.

Ah, okay. That’s why. How’s that? Oh, oh, and one at the top too as well. I see that.

Hold on a second. There we go. All right, so. Looks good. Thank you.

Yeah. So I’m going to read this first verse and talk about who are the edomites. It says Obadiah 1. One says a vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord Yahweh concerning Edom.

We have heard a report from Yahweh. An envoy has been sent among the nations saying, arise and let us go against her for a battle, and this is from the Legacy Standard Bible, which I’m going to be using. The Legacy Standard Bible is basically an update of the new American Standard 1995 edition, just with modern manuscript evidence, and I also like that they use the name Yahweh in every place in the Old Testament where, where I should appear.

And so again who were the Edomites? The Edomites were the descendants of Esau, and if you remember the story of Esau and his posterity, Esau’s story took another tangent when he sold his birthright to his brother Jacob, and like his mother, Isaac’s wife, Rebecca, was also barren, and after Isaac prayed to the Lord, his wife became pregnant.

And the scripture says the babies. Genesis 25:22 says the babies jostled each other within her, and she said, why is this happening to me? So she went to inquire of the Lord, and the Lord answered, two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated. Why, one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.

Scripture doesn’t inform us if she told her husband this prophecy, but we know the rest of the story. You found out later on, twins were born to Isaac and Rebecca, and Esau is born red and hairy all over, and remember the meaning of Jacob’s name. It means he who grasps the heel.

Because the way that he came out of the womb was he was holding onto his brother’s foot as he came out, and Esau meant hairy, and that’s kind of how he was when he came out. There was a clear distinction between the two.

Later, Esau became a hunter and was Isaac’s favorite son, and we know that he sold his birthright to his brother Jacob for a mess of red pottage. He ate, got up from the table and left, showing no remorse for what he had done.

Now the defining moment came when Isaac had grown old and the time had come to bestow the birthright. Rebecca overheard Isaac ask Esau to go out and bring him some venison, and a righteous action would have been to bring Jacob to Isaac, tell him what the angel had told her about Jacob, and explain the sale of the birthright. Instead, she chose another course of action. She did a few things.

The first thing she did was she formulated a plan. The second, twice she asked Jacob to obey her. The third thing she did was, you know, she said, if it fails, let the curse be on her. The fourth thing she did is she cooked goat soup. It wasn’t venison that he was requesting.

And then the fifth thing, she put Esau’s clothes and a goat skin on Jacob to deceive her husband, and although Jacob seems reluctant, he goes along with his mother, mother’s plan, and lies to his father three times that he was Esau, his brother.

And although he gets the birthright, Esau is so angry after this that he wants to kill his brother Jacob. Rebecca asked Jacob to flee, and she never sees him again. She dies before Jacob returns to settle matters with his brother, and Esau made things difficult for his parents by marrying a Canaanite woman, who made it difficult for both Rebecca and Isaac, and this all comes back to Jacob an ironic way later on.

And we don’t have time to get into that today, but if you want more of that story, send me an email and I’ll send it to you. But this blessing back to the birthright. Esau started to cry, and he asked his father for a blessing. In Genesis and Isaac state, well, we already gave the right of the firstborn to your brother Jacob, and Esau pled further until Isaac gave him a Blessing.

In Genesis 27:28-29, it says, Therefore this is the blessing to Jacob first, it says, therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine. Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee. Be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother sons bow down to thee. Cursed be everyone that curses thee, and blessed be he that blesses thee.

Understandably, Esau was heartbroken, and he went to his father and asked if there was any blessing in love for him.

And his father said, behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven from above, and by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother, and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck. This is from Genesis 29, verses 39 to 40.

Now, when I read this, take time to compare these two blessings and see if you can spot a difference between the two.

Notice, in Esau’s blessing, it says, away from the fatness of the earth shall be your habitation, and away from the dew of heaven from above. But there’s a real interesting dilemma and translation issue in this particular verse.

So let’s look at this in two different translations. Can you see the difference? So the top one, of course, is the Legacy Standard Bible, and the bottom one is the American Standard Version.

Here’s the difference. This is the same verse, mind you notice, one says, away from the fatness of the earth and away from the dew of heaven, but the other says, of the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven from above. Why the difference? You know, usually when there’s a translation difference, it’s just a little nuance of thought, but it’s not generally completely opposite thoughts. You know, why is this?

The other difference between these two blessings is that Jacob was to be served and he saw us to serve. But perhaps if we look at the New Testament, it’ll help us know exactly how to understand this a little bit better. So in Hebrews 11:20 it tells us the answer. It says by faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come, and so one suggestion I could make as to why there’s such contrasting and opposite translations of this particular verse and the words away from are not in the text.

It possibly because the area where Esau went and dwelt was barren and it didn’t have the fatness of the earth and it didn’t have the dew of heaven. It was full of red rocks just like his name meant, just like the word Seer. The word Seer, the mount Seer comes from the same root of the Hebrew word, which is the color hair that Esau had. It was red hair. It was the color pottage that he sold his birthright for.

And the mountains of Seir where the Edomites moved were this red colored mountain range as, as you can see here, and some of you who might be movie bus might recognize this as modern day Petra. These carvings in the rock were not made by the Edomites. They were made by the Nabataeans who dwelt there centuries later. But this is the area where the Edomites went to.

And so when Moses asked the king of Edom to pass peacefully through Edom on their journey, they were refused. Even though the Israelites said, we’ll stay on the king’s highway, but we won’t touch any of your fields. We’ll pay for any water that we are, our livestock drink. But the king of Edom denied them passage anyway and he even threatened to meet them with an army. The Jews had to find another way around.

The animosity between the two nations continued for centuries. King David conquered Edom and made it a vassal state.

Now Edom eventually revolted and gained its independence under King Jehoram of Judah, and that’s when Edom’s story intersects with Obadiah’s prophecy that we’re going to look into now.

So when Jacob and Esau’s ancestors story intersects with Babylon, the Edomites became allies with that world empire. They not only captured, killed, but they took Jewish captives from the promised land all the way to Babylon, and this is what Obadiah’s prophecies are all about. This is why Eden was being punished. This is all because of what she did to Israel.

And then God punishes Edom through Babylon and called for their destruction because of their hatred and severe treatments of their brother Jacob. Now, there’s several prophecies about Edom in Scripture, and much of what Obadiah is saying is mentioned elsewhere, and we’re going to compare some of those passages as we go. But the first verse of Obadiah says, the vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord Yahweh concerning Edom.

We have heard a report from Yahweh, and an envoy has been sent among the nations saying, arise and let us go against her for battle, and notice Jeremiah has a prophecy about Edom, and it says exactly the same thing. Jeremiah says, I have heard a message from Yahweh, and an envoy is sent among the nations saying, gather yourselves together and come against her and rise up for a battle, and so you’ll see some of these prophecies, even prophecies about Edom that happened at different times, repeated these same exact messages.

And isn’t this like how the Gospels are written? We have four different Gospel accounts, all written from a different perspective by a different individual, and yet combined, those four accounts give us a much larger picture of the story of Christ and the same thing with these prophecies of Edom. If we could take all of those prophecies of Edom and compare them, sometimes you get a larger picture than if you just looked at one immediate context, and on Thursday evenings, we have a study that we’ve done for years through the minor prophets.

And one thing that we did recently was take all the prophecies of Edom and lay them out in different columns on a spreadsheet and try to align where either the verbiage was the same or the topics were the same, and this helped give us a bigger picture of what these prophecies of Edom were talking about, and this is why you’ll see different books talking about the same prophecy on the slides as we go, and so verse two.

Behold, I will make you small among the nations. You are greatly despised. Eden was considered despised among the nations, and the fulfillment of this began to take place in the overthrow of the Edomites by Nebuchadnezzar, and it even continued until the Maccabees centuries later.

But after a falling out with these various enemies of Israel, the Edomites were eventually absorbed into the Jewish population. So if you remember, it was King Herod who granted Salome’s request for John the Baptist had to be put on a platter King Herod was Anite.

Obadiah 13 and of course, Jeremiah here says the same thing. The arrogance of your heart has deceived you. You who dwell on the clefts of the cliff in the height of your habitation, who says in your heart, who will bring me down to earth? This is Edom’s arrogance, and there’s a poetic parallelism here where a lot of the motifs or the ideas are mentioned more than once.

Here we have the cleft of the rocks and the heights of the habitation.

In this poetic parallelism in the book of Micah is a good example, and of course, if you’d like to have more information, I have an article on that that was published in the Herald magazine that I can point you to. But basically what the prophets are doing is they tell you what they told you, they tell you again, and then they repeat it again, because if you didn’t get it the first time, you might get it the second. If you don’t get it the second time, you might get it the third time, and each time they mention it, a little different nuance is added or some other details.

And then taking that poetic parallelism of that individual prophet and then comparing it to that of the other prophets, where they also have prophecies of Edom, by connecting those dots together, you get a much larger picture, and so what Obadiah is saying here is the Edomites were arrogant. They thought there was safety in the heights, they thought they had the high ground. But even though they thought they had an unshakable foundation, the Lord’s telling them he was going to take it down.

Obadiah, verse 4, and of course, Jeremiah as well says, though you build loftily like the eagle, though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down. They built themselves up like Babylon, and they were looking for prey, and what they didn’t realize is that with the Lord it doesn’t matter how high up you think you are, he can take you down if. If you need to be.

In Job, chapter 39, verse 27, it says, is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high on the cliff he dwells and lodges upon the rocky crag in inaccessible place, and that’s exactly what the Edomites thought they were in. They thought they were in an inaccessible place. Verse 29 of Job says, from there he spies out food. His eyes see it from afar.

His young ones also suck up blood, and where the slain are, there is he pride goes before a fall there’s no hiding from God’s judgment.

Now, Obadiah, Juan, and Jeremiah 49 mentions exactly the same thing again. Now, Jeremiah says, if grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings? If thieves came by night, they would destroy only until they had enough. Basically, what the Lord is telling them is they overdid it.

Regular thieves would come and take what they wanted. But Edom took more than they needed. They didn’t take enough only to satisfy themselves. They tried to take everything. The enemies of Israel took everything.

And this is one of the reasons the Lord is judging Edom for again, what she did to her sister Israel.

Verse 6 of Obadiah is a continuation from the previous verse. It says, oh, how Esau will be searched out and as hidden treasures ransacked. Basically, it’s saying their plunder will be plundered. Every treasure is going to be found and taken.

Now, why is Esau mentioned by name here? If we look through these prophecies, we’ll see that Esau, Edom, these words are used interchangeably, and this is that again, that traditional poetic way or prophetic way of writing that poetic parallelism. It’s a reminder that Jacob and Esau were brothers and that these nations were related to each other in a real intimate way, which made it all much more a reason that the Lord punished them for what they were doing for their brethren, because they had a relationship with each other.

Obadiah 1:7 says, all the men who have a covenant with you will send you forth to the border, and the men at peace with you will deceive you and overpower you. They who eat your bread will set an ambush for you. There is no discernment in him, and so, as I stated previously, this is exactly what happened to Edom.

The ones they trusted to share their bounty and their beliefs would rise up against them. They weren’t intelligent enough to know that those who pretended to be their friends might eventually be their doom. The passage here also speaks of a border and, you know, a boundary or a territory, and it’s basically saying that Edom was going to be pushed to the edge. In other words, there’s going to be complete loss of territory and power for them.

And as we’ll see when we get to the end of Obadiah, that last verse says that the very government of Esau would be judged, and we’ll talk a little bit more about that a little later on.

Obadiah 1:8 says, Will I not, on that day declares Yahweh, caused the wise men from Edom and discernment from the mountain of Esau to perish. Now there’s a poetic parallelism in Jeremiah that says exactly the same thing. Eden was famous for its wisdom, and they lost it. Obadiah said they had very little understanding, and even that was going to be taken from them, and so no wonder there was no wisdom left in Taman.

They basically had what we call today a brain drain. They lost their wise ones, they lost that wisdom, and that was one of their punishments. This is why they fell for the trap that they did with with Babylon.

Obadiah 1:man 1:9 says, Then your mighty men will be dismayed, oh Taman. So each one may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter. Taman was the capital of Edom, and the LORD tells Edom that they’ll be cut off from their own mountain, their own empire, their own government. Isaiah 34 also mentions this, and it says, the sword of the LORD is filled with blood. It’s sated with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of kidneys and rams, where the LORD has a sacrifice in Basra, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion. The LORD loved his people, Israel, and was going to protect them and make sure that they were always going to be there.

Obadiah 110 again talks about Edom and says that because of the violence to your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame. You’ll be cut off forever. They wanted to destroy Israel, and yet they turned on each other and they get destroyed. Ezekiel 25 is yet another prophecy about Edom, and it mentions exactly the same thing. Ezekiel 25:12 says, Because Edom has acted against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has incurred previous guilt and avenged themselves upon them.

This is why the LORD was punishing them. Psalm 137:7 is similar. It says, remember, O Yahweh, against the sons of Edom the day of Jerusalem, who said, tear it down, tear it down to its very foundation. Everything they did to Israel was going to reflect upon them. The same exact thing they did to Israel was going to happen to them, except their identity as a nation was going to cease, and Israel’s would not.

Obadiah 111 says that on the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers took his wealth captive and foreigners entered his gate and cast lots for Jerusalem, you too were as one of them.

Now when Israel was attacked. Ethan did nothing other than think that they could have Israel’s wealth, and they joined with the enemies of Israel, and trying to take a spoil, they cast lots for Jerusalem, they took up even the houses and the temple of of the Lord, and they rounded up people who are trying to escape, and they took them to Babylon or killed them.

Isaiah 25:3 says, and say to the sons of Ammon, hear the word of the Lord God. Thus says the Lord, because you said, aha. Against my sanctuary when it was profaned, and against of the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into exile. Because you have said these two nations and these two lands will be mine, and we will possess them, although the Lord was there, and the Lord was always with Israel. When we look at Paul’s letter to the romans and chapters 9, 10 and 11, in chapter 9 he starts out this whole context about how Israel had the prophets, they had the patriarchs, they had the law, they had the covenants, they had all of these things.

And yet they were still idolatrous, they were still sinful, and they were still unbelieving, and yet as you follow Romans 9, 10 and 11 through it’s one scripture after another, and how Israel questioned their Maker, how they sinned against the Lord, and yet the LORD still was with them, and the Lord was still protecting them, and the Lord was not going to negate his promises to his people Israel, and that’s why when you get to Romans chapter 11, it talks about blindness in part happening to the children of Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles. Amen.

Now Obadiah, chapter 1, verse 12 says, do not look on your brother’s day with triumph the day of his misfortune, and do not be glad over the sons of Judah in the day when they perish, and do not let your mouth speak great things in the day of their distress. So what happens in the past becomes a type of what will happen in the future, and so we’re going to talk about this type or the symbology of the future as we continue on. But here again, remember what’s happening with Edom.

Edom was not Babylon, but they allied themselves with Babylon and they allied themselves with the other enemies of Israel, and Obadiah here his prophecy is explaining why the mountain of Israel was going to be judged by those on Mount Zion. Edom is condemned for standing by and not helping and attacking Israel. The Lord here is talking about why Edom is evil and why Edom needs to be judged.

And as we get to our second talk, we’ll see that influence of Christianity throughout the world. Sometimes you have Christian ideas that are against the natural and spiritual chosen of the Lord, and we’ll get into the details of that a little later on.

Now, the Septuagint translation says very similarly. It says, neither should as thou have gone into the gates of thy people in the day of their troubles, nor yet should as thou have looked upon their gathering in the day of their destruction, nor shouldest thou have attacked the host in their day of perishing. Now, what’s interesting here is if you look at the context of Obadiah, you’ve got verse 12, 13 and 14, and comparing just those three verses, you’ll see there’s eight do nots listed here.

Do not look on your brother’s day with triumph is the first one. Do not be glad over the sons of Judah. The third one is, do not let your mouth speak great things in the day of their distress. The fourth is, do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their disaster. The fifth is, do not look on their calamity with triumph.

The sixth, do not send out for their wealth. The seventh, do not stand at the fork of the road to be cut down amongst those who escape, and eight do not deliver the over their survivors in the day of their distress.

And so this is why Edom is to be judged completely, and eight, of course, is a new series of seven. Seven is a a symbol of completion or perfection. Eight is the start of a new series. So you have seven days in the week you have the next day is the eighth day.

That’s the start of a new week, and so Eden’s judgment is going to result in their being delivered, and we’ll see that as we continue through this context. But how else do we know this? What is that new beginning?

And what’s going to be a new beginning for Edom and for the nations?

We know this because one of the reasons we mentioned earlier, Isaiah 35 talks about the wilderness in a solitary place will be glad for them. For who? For Edom and for the rest of the world.

But Jeremiah 49:38 adds, I will set my throne in Elam and destroy out of it kings and princes, and so here it’s giving us more details about what is going to happen to Edom, what God’s target is. It’s these kings and princes. It’s the government.

Psalm 149, 7:8 says that those on Mount Zion will be executing vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples to bind their kings with chains, and they’re nobles with fetters of iron. This is an exact parallel to what’s happening in Revelation, chapter 19, and we’ll show that parallel a little later on as we continue.

And of course, the last verse of Obadiah says, clearly it mentions this time period, it mentions the kingdom, and it says that these deliverers, these saviors, will ascend Mount Zion to judge the mountain of Esau, and the kingdom will belong to Yahweh. We know in scripture a mountain is a government. It’s a kingdom, and it’s telling us that at the time of the church’s completion, Edom will have a government and a government that will need to be taken care of, and so we’ll understand more of that as we continue on, and we’ll bring in other parallel passages to help us correlate and, and to make more sense out of it.

And of course, this is the beauty of God’s plan and his grace. Of course we know he’s going to remove the kings, he’s going to remove the princes, the kingdoms, and eventually the nations of the earth. Yet this rebellion against God’s chosen will eventually give way to repentance and the conversion of the nations.

Zechariah 14:16 says, Then it will be that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up year to year to worship the King Yahweh of hosts and to celebrate the feast of Books. Those who are restored in the kingdom will celebrate the Feast of Booths. This was a thanksgiving for deliverance from Egypt through the Red Sea and the parting of the land at the river Jordan, and this is recounted for us in Leviticus, chapter 23, verses 41 to 43, where they’re commanded by the Lord. He says, you shall thus celebrate it as a feast to Yahweh for seven days in the year.

It shall be a perpetuate perpetual statute throughout your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall live in booths for seven days. All the native born in Israel shall live in booze so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt.

And how appropriate this thanksgiving is at this time that we have in our nation Thanksgiving coming this week. I recently gave a talk in Toronto about the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and if you want to listen to something about Thanksgiving this Thanksgiving, I would suggest listening to that on on the Christian Resources app, and let me know what you Think I’d be much appreciative. Now, Obadiah 114 again repeats idioms of viciousness and they wouldn’t let anyone escape.

Amos 1, 69 adds a little bit more to this, and it says, for three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not revoke its punishment because they deported in an entire population to deliver it up to Edom. Thus says the Lord, for three transgressions of tire and for four, I will not revoke its punishment because they delivered up an entire population to Edom and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood, and so again, that similarity. So according to Amos, Edom had allies who assisted them against Israel, and they too were going to see judgment because of what they did to their to God’s chosen people.

Verse 15 brings it a little bit further, and he says in verse 15, for the day of Yahweh draws a near on all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you. Your dealings will return to your own head, and so, just as we saw in Amos’s prophecy, there are other nations that were involved in this as well with Edom. This can also parallel what’s going on in the Day of the Lord at our time.

And we’ll get into that a little bit more a little later on. But remember, this previous verse described Edom. It’s violence against Israel. They blocked escape routes, they captured fugitives, they participated in Israel’s downfall, and verse 15 announces, the day of the Lord is near on all the nations.

And so the logic of this is that the behavior for which Edom did is the behavior for which all the nations will be ultimately judged. Edom uses, or Obadiah uses Edom as a case study, and then it expands that principle universally. Obadiah 115 is not a break. It’s basically a prophetic widening of the lens. So just as Edom is guilty and will be judged, that same standard is going to apply to the whole world, and especially for how they treated the Lord’s people.

Again, that’s the whole subject of Obadiah’s prophecy.

Obadiah 116 says, because just as you drank on my holy mountain, all the nations will drink continually. They will drink and swallow, and they will be as if they never were. Obadiah interprets Edom and the nation’s celebration over Israel’s calamity as an act of drinking on God’s holy mountain. They were all participating in Israel’s trouble. Edom drank first, but all the nations will drink continually, and become eventually as though they had never existed.

And so again, this shows that the prophecy is not restricted to Edom, again, as that prophetic widening of the lens, but it’s using Obadiah’s prophecy, is using Edom’s behavior as the pattern for the nation’s ultimate judgment, and especially their ultimate judgment, because again, what they did to God’s people.

Joel3 perfectly matches Obadiah’s expanded horizon when it talks about God gathering all the nations to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and again it mentions Edom. It says, Egypt will become a desolation, and Edom will become a desolate wilderness. That sounds just like Isaiah chapter 34 that we mentioned earlier, because of the violence done to the sons of Judah in whose land they have shed innocent blood. But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

Edom here is singled out, but again, that it was a prophetic widening of the lens. They were a picture of what the judgment will be in all the these nations, all these nations against God’s holy people.

And Jeremiah goes further and he connects this cup with worldwide judgment. Now, Basra, of course, was the capital of Edom, and it says here that Basra, Edom must drink, and their cities become perpetual wastes. Jeremiah 49:12 to 13 says, for thus says Yahweh, behold, those who are not under judgment to drink the cup will certainly drink it. But are you the one who will go completely unpunished?

You will not go unpunished, but you will certainly drink it. For I have sworn by myself, declares Yahweh, that Basra will become an object of horror, a reproach, a ruin, and an imprecation in all its cities will become perpetual ruins, and so again, if we go back to that prophetic widening of the lens, we have to remember that one, like Isaiah 26:9 says, When God’s judgments are in the earth, the world will learn righteousness. Remember this prophecy against even Isaiah 34. Its conclusion is Isaiah 35.

The wilderness and the solitary place will be glad for them. They’re going to have an opportunity with the rest of the world. In God’s kingdom, the governments, the nations opposed to God’s arrangements will be destroyed. But the individuals will have every opportunity to learn righteousness and to celebrate the feast of booze and walk up that highway of holiness that Isaiah 35 speaks about. Thankfully, we have those two chapters together.

Isaiah 35 is the ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah, chapter 34, verse 17 of Obadiah says, but on Mount Zion there will be those who Escape and it will be holy, and the house of Jacob will possess their possessions, and notice it mentions three things here, deliverance, holiness and restoration. The holy remnant here is linked to these prophetic survivors, those who escape that violence against Israel, those who are rewarded with being kings and priests, those who are rewarded with this ultimate reward of being on Mount Zion to judge the mountain of Edom. Israel not only regains the land taken by Edom and Babylon historically, but also the birthright blessings.

Because remember, through Abraham’s seed all nations are blessed, and so those. The idea of everyone having that opportunity in the kingdom when Abraham’s seed says all nations will be blessed is there. Amos 9:12 says that Israel will possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations called by God’s name. So what does this imply?

Again, Edom has a future opportunity in the messianic kingdom. Israel, of course, will be that blessed nation, the kingdom of priests on the earth. But there’s also the spiritual Israel, the hundred and forty four thousand who will be the blessed nation in the heavenly kingdom of priests, and together they’ll be working to restore Edom and to restore mankind and to bring them back through a restorative judgment, not a retributive type of judgment.

Verse 18 of Obadiah says, then the house of Jacob will be a fire, and the house of joke of flame. But the house of Esau will be a stubble, and they will set them on fire and consume them, so that there will be no survivor of the house of Esau. So in Obadiah this fire and flames symbolize. Symbolizes God’s instruments of judgment. Fire is like a total consuming destruction, and the flame suggests it’s initiating or spreading force.

Zechariah 12:6 is very similar. It mentions, in that day I’ll make the clans of Judah like a fiery labor among pieces of wood, in a fiery torch, among sheaves, so they will consume on the right hand and on the left all the surrounding peoples, while Jerusalem will again be inhabited in its own place.

Verse 7 helps us with the timing of all of this. It describes the time after Israel’s regathered as a nation. This is the same time as Ezekiel 13:39, when they’re regathered as a nation, and when the nations listed there, these Islamic nations attack a re established Jewish homeland.

Now in Obadiah 119 it says, those of the Negev shall possess the mountain of Esau, and those of shepherd, the Philistine plain, and they will possess the territory of Ephraim and the territory of Samaria, and Benjamin will possess Gilead, and so it’s interesting sometimes when you do a study to look up the meanings of these words. The negative, of course, is that area in the south of Israel, south of the Dead Sea, and it means dry land, and it’s basically the same area where Elijah fled into the wilderness for three and a half years, and so this reminds us of the church class and how it had to flee into the wilderness for 12, 60 days, 12, 60 years.

But that faithful wilderness church will eventually, eventually be rewarded with authority over the mountains of Esau. Now, the wilderness is prophetic and and related to restoration themes as well. In Jeremiah 31, God draws Israel into the wilderness to renew his covenant with them, to make a new covenant, and that wilderness becomes a door of hope and a spiritual renewal. This is the same area that John the Baptist ministered, and he was also preaching about this spiritual renewal that the Messiah was going to bring.

Jeremiah 31 says, Starting at verse 14, it says, Therefore, behold, I’m going to persuade her and bring her into the wilderness and speak kindly to her. Then I will give her vineyards from there in the valley of Acor, as a door of hope, and she will respond there, as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she went up from the land of Egypt, and it will come about on that day, declares the Lord, that you will call me husband and no longer call me baal, now the shepherd. The Philistine plane mentioned here are the lowlands.

But it’s also a mountainous region of Israel. There are five cities of the Philistines, and the Philistines, of course, means immigrants. So according to Obadiah, these immigrants are located in the lowlands. Lowlands are basically the bottom of mountains, and mountains are governments. So wouldn’t this kind of have the idea of being the foundation of governments?

And so, as we read in Zechariah 14, it says that all the nations that will serve the Lord in the kingdom, even those who attacked Israel, would be blessed.

And it says that those who do not would have various punishments, such as they would not get the rain or the things that they need in order to thrive as a nation.

Verse 20 of Obadiah says that the exiles of this military force of the sons of Israel, who are among the Canaanites as far as Zarapath, and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Seraphad, possess the cities of the Negev. These exiles refers to Israel’s fighting men who were defeated by Babylon. They were captured and deported after Nebuchadnezzar. Crushed Judah’s resistance. It represents Israel’s national loss of defense, their military leadership.

And.

But there’s also these exiles of Jerusalem. These exiles included priests, wise men, officials and elites, and this was the final and complete captivity. After Judah rebelled, Nebuchadnezzar burned Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, and blinded King Zedekiah and exiled him, and this shows the collapse of spiritual and civic leadership.

Because Israel, of course, at this time was sinful and idolatrous. They needed this punishment to remind them of who the Lord was, and so all of this basically is like a moral symbolism. It represents religious and moral corruption. Again, idolatry.

The high places, there’s abominations of the nations. Remember, the Canaanites were forbidden from entering the tabernacle or temple because of doing these things. But each of these cities represent something related to that wilderness condition, a refinement or a cleansing. Remember Zarephath? Zarephath here means smelting house or refinement.

And basically it seems to suggest that they will return and be cleansed. Zechariah 14:21 says, no more. The Canaanite will be in the house of the Lord, and yet you have all those who attacked Israel coming year to year to worship the king in Jerusalem. This symbolizes the removal of corruption among God’s, amongst God’s own people, not just the Gentiles, but all of the people.

And that’s really what the kingdom is about, is to remove that corruption and to bring in this refinement, this cleansing, to give the world that opportunity in the kingdom.

And of course, Obadiah 121 says, the saviors or deliverers will ascend Mount Zion to judge the mountain of Esau, and the kingdom will belong to the Lord. All those people will have an opportunity to be in the kingdom for refinement, for cleansing, restoration. Israel was promised they would be kings and priests in the world, and in the kingdom, Israel will have a part of that role in the restoration of mankind. It’s like that scripture on Isaiah 52:7 that says, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, your God reigns.

And of course, Revelation 14:1 is the exact parallel to this verse when it talks about the 144,000 are on Mount Zion and what are they doing? They’re there with Christ in the Lamb to judge and to restore the world. That’s what we look forward to. That’s the whole point of God’s plan. That’s why we need to encourage each other into love and to good works, so that we can help each other to get to this point, so that we can be a tool and instrument to help the Lord in this beautiful plan that he planned before the foundation of the world, before the world was created.

Now, as we saw in Obadiah’s prophecy and and others, there’s several prophecies about Edom, and many which use various titles, capitals, or cities or locations that are representative of the same thing, and a lot of these prophecies are all repeating exactly the same thing, but giving little different details.

Each of these prophecies judges Edom for exactly the same thing. For what they did to the nation of Israel, for what they did to God’s people, and especially in relation to their alliance. Or maybe it wasn’t alliance. Maybe a better word would be cooperation, because of course, it didn’t work out well for them in the end.

By comparing each of these prophecies together in a topical study, it not only gives us further details, but it helps us understand the timing of the interpretation. So if we. If we isolated each of these contexts or each of these verses singularly, we might possibly fall into a mistake of looking for the right thing at the wrong time or even the wrong thing at the right time. But I think you get the idea of what I’m trying to say here.

By connecting parallel passages in the New Testament, as we did with the Revelation 14:1, we can find that there’s much more to these prophecies about Edom because there’s a link to the 144,000. There’s a link to this judgment, not retributive judgment, as I said, but a restorative judgment. Remember, in Revelation 19, and I have this listed wrong, it’s 19, verse 17, it says, the Spirit and the Bride say, come, and let the one who hears say, come, and let the one who is thirsty come, and let the one who wishes receive the water of life without cost. That’s our job in the kingdom. That’s what we need to encourage each other to keep going forward and work together.

This then ties the judgment against Edom into that of Babylon and prophetic Babylon throughout Scripture, and so there’s a prophetic Edom and a prophetic Babylon, and they’re not the same thing, because in the original story, Edom was not Babylon, but Edom was allied with Babylon, and so prophetically, we should understand the same way. Edom and Babylon are not the same thing, but they’re cooperating with each other, and so that’s what we’re going to get to in part two of the talk.

But you can see as we go through this, the reasons Edom is judged is exactly the same thing. Their cooperation, the timing is exactly the same thing. Even their end is exactly the same thing. Each of these prophecies mentions all, but Edom’s end is in a lake of fire, or they’re consumed. Sometimes these symbols are so similar, they’re exact, even word for word.

And if we bring in the New Testament, like Revelation 19, we can see again by comparing these topically. It helps give us the timing so that we can understand better when to look for a certain interpretation, and so Revelation 19 talks about the beast and false prophet. It says the beast was seized, and within the false prophet performed signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image, and these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire, which burns with brimstone.

And so, as we proceed into part two of the talk, we’ll end here for now and we’ll continue on from here. Part two of the talk, we’re going to look at the Antichrist requirements. We’ll look at Edom’s identification prophetically, and we’ll get into a little more detail and also the history surrounding this, as well as some things from my opinion pocket. As some of the brethren talk about their opinion pocket, so may the Lord add its blessing, and I’ll turn it back over to Brother tomorrow.

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