Obadiah 1: Summary, Key Verses and Study Questions

The book presents the vision of Obadiah: the Lord has sent a messenger among the nations to rise up against Edom in battle. The Lord tells Edom he has made it small among the nations and greatly despised. The pride of its heart has deceived it, living in the clefts of the rock, in its lofty dwelling, saying in its heart who will bring me down. Though it soars like the eagle and makes its nest among the stars, the Lord will bring it down from there.

It will be plundered more thoroughly than by thieves or grape gatherers, who would leave something. Its own allies will deceive it. The Lord will destroy the wise men of Edom and the understanding of Mount Esau, and its warriors of Teman will be dismayed, so that everyone is cut off from Mount Esau by slaughter.

The cause is violence against its brother Jacob: shame will cover Edom and it will be cut off forever. On the day when strangers carried off Judah's wealth, and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, Edom stood there like one of them. The Lord forbids Edom to gloat over its brother's ruin, loot his goods, cut off his fugitives or hand over his survivors.

For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations; as you have done, it will be done to you. As they drank on the holy mountain, so all the nations will drink continually, and they will be as though they had never been. But on Mount Zion there will be deliverance, and it will be holy; the house of Jacob will possess its possessions. The house of Jacob will be a fire, the house of Joseph a flame and the house of Esau stubble, and there will be no survivor of it. The people of the Negeb will possess Mount Esau, those of the lowland the Philistine plain, and the exiles of Israel will possess the land as far as Zarephath. Saviors will go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau, and the kingdom will be the Lord's.

Obadiah warns about the pride that is born of security: Edom thought itself safe in its heights. In a Sunday school class you can ask what we lean on for security, whether money, position or reputation, and remember that none of them protects us from God.

It also teaches us not to rejoice in another's misfortune. Edom was accused not only of violent acts but of standing by and delighting in its brother's fall. When someone in our family, church or community suffers, the call is to accompany and help, not to distance ourselves or celebrate. And for those who suffer injustice, the book is a comfort: God sees and the kingdom is his.