It’s very likely that you have never heard a rabbi or pastor communicate how excited they are to discuss the book of Ovadiah (Obadiah). But you are going to hear that from me!
That’s right. I am super excited to discuss Sefer (Hebrew for “book”) Ovadiah with you.
Now, it’s pretty obvious why most people are not doing cartwheels about Ovadiah. First, plain and simple, most people don’t know much about it. Ovadiah is the shortest book in the Tanach/Old Testament. It has one chapter and is only 21 verses long. And the content itself is not exactly encouraging or inspiring! But it is an important book. So let’s take a look.
We know very little about the prophet himself. There is an interesting Jewish tradition that Ovadiah was actually an Edomite who converted and joined the Jewish people. Some also identify him with the Ovadiah mentioned in 1 Kings 18, who served in the household of the wicked King Ahab and Jezebel. If that is the same Ovadiah, there is an interesting contrast with Esau. Esau lived among two righteous people, Isaac and Rebekah, yet he went in the wrong direction. Ovadiah lived among two very wicked people, Ahab and Jezebel, yet remained righteous. We can’t know for sure if this is the same Ovadiah. There are various theories about who he was. But what is very clear is the focus of his prophecy. Verse one tells us immediately: “Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom.”
So let’s talk about Edom.
As is well known, Edom is “mishpocha” (Hebrew word for family) to the Jewish people. The Edomites descended from Esau, Jacob’s brother. The word “Edom” means “red,” which reminds us of the way Esau himself is described in Genesis. The name is also fitting for the reddish sandstone that characterizes the ancient land of Edom, south of the Dead Sea. Edom had a fascinating history, with its share of ups and downs. But it appears likely that Ovadiah was written around the time of the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem. And that historical setting helps us understand why HaShem was so angry with Edom. Ovadiah begins:
“The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’ Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the Lord.” (Obadiah 3–4)
Verse three gets to the heart of HaShem’s concern: It’s Edom’s arrogance and pride.
But Ovadiah is going to get more specific about what Edom has done. And before we get there, I think it’s important to notice another pattern that we have been seeing throughout the Trei Asar, and that’s this: The God of Israel is not just concerned with the behavior of Israel…God is concerned with the whole world.
The Edomites had their own national god, just as other ancient nations did. Yet Ovadiah is another part of this growing consciousness through the Neviim that the God of Israel is not limited to a particular geography or group of people. The prophets of Israel consistently testify that HaShem holds the nations accountable too. Beginning in verse 10, we learn why Edom is in so much trouble:
“Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you…On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune.” (Obadiah 10–12)
The description here fits very well with what happened when Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians. And if that’s the setting, Ovadiah is very perturbed at the way Edom responded when their cousins were being taken into exile. Verse 12 gives us the sense that Edom heckled and celebrated Israel’s calamity. Some interpreters think they did even worse…and actually participated in Jerusalem’s destruction. Either way, the picture is terrible. Edom turned against its own family.
There are few things that seem to fuel the anger of HaShem more than strife, discord, and disloyalty within families. Proverbs 6 lists seven things God hates, and one of them is a person who “sows discord among brothers.” So I’ll purposefully use a little irony here:
Family unity is worth fighting for!
It’s an abomination when people within families turn on each other. And that is exactly what we see in Ovadiah regarding Edom toward Israel. Now, there is another fascinating piece of this story.
As history moved forward, “Edom” eventually became more than the name of the physical descendants of Esau. In Jewish literature, Edom developed a symbolic association with Rome and eventually Christianity. How did that happen?
Well, Rome essentially became a new “Edom” in Jewish thinking because it became the great enemy of Israel. There were also some obvious parallels. Edom was associated with the destruction of the First Temple, while Rome destroyed the Second Temple. And eventually Rome became the headquarters of the church.
Considering the long and painful history between the church and the Jewish people, it’s not difficult to understand why Jewish commentators eventually looked back at Ovadiah and saw “Edom” as symbolic not only of Rome, but of Christianity as well. And let’s be honest about this. In some ways, the church earned that symbolic label because of its historic hostility toward Judaism and the Jewish people. But thankfully, that’s not the end of the story. Ovadiah itself ends with a Kingdom vision:
“Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.” (Obadiah 21)
So after all of the hostility, pride, family betrayal, and judgment, Ovadiah ends with HaShem’s Kingdom. And I think there is an important application here for Jews and Christians today and their changing relationship.
Slowly but surely, many Christians are working to restore a positive relationship with the Jewish people and Judaism. A small but growing number of churches are confronting the anti-Judaism and antisemitism in their history…and at the same time rediscovering the Jewish foundations of their faith.
Clearly, there is still plenty of work to do along this line. But every friendship built, every misunderstanding corrected moves us toward a day when followers of Yeshua are no longer viewed by Jewish people primarily as enemies, but increasingly as brothers.
For such a little book, Ovadiah sure does give us a lot to think about!
