The Book of Ovadyah (Obadiah) v.1: The vision of Ovadyah: The Lord God declares to Edom: We have heard a rumor, coming from God A representative has been sent to the nations! Rise up, take revenge against her. v1: The structure of this verse implies that God is announcing, as if reading a declaration from a scroll, a judgment against Edom. It is a war summons, in which He calls for nations to rise up against Edom in battle. The words used for Rise up, take revenge are two words that are poetic and rhyme. Qumah ve naqumah נוקומה),(קומה rise up, take revenge is the phrase. Pay attention that in Torah poetry, the last syllables or sounds of a word (here, the sound umah, often are what sound similar). However, other poetry exists in the Torah where the first sounds in a phrase will sound similar to each other. Ovadyah is Hebrew for servant of God or worshipper of God. The root,(עבדיה) o-v-d,,ע-ב-ד is the word from which the name Ovadyah derives, and it can mean to either serve or worship, which is a rich Torah concept. v.2: Behold! I have made you tiny amongst the nations; you are quite despised. The word hineh,(הנה) Behold, functions to grab our attention, and according to Israeli history professor Ehud Ben Zvi, it marks the beginning of the Heavenly War Summons against Edom. From the word hineh we learn WHY God is summoning the nations against Edom in His official declaration of war. v.3: The harmful intentions of your thoughts have deceived you! My residence is in the crevice of a rock formation, dwelling in the heights. He says in his mind, who will tear me down to the ground? v.3: The second part of this verse illustrates the first part. God makes a statement, declaring what has deceived Edom ( your thoughts ). Then we learn that very deceptive thought: that because the Edomite kingdom is high up in elevation, that no one can conquer it. So, the words my and he reflect the attitude of the residents and government of Edom. v.4: If you elevate yourself as an eagle, and if you make your nest between the stars, I will tear you down from there!, declares God.
v.5: If robbers came to you, if thieves in the night, how would you be plundered? Wouldn t they just steal enough for themselves? If grape harvesters came to you, wouldn t they leave behind some provisions? v.6: But how has Esau been plundered? His hidden treasures have gushed forth! v.6: The word matspunav,(מצפוניו) his hidden treasures, comes from a rich word, tsafun,(צפון) meaning north or hidden parts. v.7: All the men who are allied to you will send you to the border, and will deceive you, then overcome you; people at peace with you, (who ate) bread with you, will inflict you; there will be no insight about it! v.7: Allied is expressed by anshay beriteka בריתך),(אנשי meaning men of your covenant, or people who have a treaty with the Edomites. Amazingly, this is exactly what happened to the Edomite kingdom in history: it was attacked and captured by the Babylonians, who were thought to be allies of the Edomites, in about 551 B.C. v.8: On that day, won t I eliminate all the wise men from Edom, and insight from Mt. Esau? v.8: The influence of their hakamim,(חכמים) wise men, was another reason why the Edomites thought that they were invincible (see verse 3). This term hakamim refers to the religious and governmental elders who made the kingdom s decisions. v.9: Then your warriors, Teman, will be shattered, for everyone will be cut off from Mt. Esau by slaughter! v.9: Teman,,תימן Teman, is also modern Hebrew for the nation of Yemen. However, in our context here, Teman refers to an area controlled by the Edomite kingdom. Teman was the name of a grandson of Esau by his first born son, Eliphaz. Amos 1:12 and Ezekiel 25:13 both mention Teman in referring to the Edomite areas. Genesis 36:34 and 1 Chronicles 1:45 also both note that the Temanites were an Edomite area. v.10: Because of violence against your brother Yakov, you will be covered with shame, and you will be cut off forever. 2
v.10: Hamas,(חמס) ironically, is the word used for violence (cross reference to the organization by the same name of today). v.11: On the day of your stance against (Yakov and Judah), on the day of captivity by a military force of foreigners, when aliens entered its gate; and when on Jerusalem, they cast lots you were like one of them! v.12: You shouldn t have watched on the day of your brother, on the day of his misfortune. And you shouldn t have rejoiced over the people of Judah on the day of their loss; and you shouldn t have made your mouths big on the day of sorrow; v.13: And you shouldn t have entered my people s gate on the day of its distress; also you! You shouldn t have watched evil (occur) on the day of distress! And you shouldn t have sent away its war booty on the day of its distress! v.13: The text in this verse has two distinct possibilities. Heyl,(חיל) war booty, can refer to food, women, children, weapons and any household objects. However, this same term can also refer to an army! If that is the intended meaning, then the Edomites are being accused of encouraging and taking part in the actual military assault that destroyed Jerusalem. Then the translation you shouldn t have helped to send its army, referring to the Babylonian army, would be accurate. However, we have chosen the first option that Ovadyah refers to the taking of war spoils by Edom, in exchange for their evil deeds. v.14: And you shouldn t have stood at the junction, to cut off its refugees, and to round up their survivors, on the day of its distress! v.14: The text truly reads as a very simple, strong and detailed rebuke and scolding. v.15: Because the day of the Lord is close, over all the nations! What you did, will be done to you! Your repayment will return upon your own head! v.15: The day of the Lord is yom Adonai יהוה) (יום. This term is used in the Torah as a time of God s judgment, which fits Ovadyah s use of the words. Your repayment is gemulek.(גמולך) This word is used often in 3
Jewish thought, and refers to the retribution that follows a person for their treatment of others. One is given the justice that is due for one s behavior, whether pleasant (a reward) or the opposite (a punishment) is referred to as gemul. v.16: Because just as you drank on the mountain of My holiness, all the nations will continually drink, they will drink and gulp down, but it will be as if it never was. v.16: You is in the plural, referring to all the Edomites who rejoiced in celebration (that is, drank [in celebration]) when Judah went into captivity. Mountain of My holiness, har qodshi קודשי),(הר is Mt. Zion in Jewish thought. Psalm 48:2 3 also refers to Mt. Zion as His holy mountain: the city of our God, His holy mountain Mt. Zion, in the far north, the city of our Great King. This description parallels our verse, as the Edomites are facing collapse due to their help in conquering God s holy mountain. The student may want to refer to Psalm 137 to become familiar with the Judean captives reaction to the events of this time period. v.17: Then on Mt. Zion, there will be refuge; there will be holiness, and the house of Jacob will inherit their inheritance. v.17: To inherit is the verb veyareshu,(וירשו) and it refers to the whole of inheritance, not just a land inheritance. There is a particular word in Hebrew for a land inheritance, nachalah.(נחלה) But our word for inheritance here is morasha,(מורשה) a word that entails a strong connection to inheriting covenants, ethics, lifestyle, and teaching, as well as land. It is the noun of the previously mentioned verb, veyareshu, from.(י-ר-ש) the root y-r-sh v.18: And the house of Jacob will be fire, and the house of Joseph a flame; while the house of Esau will become straw. And they will light them on fire, consuming them, so that there will not be a survivor of the house of Esau, because Adonai has spoken! v.18: In the phrases house of Jacob, house of Joseph and house of Esau, the word house is bet,(בית) and is best understood as referring to a family, a clan, a nation, or a people. Then, house of Jacob are the people of Jacob (the Jewish people), and the house of Esau are the 4
Edomites. This is an idiom that is consistent throughout the Torah. Consuming them is the word akalum ;(אכלום) it literally means to eat them. A fire that destroys items is called a consuming fire in Hebrew, using this same term. That is what we have in this verse. Interesting enough, the Talmud notes that Israel ate the Messiah, akluhu, meaning that the people of Israel paid attention to, took in everything he had to give, learned from him, clung to him, enjoyed him and loved him (Sanhedrin 98b). Perhaps this very same term was used by Yeshua in John 6:53 54. v.19: They will inherit the Negev, Mt. Esau, the Lowland of the Philistines; and they will inherit the field of Ephraim, the field of Samaria, and Benjamin and Gilad. v.19: Geographically, Mt. Esau would refer to the area south and east of the Dead Sea, including the mountain ridge that faces today s Israel. The Lowland of the Philistines reads the Shefelah,(השפלה) which consists of land deeded to the tribe of Judah, between today s Hebron and the Mediterranean coastal plain. This is where the Philistines and Israel met in border wars for a 400 year time period (cf. 1 Samuel 17). The term field (field of Ephraim, field of Samaria), is sadeh,(שדה) and is an idiom for an area. Geographically, agricultural/farming fields made up a good percentage of these areas, which is why the generic term field is used to describe them. v.20: Then this dispersed force of the people of Israel that are among the Canaanites, till France; and the dispersed of Jerusalem that are in Spain, will inherit the cities of the Negev. v.20: This verse has a number of translations. We favor the above. The identification of Tsarfat in our verse as France (צרפת) is a possibility that we favor, though we are not dogmatic about it. We favor it due to the way the rabbinic interpretation of this verse has handled it, recognizing that other translations and their interpretations can be valid. The Jewish Torah commentators Rashi, David Kimchi, Ibn Ezra, Abarbanel and the Da at Soferim commentary all translate and interpret this verse as we do. As well, we translate Sefarad to refer to Spain.(ספרד) We do not know of any other translations of Sefarad that are agreed upon. 5
This verse may be referring to Ashkenazi Jewry (who lived in France), and Sefardic Jewry (who lived in Spain), and may be predictive of both wings of Jewry immigrating to Israel and possessing the mentioned areas (which modern Israel today does possess). We believe this is a logical way to look at our translation of the verse. v.21: Then liberators will go up Mt. Zion, to judge Mt. Esau, and it will be to the Lord The Kingdom. v.21: The word for liberators is moshi im.(מושיעים) Some translations say saviors or deliverers for this word (JPS, NIV, ASV, KJV). We prefer liberator, in that the other two previously mentioned words are pregnant with religious meanings from various religious traditions, which we prefer to avoid. The phrase, and it will be to the Lord The Kingdom. This phrase may be an idiomatic way to say, God will rule The Kingdom as we find in Psalm 2. Comment from BD and BN: In 586 BCE, when Judah and Jerusalem were destroyed by the Babylonians, many Jews were carried off into captivity in Babylon. The Edomites helped the Babylonians capture and round up Jewish refugees. This is the reason (cruelty to distant relatives) why God, in this prophecy, declares war against the Edomites. Interestingly enough, just 35 years after Ovadyah s prophecy in this book, the Edomites were swallowed up by a new Babylonian king, and the Edomite kingdom disappeared from history, forever! Historically speaking, Edom s end happened just as Ovadyah stated it would. As the student recalls, Esau is the historical patriarch of the Edomites, and Jacob is the historical patriarch of the Jewish people; they were brothers. 6