Context at a Glance
Author:Traditional Attribution
Topic:obadiah Chapter 1 Study
This chapter provides a foundational look at the theological themes of obadiah, analyzed across multiple historic translations for maximum scholarly depth.
Obadiah 1
New Revised Standard Version
1The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord GOD concerning Edom: We have heard a report from the LORD, and a messenger has been sent among the nations: "Rise up! Let us rise against it for battle!"
2I will surely make you least among the nations; you shall be utterly despised.
3Your proud heart has deceived you, you that live in the clefts of the rock, whose dwelling is in the heights. You say in your heart, "Who will bring me down to the ground?"
4Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, says the LORD. A taunt against Edom
5If thieves came to you, if plunderers by night — how you have been destroyed! — would they not steal only what they wanted? If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings?
6How Esau has been pillaged, his treasures searched out!
7All your allies have deceived you, they have driven you to the border; your confederates have prevailed against you; those who ate your bread have set a trap for you — there is no understanding of it. Doomsday for Edom
8On that day, says the LORD, I will destroy the wise out of Edom, and understanding out of Mount Esau.
9Your warriors shall be shattered, O Teman, so that everyone from Mount Esau will be cut off.
10For the slaughter and violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.
11On the day that you stood aside, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth, and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you too were like one of them. An eightfold indictment of Edom
12But you should not have gloated over your brother on the day of his misfortune; you should not have rejoiced over the people of Judah on the day of their ruin; you should not have boasted on the day of distress.
13You should not have entered the gate of my people on the day of their calamity; you should not have joined in the gloating over Judah's disaster on the day of his calamity; you should not have looted his goods on the day of his calamity.
14You should not have stood at the crossings to cut off his fugitives; you should not have handed over his survivors on the day of distress. The Day of the Lord
15For the day of the LORD is near against all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head.
16For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, all the nations around you shall drink; they shall drink and gulp down, and shall be as though they had never been.
17But on Mount Zion there shall be those that escape, and it shall be holy; and the house of Jacob shall take possession of those who dispossessed them.
18The house of Jacob shall be a fire, the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble; they shall burn them and consume them, and there shall be no survivor of the house of Esau; for the LORD has spoken. Israel's vindication
19Those of the Negeb shall possess Mount Esau, and those of the Shephelah the land of the Philistines; they shall possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria, and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.
20The exiles of the Israelites who are in Halah shall possess Phoenicia as far as Zarephath; and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad shall possess the towns of the Negeb.
21Those who have been saved shall go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD's. JONAH
1852JONAH Introduction Jonah is unique among the prophetic books. Jonah himself is never called a prophet in the text. The book contains no collections of oracles in verse against Israel and foreign nations but presents a prose narrative about the prophet himself. Instead of portraying a prophet who is an obedient servant of the Lord, calling people to repentance, it features a recalcitrant prophet who tries to flee from God and his mission and sulks when his hearers repent. The principal figure of this deceptively simple story is presumably based on an obscure Galilean prophet from Gath-hepher who counseled Jeroboam II (788-747 BCE) in a successful conflict with the Syrians (2 Kings 14.25). The author of the book of Jonah apparently drew upon legends that had collected about this prophet and put them to new use in a brief story that contains elements of folktale, fable, satire, and allegory. The two parts of the story, chs 1-2 and 3-4, are united by their central character (Jonah), a similar plot (the ironical conversion of foreigners to faith in the Lord), and an identical theme (the breadth of God's saving love). The influence of Jeremiah and Second Isaiah in the text suggest that the author probably lived in the postexilic period. Although the linguistic evidence is indecisive, a date in the fifth or fourth century BCE is plausible. The book of Jonah is also uncharacteristic, when compared to other writings in the prophetic tradition, in its use of humor to make its point. Humorous qualities, such as exaggerated behavior (running away from God, 1.3); inappropriate actions (sleeping through a violent storm, 1.5); outlandish situations (offering a prayer of thanksgiving from inside a fish's belly, 2.1); ludicrous commands (animals must fast and wear sackcloth, 3.7-8); and emotions either contrary to expectation (anger at mercy, 4.1-2) or out of proportion (being angry enough to die JONAH
1853because a plant has withered, 4.9) appear throughout the story. But all of these qualities serve to underline the book's themes. Repentance and deliverance are the dominant themes in the story of Jonah, reflected in its use in the New Testament (Mt 12.38-41; Lk 11.2932) and as the afternoon Prophetic Bible reading on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). With skill and finesse this little book calls Israel to repentance and reminds it of God's extravagant mercy and forgiveness (Ex 34.6; Joel 2.13). In spirit, therefore, the book justifies its place in the Book of the Twelve Prophets.