The Global Message of Obadiah

Obadiah in Redemptive History

When Babylon invaded Judah in the sixth century B.C., Edom, directly to Judah’s east, sided with the Babylonians and even gloated over Judah’s destruction (Obad. 12). Since the Edomites were descendants of Jacob’s brother, Esau, this betrayal by Edom was especially painful to God’s people. While other prophets condemn Israel for their faithlessness, Obadiah’s prophecy has nothing negative to say to God’s own people. The focus is on Edom and the divine judgment that will come upon her.

The prophecy of Obadiah addresses key questions that would have been raised by God’s people in this tumultuous time of defeat and exile. What will become of God’s plan and promise to bless all nations through Abraham and his descendants? Will the godless nations of the world triumph? Will God’s covenant with his people come to an end? How does God’s faithfulness to Israel fit with his righteous justice that must be executed toward a people who have so often proven faithless? The message of Obadiah is that despite Israel’s sin, God will judge those who afflict his people (Obad. 1–15) and he will restore his people (vv. 16–18), who then will be an everlasting blessing to the whole world (vv. 19–21).

From the vantage point of the New Testament era, we can see that the ultimate way in which both God’s justice and his mercy are vindicated without compromising either is at the cross of Christ, where God’s justice was satisfied even as his mercy was most clearly seen. With Jesus Christ, the kingdom of the Lord was established (Obad. 21; compare Mark 1:14–15). One day Jesus will come a second time and that kingdom will come in its fullness (Rev. 11:15; 12:10), and the sinners of all nations who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ will worship him forever in the new earth (Rev. 5:9–10).

Universal Themes in Obadiah

The danger of pride. Throughout the Bible we are taught that God opposes pride but is drawn to humility (Prov. 3:34; Isa. 66:1–2; Luke 1:51–52; James 4:6, 10; 1 Pet. 5:5–6). Pride was precisely Edom’s problem, as identified in Obadiah 3–4: “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.” Pride is a universal human problem, not restricted to any particular class or ethnicity—indeed, in many ways it is the root of all human sin (see 1 Tim. 3:6).

Divine retribution. “As you have done,” says the Lord in Obadiah 15, “it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head.” It is a great and glorious truth that the God of the Bible is a God of love (e.g., 1 John 4:16–19). But this must never obscure the equally biblical truth that he is a God of unswerving justice who will do only what is right and just (e.g., 2 Thess. 1:5–10). This is a severe and sober caution for those who oppose the people of God, yet it also gives great hope to God’s people as they experience affliction of various kinds around the world. Whatever is done to them by those hostile to the gospel will one day be repaid by God himself.

The universal kingdom of God. The closing verses of Obadiah ring with the glorious promise of a spreading international kingdom under the people of God, “and the kingdom shall be the LORD’s” (Obad. 21). The New Testament and the coming of Christ begins the fulfillment of this promise as the gospel explodes out from Jerusalem “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). God’s people, reviled and persecuted both in Obadiah’s day as well as around the world today, “shall reign on the earth” (Rev. 5:10).

The Global Message of Obadiah for Today

Obadiah provides deep consolation for believers everywhere. As global Christians suffer “trials of various kinds” (James 1:2), they can rest content in a God of perfect justice who will not let injustices committed against his own people go finally unpunished. More broadly, God will act justly toward those around the world today who spurn the dignity of the unborn or elderly, or who squander opportunities to defend the helpless.

The kingdom of the Lord prophesied in Obadiah is a kingdom into which believers have been graciously and irreversibly ushered (Heb. 12:28), under a king who will never leave them nor forsake them (Heb. 13:5). Yet this is presently an embattled kingdom. One day, this will not be so. The glory that is coming on the sons and daughters of God in the new earth will be perfect and everlasting. Shame, tears, and rejection will be over (Rev. 21:4). Joy will have dawned. We await that day with eager hope.