Obadiah

Obadiah (586-583 B.C.) "obadi yah" (servant of Yaweh)

Obadiah prophesied judgement against Edom for attacking Judah at the time of the Babylonian invasion and for rejoicing over the misfortunes that befell Jerusalem.

The Old Testament - A Brief Overview

Obad 1:13-15

You should not have entered the gate of My people in the day of their calamity. Indeed, you should not have gazed on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity. You should not have stood at the crossroads to cut off those among them who escaped; nor should you have delivered up those among them who remained in the day of distress. "For the day of the LORD upon all the nations is near; as you have done, it shall be done to you; your reprisal shall return upon your own head.

The Edomites were the descendants of Esau, the twin brother of Jacob. The Edomites were always in conflict with Israel. They thought they were impregnable in their mountain strongholds high up in the rocky gorges (Petra). Obadiah predicted their doom. Within 4 years after Jerusalem was burned, Edom was raided and desolated (582 B.C.), by the same Babylonians whom they had helped against Jerusalem.

The Herodian Dynasty in the New Testament, being Idumaen, were the last of the Edomites. After the destruction of Herod's Temple in 70 A.D., they disappeared from history.


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The Story of the Bible - Part One - The Old Testament