SUMMARY
Obadiah announces “the day of the LORDThe Day of the Lord, in prophetic writing, is the day of judgment when God will intervene directly in world affairs. As described in Zephaniah, for instance, God will sweep everything away. In Matthew's gospel God is described as gathering the elect on the day...,” which will be “against all the nations.” The nations, especially Edom, will be destroyed, and Israel will be restored.
ANALYSIS
Obadiah, like other prophets, announces a coming judgment day, “the day of the LORD,” when Israel’s enemies will be judged and Israel herself will be restored. (For similar passages about the Day of the Lord, see Isaiah 13:6; EzekielEzekiel was a priest and prophet who was raised in Jerusalem and exiled to Babylon in 597 BCE. 30:3; Joel 2:1, 11, 31; Amos 5:18, 20.) The basis for judgment will be the deeds of the nations, “As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head.” Specifically, because Edom betrayed Judah, Edom itself will be destroyed.
Verse 16 speaks of the Israelites having “drunk” on the holyHoly is a term that originally meant set apart for the worship or service of God. While the term may refer to people, objects, time, or places, holiness in Judaism and Christianity primarily denotes the realm of the divine mountain, and then of the nations “drinking.” This verse is best understood in light of Jeremiah 25:15-29, where God gives Jeremiah the “cup of the wine of wrath” and makes all the nations drink from it. Judah has already drunk from the cup of wrath, as evidenced by the Babylonian exile. Now the cup will pass to the other nations.
The final part of the passage holds out hope not only for Judah but also for the long-lost northern kingdomThe Northern Kingdom consisted of ten of the twelve tribes of Israel and lasted for 200 years until it was destroyed by Assyria in 721 B.C.E. In the northern kingdom the kings were evil. Prophets like Elijah and Amos railed against them and their evildoing. of Israel. The “house of Jacob” (Judah) and the “house of Joseph” (Israel) will be restored and they will consume Edom as fire consumes straw. The prophet’s message of judgment and restoration is summarized in these few verses.
