Obadiah writes to the Edomites (descendants of Esau). Not much is known of Obadiah or the time frame in which he wrote. The name means “Servant of God,” and he writes the shortest book in the O.T. and very likely chronologically the earliest of the prophetic writings. In 1:1-18 It takes Obadiah very little time before he tells Edom the reason for their coming destruction in verse 3 when he says, “The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; you who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?”
Edom’s main city was the rock city of Petra in modern-day Jordan. The Edomites thought Petra impregnable as it was easily defended by 12 men. Edom’s pride in their security was the cause of their downfall. Such a self-sufficiency, according to verse 10, had brought about “violence against your brother Jacob,” as well as, according to verse 12, indifference when Israel was taken captive as well as rejoicing “over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction” and speaking “proudly in the day of distress.”
According to Proverbs 6:16-17, the number one thing the Lord hates is “a proud look,”as it is what keeps men from God and one another. Edom had everything going for it, as they had a great fortress in which to protect itself, tremendous ingenuity as they had built a complete city out of rock, and had managed to have vegetable gardens with no known direct water source through aqueducts. They had commerce as they were in the direct path of the trade routes. Yet with all of this going for them, they became arrogant, which led to indifference, which led to out-and-out violence against others.
Oh dear ones, how often has this scene of Edom played out in nations as well as individual lives? God’s blessings are meant to be blessings to others and never to be seen as some sort of entitlement, especially as it would lead to mistreating others!
Pride causes us to be independent from God. Edom became arrogant because they dwelt in the rock, but she could have known the security of dwelling upon the rock! And such a heart kept Edom from the blessings God would have lavished upon her. But pride also caused Edom to be insensitive to those around them, even their own family. Instead of seeing that God had blessed them to be a blessing, Edom thought of their blessings as coming from their own resources and, as such, saw themselves as superior to those around them as they became indifferent, mocking, and even participating in the suffering of others. Oh, let us learn the lessons spoken by Obadiah lest we become like Edom instead of Israel.