Obadiah 1:15-21 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

Bible Comments

Obadiah 1:15 a, Obadiah 1:16-21. The Judgment of the Nations. The Day of Yahweh approaches; Judah has already drunk her cup of suffering (cf. Jeremiah 25:15; Jeremiah 49:12), and now the other nations shall drink destruction. Mount Zion shall be a sanctuary, and the house of Jacob (here for Judah) shall recover what has been lost (Obadiah 1:17). Judah shall be joined by the restored northern kingdom (the house of Joseph), and together they shall utterly destroy the Edomites (Esau, Obadiah 1:18; for the contrast of Jacob and Esau, cf. Malachi 1:2-5). The territories to be recovered in S. and N. are indicated (Obadiah 1:19 f.). Judah in Zion shall be reinforced by the help of the restored Israel (the saviours of Obadiah 1:21) against Esau, and the Messianic kingdom shall be established (Zarephath on coast, between Tyre and Sidon, cf. 1 Kings 17:9); Sepharad, since the Persian period a name for Asia Minor, particularly Phrygia; this host, Obadiah 1:20, may be a corrupt form of Halah (cf. 2 Kings 17:6).

Obadiah 1:19 seems to have been expanded by glosses, and Marti suggests as its original form, And they (i.e. the united Israel and Judah) will take possession of the Negeb and the Shephelah, and the fields of Ephraim and Gilead. In Obadiah 1:20, we should probably read, shall possess the Canaanites, the Heb. being impossible as it stands.

Obadiah 1:15-21

15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.

16 For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.

17 But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance,e and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.

18 And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it.

19 And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines: and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.

20 And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad,f shall possess the cities of the south.

21 And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD'S.