Obadiah 15-21
Obadiah 15
(KJV)
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.
In Obadiah 15, there is a double prophecy being given.
The first is that the day of the Lord being prophesied is when every
unbeliever will stand before the Lord on Judgment Day and receive recompense for
their sins. The second prophesy
concerning the day of the Lord is the prophesying of the retribution which will
be dealt out to the Edomites for their treatment of Judah.
The prophesy states that just as the Edomites dealt with Judah, they will
receive the same treatment they doled out to Judah.
Ezekiel 35:15 (KJV)
As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because
it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir,
and all Idumea, even all of it: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
The reward which shall be upon their own head will be the payback for the
way they treated Judah. In other
words what will happen to them will affect their very bodies and lives.
Obadiah 16
(KJV)
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.
When Judah had gone into captivity the Edomites were
having great celebrations which included drinking and feasting.
They must have come out of Petra and began to go into the land of Judah
and celebrated in the desolate cities.
What is also in view here is God’s word to the Jews that they have drunk
of the cup of God’s wrath but it would only be for a temporary time period but
those heathen countries that subdued Judah will drink of God’s wrath
continually, that is, none of them will ever become a powerful nation again.
Babylon will be destroyed and Edom will be destroyed to the point they
will just become inconsequential places without military or political power.
Their power will be so diminished that
it will look like they had never existed.
Obadiah 17
(KJV)
But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall
be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
Psalm 78:68 (KJV)
But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.
Once the seventy years will be completed, they will be returned to their
homes in Judah where in 512 years the Lord Jesus Christ will come from the tribe
of Judah and that is why God loves Judah because it is in the messianic line.
This does not mean that all the tribe of Judah will become saved but only
in the messianic line coming through Judah.
The holiness will come through the Lord Jesus Christ when He grants
salvation to His Elect. When man
fell into sin in the Garden of Eden, they lost all possessions that God gave
them. Holiness, eternal life, a
relationship with God the Father, etc.
Because Christ will go to the cross and die for His Elect, the house of
Jacob, which is another name for the body of believers because Jacob was a
believer in the Messianic line being the father of Judah.
The true believer will once again possess their possessions which is
holiness, eternal life, access to God the Father, being kings and priests unto
God, etc.
Obadiah 18
(KJV)
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.
The house of Jacob in this verse represents the southern
Kingdom and the house of Joseph represents the northern kingdom which had gone
into captivity 135 years prior.
This is speaking of a unified Israel which physically could not happen since the
northern ten tribes were assimilated into the Assyrian kingdom never to be heard
from again. What is in view here is
that the united Israel or the complete body of believers will bring the gospel
to the world and that will reign down judgment on the non-elect on Judgment Day.
Yet we have a double prophecy in this verse also that Israel will
eventually become strong enough to defeat the Edomites and make them as if they
did not exist. Fire normally burns
everything in its path thus devouring as it burns and God is prophesying that
Esau will burn to the point that not even be one remaining or person.
Obadiah 19
(KJV)
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.
Those in the south was the tribe of Judah which was the
Negev that was west of Edom. They
will once again repossess the mountains of Esau and this was completed in the
time of Hyrcanus where the Edomites were told to leave the area about 135-134
B.C in the time of the Maccabees.
Then those of the plains or the lowlands where the Philistines dwelt would be
indwelled by Benjamin. It was the
region of Shephelah which was east of Philistia.
They shall also inhabit the fields of Samaria and once again make them
productive. Gilead represents the
Transjordan region which was originally assigned to the tribes of Reuben, Gad,
and the half tribe of Manasseh.
Obadiah 20
(KJV)
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, shall possess the cities of the south.
Once the majority of Israelites have returned from the
captivity in 516 B.C. they will once again begin to repopulate the region of
Israel. They are going to inhabit
where the Canaanites live all the way to the city of Zarephath in Zidon which
would be about 50 miles (81 km) northwest of Lake Gennesaret.
Those who were carried into Babylonian exile from Jerusalem would inhabit
Sepharad, the whereabouts is unknown.
The southern cities are referring to the cities in the land of Judah from
where they were taken from.
Obadiah 21
(KJV)
And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the
mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD'S.