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CHAPTER 1
1. The vision of Ovadyah: This is what the Master YHWH says to Edom (We have heard a report from YHWH, and an envoy is sent among the nations): “Rise up!” So let us rise up against her for battle!
Vision: The Aramaic targum substitutes “prophecy”. Envoy: or ambassador. The same word also means a hinge or pivot, as well as one who confines or cramps, causing someone pangs or distress. In Jewish tradition, Edom (the descendants of Yaaqov’s twin brother Esau) is also a code-name for Rome and by extension, the Church. Edom’s scepter is with Rome, and usually there is a bloodline that moves at least in part with the passing of the scepter to another region. Indeed, one of Edom’s illustrious descendants (Tz'fo) joined ranks with and became prominent and pivotal in the development of Rome. (See note on Gen. 32:4.) First the prophet speaks to other kingdoms in the region who are used to punish this seed of Avraham which is nonetheless not the seed of promise, due to his own fault. Now Ovadyah actually speaks to Edom:
2. “Indeed, I have assigned you to be insignificant among the nations; you are being despised to a great degree.
Insignificant: or least; Aramaic, weak.
3. “The intense arrogance of your heart has deceived you, O inhabitant of the recesses of a cliff, whose dwelling-place is elevated, saying in his heart, ‘Who can bring me down [to the] ground?’
Though YHWH has allowed Esau some continuity for Yitzhaq’s sake, it is meant to play a minor role, as with Yishmael’s descendants, but both the Church and Islam have held themselves up as the standard for monotheistic religion, when in fact Israel is. This is rebellion against the lot YHWH has chosen for them. A cliff: Heb., Sela, also the proper name for the Nabatean city more commonly known as Petra, which is in the heart of Edom’s territory. Clefts of rock are often seen as places of YHWH’s protection, and that is what the Church assumes is her lot, and thus believes she cannot be ruined. Rom. 11:20-21 makes it clear that this is not the case.
4. “Though you should make yourself lofty like the eagle, and [even] if you should position your nest between the stars, from there I will bring you down!,” declares YHWH.
Lofty: The Roman Church has been wealthy and prestigious since Constantine, but Vatican City is now the smallest of nations. (v. 2) Between the stars: The Church considers “heaven” to be her home, while Israel’s “nest” is in the Land of Israel. (See note on Deut. 22:6.) Bring you down: The Aramaic adds, “by My Memra (living Word)”.
5. “If robbers came to you—if the despoilers of the night (how you have been undone!)—wouldn’t they steal their fill? If gatherers came to [cut] you [off], would they leave you anything to glean?
6. “How Esau is exposed, and how his hidden treasures are searched out!
As Esau wanted possessions but not the responsibility as spiritual leader of his family, the Church became wealthy by laying extra-biblical guilt trips upon its parishioners but only promises them comfort in heaven rather than caring for them now.
7. “All your allies have driven you down to the border; the men [who are at] peace with you have been deceiving you, and have prevailed. They have been setting your bread under you like a trap; there is no discernment in him.
Allies: literally, men of your treaty (covenant). Since the Vatican is also a political entity, it deals with nations as an equal, yet they treat it as their superior, not because they like what it tells them, but because of what they can gain from its influence. 70 heads of state attended Pope John Paul II’s funeral. Driven: Aramaic, banished. At peace with you: Aramaic, who ate at your table. (Compare Psalm 41:9.) The Beast system will turn on the harlot it has supported and devour her. (Rev. 17) We see the beginnings of this as numerous priests are being convicted of sexually molesting female parishioners. No discernment: Yeshua told His followers to inquire who is worthy of their message everywhere they go (Mat. 10:11), not cast it before dogs or swine. Esau was a “man of the field” (Gen. 25:27), which Yeshua says symbolizes the world. (Mat. 13:38) The Church of today throws its message out to everyone, for “catholic” means “universal” and it tries to be that. Of course, that has always required immense compromise with ideas YHWH has forbidden.
8. “In that day”, declares YHWH, “won’t I cause the wise [men] to vanish out of Edom, and understanding from the mountain of Esau?
The chief formula for the destruction of a nation is to remove any worthwhile counsel from within. This parallels verse 9, but in our own day, it is being said that anyone who was really doing any of the work in the church is ending up in the ranks of Israel.
9. “And your heroes will go to pieces, O Theyman, so that [each] man may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter.
Heroes will go to pieces: Aramaic, your warriors will be crushed. Theyman: the grandson of Esau and one of the chiefs of the Edomites (Gen. 36:15), who inhabited the area east of Edom at first, and is now identified with Yemen (apparently having migrated there).
10. “Because of violence [toward] your brother Yaaqov, shame will cover you, and you have been cut off for the Age.
From its council on when to celebrate the resurrection (which excluded all Jewish believers, which they knew would dissent based on their closer knowledge of the truth) to its inaction and even complicity during the Nazi holocaust, the Church has done violence of all types to Yaaqov (which in verse 18 specifically alludes to Yehudah, which it has forgotten was its brother, not only by virtue of Yeshua being Jewish but since by and large the true believers within it are the House of Yosef). Those who have tried to live by more biblical standards, thus calling Rome’s bluff, she has massacred. Esau was a man hungry for what was red, and a hunter who delighted in blood. To those with eyes to see, the cardinals who wear red give away the fact that they are Edom.
11. “When you stood at a distance on the day the foreigners carried away his wealth, and unknown [aliens] entered his gates and cast lots in regard to Yerushalayim, you, too, were like one of them.
This may yet have a larger fulfillment in the “time of Yaaqov’s trouble” (Yirmeyahu/Jeremiah 30:7, which is in the context of the whole of Israel’s return from all nations to which they have been scattered). Unknown: despite the differences between Yaaqov and Esau, brothers are meant to unite against an outsider as a common enemy. Like one of them: It seems Esau did not actually join forces with the enemy, but the effect of his remaining neutral was the same for Israel.
12. “But you should not have watched on your brother’s day, on the day of his calamity, and you should not have been glad about the sons of Yehudah on the day they disappeared, nor should you have enlarged your mouth on the day [they were in] straits.
You should not have watched: just standing by without helping. Aramaic, How you gloated. The day of his calamity: or alienation; literally, the day he became a foreigner, or the day of his recognition. Enlarged your mouth: Aramaic, gone too far in boasting.
13. “You should not have entered the gate of My people on the day of their distress, nor should even you have looked on its misery on the day of its distress, and you should not have reached for its wealth on the day of its distress.
Edom secretly and maybe subconsciously desired Israel’s lush land for themselves, as they lived in a barren place, and when it was vacated, they were ready to rush in and grab it. Reached for its wealth: Aramaic, laid your hands on its produce. They did not even have the decency to offer their brother condolence for his losses, but added insult to injury. Like their famished ancestor, all they thought about was their own belly. Europeans did the same again with the wealth of the Jews carried away to ghettoes and concentration camps.
14. “Moreover, you should not have stood at the fork in the road to cause its escapees to be cut off, nor should you have closed off those who remained of it on the days it was in a tight spot.
Fork in the road: or crossroads, “heading them off at the pass”. Cause to be cut off: Aramaic, wipe out. Closed off: Aramaic, betrayed, i.e., denied them a way of escape.
15. “For the Day of YHWH is impending upon all the nations! Just as you have done, it will be done to you; the way you have dealt will come back onto your own head,
The way you have dealt: or, your recompense, what you deserve.
16. “because as you have drunk atop My mountain of holiness, all the nations will keep on drinking [all the time]. Indeed, they have drunk and have swallowed, and they have become as though they had not existed.
As you have drunk atop My mountain: Aramaic, "as you rejoiced in the laying low of My holy mountain". The Church indeed gloated over its capture of the holy city during the Crusades, and even sold pieces of the Rock the Temple stood on as over-priced relics. Today Edom’s territory is in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which still has jurisdiction over the Temple Mount, preventing it from being a “house of prayer for all nations” but only allowing Muslims to pray on it. Keep on drinking: Aramaic, "drink the cup of their punishment". Drunk and swallowed: possibly an allusion to the bitter waters ordeal by which a harlot’s guilt is tested. (Num. 5:12-31; compare Rev. 17)
17. “But there will be a refuge on Mount Tzion, and it will be set apart, and the House of Yehudah will seize their possessions.
Seize their possessions: possibly what is rightfully their own but occupied by others, as the Temple Mount itself is now, or, as the Aramaic targum interprets it, take possession of [the property of the nations] who were dispossessing them.
18. “Then the House of Yaaqov will become a fire, and the House of Yosef a flame, and the House of Esau will serve as chaff, and they will set them ablaze and consume them, and the House of Esau will not have a survivor left, because YHWH has spoken.
A fire: Aramaic, as strong as fire. Serve as chaff: dry stubble often used to kindle fires. Set ablaze, consume: Aramaic, have dominion over them and slaughter them. Already during the Clinton administration, an agreement was signed into international law that Yerushalayim will be made an international city administered by the Vatican. This has not yet been enforced, but if it is, it probably cannot be removed until Yosef joins Yehudah in coming back to reclaim it. Spoken: Aram., decided. Rome will be taken by surprise, because they think most of their “separated brethren”, who are making amends with Rome in droves today, are actually her children, when in fact they belong to Israel—the last thing they would expect.
19. “And [the inhabitants of] the Negev will take possession of the mountains of Esau, and [those of the] Sh’felah the [territory of the] Filistines, and they will take possession of the field of Efrayim and the field of Shomron and Binyamin, along with Gil’ad.
Negev: the barren desert in the south of Israel. Mountains of Esau: Aramaic, citadel of Esau. Sh’felah: the foothills or lowlands between the mountains and the Mediterranean coast. Territory of the Filistines: probably the Gaza Strip today. Field: Aramaic, cities. Shomron: “Samaria”, the area which is now slated to be turned over to the “Palestinians”; Ramallah, its erstwhile capital, is in the territory of Binyamin. Gil’ad (partly in Jordan and partly the Golan Heights), the ancient possession of Menashe and Gad. The field of Efrayim may also be across the Jordan from Efrayim’s ancient tribal land, since the Forest of Efrayim, where Avshalom was captured and killed, is in Jordan (in Gad’s territory).
20. “And those carried away captive of this army belong to the sons of Israel who are Kanaanites as far as Tzarfath, and the exiles of Yerushalayim who are in Sfarad will take possession of the cities of the Negev,
Kanaanites: or, merchants. Aramaic, exiles of…the Israelites [shall possess] what is in the land of Kanaan. Tzarfath: anciently, a city in the region of Tzur and Tzidon, which was the limit of the Kanaanite territory. (Gen. 10:19; 1 Kings 17) But ask any modern Israeli where Tzarfath is, and they will tell you “France”, as that is its name in Hebrew. Sfarad: the Hebrew name for Spain, which is why the Jews of Spain are called Sefardim. Many who left Spain when ousted in 1492 migrated to Mexico and other Latin American countries and forgot they were Jewish until the last 20 years, when historical research has brought to light their true heritage. Many indeed are embracing their ancestry and are known as the B’ney Anusim, who are immigrating to Israel in droves and establishing new communities in the Negev!
21. “and deliverers will ascend onto Mount Tzion to judge the mountain [range] of Esau, and the kingship will belong to YHWH!”
Tzion: originally the same as the City of David south of the Temple Mount, which only recently has come back into predominantly-Jewish possession. The mountain of Esau: possibly representative of the governing power of Rome and the Church. The last phrase is the most important one in the book.
THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET
Ovadyah
INTRODUCTION: Ovadyah means “servant of YHWH”. Jewish tradition (Talmud, Sanhedrin 39b) places Ovadyah chronologically in the 9th century B.C.E. during the reign of Akh'av (Ahab), and the order of the Hebrew Scriptures confirms its pre-exilic timing. While Ovadyah was a common name during that epoch (1 Chron. 3:21; 7:3; 8:38; 9:16; 9:44; 12:9; 27:19; 2 Chron. 34:12 all speak of different men by that name), but there was indeed a high official in Akh'av’s court—called “governor of his house--who sustained 100 prophets who were hunted by Yizevel (1 Kings 18) and met Eliyahu at least once. Some scholars (such as Keil) suggest that the background for the prophecy is the Arabians’ and Philistines’ attack on Yehudah during the reign of Yehoram (2 Chron.21:16-17), Akh'av’s son-in-law and thus within a close time frame, or (per Davis) the Edomite attack on Yehudah during Akhatz’s reign (2 Chron. 28:17) several generations later, in which case he could not be the same man. The Assyrian Annals record Arab raids on the Land of Israel in the 7th century B.C.E. as well. According to J.A. Thompson (research consultant to the American Bible Society), more scholars see the calamity of Yerushalayim (vv. 11-14) as its capture by the Babylonians (586 B.C.E.), as no other capture of the city records Edomites as among the participants. (Ps. 137:7; 1 Esdras 4:45) Other prophets who denounce Edom are Yeshayahu, Yirmeyahu, Y’hezq’el, Yo’el, and Amos. (The passage that best parallels this book is Yirmeyahu 49:7-22.) But as will come out in the commentary below, Edom also has a figurative meaning which also has a genealogical basis.
