DOES IT PAY TO HATE ISRAEL?
A NEW LOOK AT THE BOOK OF OBADIAH
Edom, the mountainous region southeast of the Dead Sea, was the home of the descendants of Esau. Unfortunately, Esau’s heritage has come to be one of sorrow, shame and disgrace. This is sad indeed, when we consider that Esau was the firstborn child of Isaac. He was technically the heir of the extremely rich spiritual heritage of Abraham and Isaac. He could have been listed as one of the Patriarchs of Israel, but alas, it was not to be. We learn in scripture that Esau despised his rich heritage and thoughtlessly traded it to Jacob for a mess of pottage (Gen. 25:29-34). With this act he began to bring great heartache upon millions of his heirs, the remnant of whom have now become dispersed among the Arab peoples.
For us to better understand this story of Edom and of Obadiah’s message, let’s briefly look back at the history of the country and of its founder, Esau. In ancient times Edom was also called Mount Seir. The area was specifically allotted to Esau by God himself (Deut.2:12; Josh. 24:4). Esau took over his possession and drove out the Horites who lived there, although he took the daughter of one of the Horite chiefs as his wife. His people flourished under their later tribal monarchy, and we are told in Genesis 36:31-39, that eight kings reigned in Edom before the Israelites had a king.
Edom was originally blessed by God with mountains and pasture lands. Edom’s impressive mountains rose to a height of about 3500 feet above the adjacent Aravah. The land, ranging from 20 to 40 miles wide, extended for about 100 miles, from the southern end of the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqabah. Nestled far back in its mountain canyons was its famous rose-colored capital, Sela, which in Greek times came to be known as Petra.
AN ANCIENT HATRED
The heritage that Esau passed on to the Edomites has been a heritage of hatred. We see evidences of this hatred in several scripture passages, such as Obadiah 1:10-13; Psalms 137:7; Ezekiel 25:12-14; and Amos 1:11-13. It is hard to believe that this four-thousand-year-old hatred, perhaps the strongest hatred in our world today, began as a hatred between brothers.
The hatred of Edom was first seen in its founder, Esau, as he swore to murder his brother Jacob (Gen. 27:41). It was later displayed when the Edomites refused Israel passage as that new nation came out of Egypt (Num.20:14-21). Then finally, the Edomites assisted the enemies of Israel in the destruction of Jerusalem, probably in 586 BC. This final act assured God’s wrath.
After the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, Edom was also destroyed. God promised these people, who were dwelling proudly and securely in their mountain fortress, that he would bring them down even if they mounted up like an eagle, or even if they set their nest among the stars (Obad. 1:4). In later years, the land of Edom was taken over by the Nabateans. The few Edomites who were left were confined to the southern areas of Judea. They became known as Idumeans. It was from this lineage that King Herod was born. He continued with the ancient hatred by seeking to destroy at birth, the one whom Christians believe to be Israel’s Messiah. After the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in AD 70, the Idumeans vanished from history as a distinct people.
DOES EDOM LIVE ON?
Edom’s scattered descendants, wherever they are today among the Arab peoples, may have been a key factor in keeping this ancient hatred alive. This incomprehensible, insatiable hatred of Israel seems to be one thing that unites the many warring Moslem nations today.
The Edomites like their cousins the Amalekites, somehow still manage to pursue their brother with the sword, “stifling all compassion” (Amos 1:11). In Obadiah 1:10 God says, “Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever.” It is surely interesting that the word for “violence” in Hebrew used today is the word, hamas. Since a group by this very name is now one of the leading antagonists of Israel, we realize how little things seem to change over the thousands of years.
We can learn by this that when God passes judgment upon a people we should not be quick to intervene as “bleeding hearts.” God knew that the germ within Edom and within their cousins, the Amalekites, was so dangerous that it would require the complete destruction of these two nations. Because of Saul’s great disobedience, a few Amalekites survived (1 Sam.15:18-19). Haman, who centuries later almost annihilated the Jewish people in the vast Persian Empire, was one of them. Somehow, a few Edomites also escaped, as we saw earlier in the case of King Herod. Someday when the books are opened and all secret things are brought to light, we may find that Edomite influence has contributed much to the Middle East conflict and to the continuing world-wide conspiracy of hatred against Israel.
It is sad indeed that the more than two hundred million Moslem Arabs in the Middle East have failed to learn about Obadiah’s message. We can say the same about the one billion Moslems worldwide. Although Moslems claim to honor and believe Israel’s prophets, very few of them have ever read the prophets, and that probably includes the words of Obadiah.
Today many Moslem Arabs live in abysmal ignorance, oppression, poverty and woe. Most of the wars going on at present, and most of those that have gone on in the last few years, are Moslem wars. We need site only a few countries: Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Bosnia. It is an astounding fact that 75% of all the refugees in the world today are from these Moslem countries, where the hatred of Israel is their basic unifying belief. The Palestinians, who have hated Israel with a venomous hatred, live in squalor, fear, and oppression even by their own brethren. They too, have learned nothing from Obadiah.
GOD’S PLAN UNHINDERED
It is an amazing confirmation of the authority of scripture that after the world’s anti-Semites have destroyed themselves through their hatred of Israel, that God’s plan continues to go on unchecked. Hitler, the worst of their lot, managed to kill more Jews than anyone else in history, yet, as a result of his efforts the State of Israel immediately sprang into being.
The Edomites probably hated Israel with the same ugly and virulent hatred that we see in today’s Palestinians. Many of the latter danced with glee on their rooftops when Saddam’s missiles fell on Tel Aviv a few years ago. The Edomites hated themselves out of existence, and God’s plan went on. They sorely wanted to dispossess the people of Israel. They stood at the crossroads and cut down all the stragglers who had escaped the invading the armies (Obad. 1:14). They thought they would take the houses of God in possession (Ezek. 35:10). Yet the word of God comes across loud and clear in Obadiah’s beautiful passage in 1:17: “But on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy, and the house of Jacob will possess its inheritance.” After all the frenzied hatred, the Jews will still possess their inheritance in the end!
The prophet Obadiah goes on to assure us in verse 18 that: “‘The house of Jacob will be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame; and the house of Esau will be stubble, and they will set it on fire and consume it. There will be no survivors from the house of Esau.’ The Lord has spoken.”
GOD IS NOT THROUGH YET
Strangely, God’s wrath still burns against Edom today, even after almost four thousand years. Perhaps that wrath is not just with Edom, but with Arab and other Moslem nations who have kept Edom’s ancient hatred alive. Israel’s prophets such as Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel and Amos pick up on Edom’s woeful theme. Isaiah 34:8-10, tells us that “…the Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion’s cause….” He tells us in the next verse that Edom’s streams will be turned into blazing pitch. Her smoke will go up forever and the land will lie desolate with no one passing through. Edom and her rose city of Petra, far from being a place of refuge for the Jews as some Christians suppose, seems to be a place of eternal cursing and damnation.
The prophet Ezekiel in chapter 35 of his book also picks up this theme. He emphasizes once more the real reason for Edom’s woes: “Because you harbored an ancient hostility…” (v.5). Ezekiel says something in this passage that should send shivers up the spine of all those people and nations who slander Israel today: “I the Lord have heard all the contemptible things you have said against the mountains of Israel…” (Ezek. 35:12). Yes, God Almighty hears the slanders of nations, of peoples, of newscasters, and he recompenses them all.
So far as God is concerned, the Edom problem still exists in our world, although the nation itself has long vanished. There is a day of vengeance, or day of the Lord (Obad. 1:15) still coming to the remnant of these Israel haters. This will be carried out by the Messiah in person, as we see in Isaiah sixty-three. In this passage we see the Messiah, apparently at his return, coming directly from Edom. His garments are stained with blood. By his own confession the Messiah says: “I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me…their blood splattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing” (Isa. 63:3).
The Messiah seems amazed at the nations (perhaps even Christian ones) that there was no one who gave support (v.5). Perhaps the nations were too busy trying to justify and support the enemies of Israel to realize that these enemies may well be God’s enemies today, just as they were in biblical times.
Obadiah closes by assuring us that “Deliverance will go upon Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau, And the Kingdom will be the Lord’s” (Obad.1:21). Israel haters, whether those in Obadiah’s day or the Palestinian terrorist groups and other anti-Semites today, will not and cannot win. Only God will win in the end, and along with him will be his covenant people, the people of Israel.
-Jim Gerrish
This updated article presented courtesy of Bridges For Peace, Jerusalem (orig. pub. 1995).