Israel IV

Obadiah 1:17, “But on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.

18 The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame; but the house of Esau shall be stubble; They shall kindle them and devour them, and no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau,” For the LORD has spoken.

19 The South [the Negev] shall possess the mountains of Esau, and the Lowland [from the foothills] shall possess Philistia. They shall possess the fields of Ephraim and the fields of Samaria.  Benjamin shall possess Gilead.  

20 And the captives of this host of the children of Israel shall possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath. The captives of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad shall possess the cities of the south.

21 Then saviors [deliverers] shall come to Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the LORD’s.

What was God declaring in these verses?

Israel and Jerusalem were conquered and taken into captivity and Edom celebrated throwing a party on temple mount (1:13-16).  For that response to the calamity of another, God was going to bring an end to the Edomites (1:16b, 18).  The last Edomites we know of are Herod and his family and then no more – the Edomites are gone!

But Jerusalem – yes, gone for a spell, but not gone forever.  God made promises:

1. 1:17 “BUT” – in contrast to Edom being never again.
2. 1:17 “deliverance/holiness/Jacob shall possess” – Jerusalem will be freed from oppression/occupation, be a place of holiness and the Jewish people reconstituted.  Today (2021) they are regrouped and autonomous but they are not holy.  They have not been holy since this promise was made.  It is therefore something yet in the future.
3. 1:19 – The Jews will possess the lands of their former enemies.  The south will extend to the Gulf of Aqaba (the former land of Esau) and the west slope of Israel will possess the flat lands of Philistia.  Judea, the southern kingdom, will possess all the lands of the northern kingdom (Ephraim and Samaria) and little Benjamin, the tribe where the temple sits, will encompass the lands east of the Jordan. The nation will be greatly expanded even over what it is today in 2021.

[In Genesis 15 God cut a covenant with Abraham that was fully contingent on God’s faithfulness, not Abraham’s nor his descendants.  Remember, Abraham cut animals apart and made a pathway between their carcasses, then God put Abraham into a deep sleep and God, as a smoking pot and touch, moved through the “sacrifices.”  God swore by Himself – thus the promise was absolutely sure (Hebrews 6:13).  Genesis 15:17-21, And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates.”  To this day, Israel has never controlled all that area.  Does God ever make a promise He does not keep?  So what should we yet expect to happen as to the land ruled by Israel and what was God promising in Obadiah?]

4. 1:20 – Jewish returnees will come from distant places to settle in Zarephath in the far north of the country and in areas in the far south.
5. 1:21 – Jewish rulers from Jerusalem will rule the land including what was Edom and they will serve under the Lord himself.

Bottom line – for God to be good to His promise made to Abraham and through Obadiah; the Jews will be holy and rule a great land mass in faithful service to Jesus.  Not yet, but it is coming and likely soon!