Wednesday Bible Study: O is for Obadiah

So today I decided (and I'll explain in a sec just how much of a misnomer "I decided" is) to work on the Prophet Obadiah, who gets a one-chapter space in the Bible.  I found there were three main questions to ask about him:  Who was he, WHEN was he, and did his prophecy come true?  I'll try to get that into an organized whole here.

So first question- who was he?  There were several Obadiahs in the OT, and different people have made different claims on this.  The Jewish tradition says that he was an Edomite convert to Judaism- an ironic twist to the story if it were true, as we shall see- and a descendant of Job's buddy Eliphaz the Temanite.  According to this, he was also the Obadiah who was a servant of the evil King Ahab, thus well-connected and very wealthy (though he spent much of it hiding the 100 prophets God told Elijah about), all of that from 1 Kings.

Reasons this doesn't fly:  IF he had been wealthy and connected to royalty, it would have likely said or at least showed through in his prophecy.  It did not.  Plus, as I will endeavor to show, it doesn't fit the timeline.

An Orthodox tradition says our guy is the third captain sent to Elijah (for those not in the know- Ahab's son Ahaziah sent for Elijah to stop the three-year ban on rain he had instituted.  The first two times, both the captain and his guard were consumed by fire from heaven called down by Elijah.  The third captain begged for his life and the life of his men before anything else, and Elijah spared him.), but again, I'll show the timeline precludes this.

Most of the commentators agree, though, that his name- "Worshipper of Yahweh"- indicates that he was both of humble origin and not someone who was known otherwise.


Next, WHEN was he?  My Bible's intro to the chapter noted that in verses 10-12-


Oba 1:10  Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever. 
Oba 1:11  On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. 
Oba 1:12  But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune; do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; do not boast in the day of distress. 

-he lived after a point when Jerusalem had been attacked, and Edom (founded from Esau, brother of Jacob who founded Israel), stood by and encouraged the slaughter of "his brother".  It goes on to postulate four times that that could have happened, smartly eliminates two, and then deals with the remaining two.  One, the one it favors, was during an attack on King Jehoram by "Philistines and Arabs", following up on several sources doing a misguided connection between 'Arabs' and Edom.  The other was during one of the three attacks Babylon made on Jerusalem ending in the final conquest in 586 BC.  The authors felt that since Obadiah never mentioned Babylon, it had to be the earlier one.  But I call foul, for two reasons.  And one of them shows God's hand in MY story.

First off, look at the beginning of the book:

Oba 1:1  The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord GOD concerning Edom: We have heard a report from the LORD, and a messenger has been sent among the nations: "Rise up! Let us rise against her for battle!" 

"WE have heard a report."  Of the four prophets who prophesied against Edom, Isaiah doesn't count as his is obviously an end-times prophecy.  Ezekiel and Jeremiah were real close to the same time, though.  Jeremiah's, according to 47:1 were "before Pharaoh attacked Gaza".  This was Neccho on his way back from the stalemate with Assyria in Carchemish, reliably dated at 605 BC. Ezekiel was in Babylon in the second exile in 601 BC, and thus had to be between that and around 592 BC.  WE means Obadiah had to be roughly contemporary, and a bit after, the other two- if we read this right.  But no Babylon?  Here's where God helps me out in a funny way.

I support a missionary in Papua New Guinea.  She often sends thank you cards, and they always contain "a verse that was on my heart".  On my way to look into Jeremiah's timeline, my Bible fell open to where I put her latest card, near Psalms 139 where her verse was.  But right next to the card was Psalms 137- particularly verses 7-9:

Psa 137:7  Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, "Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!" 

Psa 137:8  O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us! 

Psa 137:9  Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock! 

V7 is basically the same prophecy against Edom found in Obadiah, in Jeremiah 49, and in Ezekiel 25.  THEY are the WE.  Thus Obadiah, by my estimate, MUST have prophesied between the late date for Ezekiel in 592 BC and Obadiah's own exile into Babylon in 586 BC.  And all linked together because God had me stick a thank-you note near Psalms 137!

And that brings us to the finale:  Was the prophecy fulfilled?  Well, here we have to turn to Josephus the historian.  He tells us of the conquests of John Hyrcanus I, the nephew of Judas Maccabeus, "the Hammer"  (with apologies to Charles Martel and lawyer Daryl Isaacs).  During his rule in Hasmonean Israel- around 134 to 104 BC- this happened...

 “Hyrcanus took also Dora and Marissa, cities of Idumea, and subdued all the Idumeans; and permitted them to stay in that country, if they would circumcise their genitals, and make use of the laws of the Jews; and they were so desirous of living in the country of their forefathers, that they submitted to the use of circumcision, and the rest of the Jewish ways of living; at which time therefore this befell them, that they were hereafter no other than Jews." Chapter IX, (2).

Sidelight A:   Idumeans=Edomites.  Just another name for the same.

Sidelight B:  The Catholic Encyclopedia dates this circumcision at 109 BC.  Going on, the site where I found the Josephus passage adds this:

William Whiston, translator of Josephus, adds this note: “This account of the Idumeans admitting circumcision, and the entire Jewish law, from this time, or from the days of Hyrcanus, is confirmed by their entire history afterwards.  This, in the opinion of Josephus, made them proselytes of justice, or entire Jews.”  Since that time, the Edomites have been part of the Jewish nation.  Some believe that the Edomites are still identifiable today as Sephardic Jews, but this is speculation.

      The Wycliffe Bible Commentary on Obadiah confirms that judgment came upon Edom in ancient times, starting with the Nabatean invasion soon after the time of Obadiah:

      “Soon after this time, Edom was pushed out of her ancient home by the Nabateans, so that she had to move to the west side of the Dead Sea.  Hebron was made the capital of her new home in south Judah.  The Maccabees, especially John Hyrcanus (c. 125 BC), subdued and Judaized the Edomites.  They were finally destroyed with the Jews in 70 AD by the Roman general Titus.”

So whether you want to count them as racially erased in 109 BC, or physically erased 180 years later, the gist is the same- No more Edom.  And if Josephus was right, there's the irony of the Rabbis saying Obadiah was a 'Jewish convert from Edom'.

And why can't it be both?  Because if we look more into Obadiah's own prophecy we find:


Oba 1:12  But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune; do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; do not boast in the day of distress. 
Oba 1:13  Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; do not gloat over his disaster in the day of his calamity; do not loot his wealth in the day of his calamity. 
Oba 1:14  Do not stand at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives; do not hand over his survivors in the day of distress. 
Oba 1:15  For the day of the LORD is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head. 

What better way to 'return his deeds to his own head' than to make Edom PART of that which he mocked?  And further on...

Oba 1:18  The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble; they shall burn them and consume them, and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau, for the LORD has spoken. 

Oba 1:19  Those of the Negeb shall possess Mount Esau, and those of the Shephelah shall possess the land of the Philistines; they shall possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria, and Benjamin shall possess Gilead. 

Esau 'burned like stubble', and his land taken by 'those of the Negeb" (the Nabateans).  Sounds like God covered every base- right down to a certain thank you card on a certain page...