Font Size
The second cause for Edom’s sin of pride was a reputation for wisdom (v.8). Teman was a village or a district south or east of Mount Seir, variously located in Edom by authorities, from five to fifteen miles from Petra. It was noted as one of the centers of wisdom of the ancient world. Eliphaz the Temanite was the first named of Job’s three “wise” comforters (Job 2:11) and the first to offer his free advice (Job 4:1). The prophet states that the mighty warriors of Teman would be terrified, afford no protection at all for Esau on the mountain top, and everyone would be cut down in the slaughter (v.9). Because Edom’s pride had led to atrocities against its brother nation, Israel, the Edomites would be cut off forever (v.10).
The crimes of this wicked nation fired Obadiah’s soul with scorching invective as he lashed out against such wickedness. It also appears that the prophet wrote from the advantage of having seen the terrible actions of Edom and the fall of Jerusalem. What was Edom’s sin? They watched from a distance at first, then cast lots and went for the loot as strangers carried off the wealth of the city (v.11).
Seven times Obadiah repeats the words “in the day” following the phrase “On the day” (v.11). In the day of misfortune, destruction, trouble (v.12), disaster, disaster, disaster (v.13), trouble (v.14), the Edomites scorned their brother, rejoiced, boasted, marched through the gates of Jerusalem, looked down on them in their calamity, seized their wealth, waited at the crossroads to cut down the fugitives, and handed over the survivors to the strangers (vv.12-14). When the besieged people of Judah tried to escape across the Jordan, the Edomites cut them off and turned them over to the invaders, probably Babylonians.