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.

Obadiah 12

Our study of the book of Obadiah has thus far given us one reason as to why God was so displeased with the nation of Edom and was thus going to bring about their downfall: their pride (3-4).  The prophet lists another reason in verse 10:  “Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.”

Remember that the nation of Edom was made up of the descendants of Esau (Gen. 36), the brother and rival of Jacob, the ancestor of the Israelite nation (Gen. 25:19-34; 27:1-46; 32:1-32; 33:1-17).  Thus, Obadiah’s mention to Edom of “the violence done to your brother Jacob” is a figurative way of saying that the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, had harmed the Israelites, their lineal brothers.

Edom had done much violence to Israel.  Obadiah elaborates in verse 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.”  The “strangers” and “foreigners” who had entered Jerusalem and carried off its wealth could have been the Philistines and Arabians in 845 B.C. (2 Chr. 21).  Edom had been against the Jews at that time (2 Chr. 21:8-10).  Obadiah might have been referencing Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonians in 586 B.C.  Edom had been seen as an enemy of God’s people at that time also (Jer. 49:7-13; Ezek. 35:1-10; cf. Ps. 137:1, 7).  In either case, Edom’s “standing aloof” while the Jews’ enemies stole from and violently harmed them would be a good reason for God to list them among Israel’s enemies.

When Jerusalem fell into the hands of her enemies, Edom “gloat(ed),” “rejoice(d),” and “boast(ed)” over her calamity (12).  Edom also apparently joined in the looting of the city and kidnapped her refugees to sell them into slavery.  Obadiah, either rebuking them at the time of Jerusalem’s downfall or prophetically foretelling of it before the fact, said to Edom in verses 13-14:  “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.  Do not stand at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives; do not hand over his survivors in the day of distress.”  One of the inspired Psalmists, writing after Babylon had carried Judah off into captivity, cried out to God, “Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, ‘Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!’” (Ps. 137:7).  Centuries earlier, Amos had spoken of Edom’s involvement in slave trafficking Israel’s refugees (Amos 1:6, 9).

There would be a divine reckoning, as Obadiah warned Edom:  “Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever” (10; cf. 15ff).  God does not want his creation to treat each other in such spiteful ways, nor look upon the misfortune of each other with such glee and lack of concern and compassion.  He did not want Israel to treat Edom in such a manner (Deut. 23:7), and he did not want Edom to treat Israel in the same way.  Yet that’s exactly what Edom did, laughing it up as they watched an enemy attack Jerusalem and boasting in their own supposed security while it happened.

This is a major lesson from Obadiah for Christians today.  God warns us, “He who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished” (Prov. 17:5), and “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles” (Prov. 24:17).  Instead, we are to “love our enemies” (Matt. 5:44-48), “do good to everyone” at every opportunity (Gal. 6:10), and “repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all” (Rom. 12:17-21).  All of us have enemies at worst and people who simply do not care for us and treat us rudely at best.  Agape love must always govern our words and actions toward them.

— Jon