Books of the Bible

The Book of Obadiah

Old Testament · Minor Prophets · Genre: Prophecy · Author: The prophet Obadiah · Chapters: 1

Obadiah, the shortest book in the Old Testament, pronounces judgment on Edom for its pride and its cruelty toward its brother nation Judah in the day of disaster. It warns that the proud will be brought low and that the day of the Lord is near for all nations.

Start reading: Obadiah chapter 1

A key verse

For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.Obadiah 1:15 (KJV)

The setting and background of Obadiah

Obadiah is the shortest book in the Old Testament, a single chapter among the twelve Minor Prophets, concerning the nation of Edom. The Edomites were descended from Esau, the brother of Jacob, and so were kin to Israel, yet they had gloated over Judah's downfall and joined its enemies in the day of disaster.

The book pronounces judgment on Edom for its pride and its cruelty to its brother nation, warning that no height can hide the arrogant from God. It then widens its gaze to the day of the Lord over all nations and closes with the promise of deliverance for God's people and the declaration that the kingdom will be the Lord's.

Obadiah was written to assure a wronged people that God sees betrayal and cruelty and will humble the proud. Its message that God brings the arrogant low and defends the oppressed runs through all of Scripture. In the sweep of the Bible, its closing vision of God's kingdom points to the reign of Christ, who humbles the proud and lifts up the lowly.

The story and structure of Obadiah

Obadiah is the briefest book in the Old Testament, a single chapter concerning the nation of Edom. The Edomites were descended from Esau, the brother of Jacob, and so were kinsmen of Israel, yet the two peoples had a long history of hostility. When disaster fell on Judah, Edom had gloated over its downfall and even joined its enemies.

The prophet declares that God has seen Edom's betrayal of its brother and will bring its pride crashing down. Though Edom felt secure in its high, rocky strongholds, imagining that nothing could reach it, God announces that no height can hide anyone from him, and that the nation which trusted in its own security will be brought low.

At the heart of the book is a warning against arrogance and against the cruelty of gloating over another's ruin. Edom's sin was not only pride but the hardness of standing aloof, and even rejoicing, while its brother suffered. Obadiah declares that as Edom has done, so it will be done to it, and its violence will return on its own head.

The book then lifts its gaze beyond Edom to the day of the Lord over all nations, a day of reckoning when the proud are humbled and God's justice is established. What is announced against one small nation becomes a picture of God's judgment on all human arrogance and cruelty.

Obadiah closes with a promise of deliverance and restoration for God's people, and with the ringing declaration that the kingdom will be the Lord's. Even this shortest of prophecies ends not with the triumph of the proud but with the reign of God over all the earth.

The great themes of Obadiah

Key passages in Obadiah

Obadiah in the sweep of Scripture

Obadiah, though the shortest book in the Old Testament, carries a message that runs through all of Scripture: that God humbles the proud, defends the wronged, and will bring every nation to account on the day of the Lord. Edom becomes a standing symbol of human arrogance and enmity against God's people, and the book's closing vision of God's kingdom looks ahead to the reign of God that fills the rest of the Bible's hope.

Where Christ is in Obadiah

Obadiah's promise that the kingdom will be the Lord's looks forward to the reign of Jesus, who humbles the proud and lifts up the lowly, and whose kingdom will have no end. The God who sees the betrayal of the wronged and promises to defend them is the same God who in Christ takes up the cause of the oppressed and will one day set all things right.

How to read Obadiah well

Read Obadiah as a warning against pride and against the hardness of gloating over another's downfall, examining your own heart for arrogance and false security. Take comfort, if you have been wronged, that God sees every injustice and will act on behalf of his people. And lift your eyes above the schemes of the proud to the sure promise that the kingdom belongs to the Lord, whose reign will finally set everything right.

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