Obadiah setting & dates

The Setting of Obadiah

The book is set against two lands and the bitter history between them. Edom lay to the southeast of the Dead Sea, a rugged region of red sandstone cliffs, deep gorges, and high plateaus, where the people carved their dwellings and fortresses into the rock: “you who live in the clefts of the rock, in your lofty dwelling.” This natural stronghold bred the proud confidence that Obadiah exposes and condemns. To the northwest stood Jerusalem and the land of Judah, God’s covenant people, whose fall to Babylon was the occasion of Edom’s treachery.

The relationship between the two nations was ancient and personal, for Edom descended from Esau and Israel from Jacob, twin brothers whose rivalry began in the womb. That kinship makes the geography a map of betrayal: instead of coming to their brother’s aid when Jerusalem fell, the Edomites stood at the crossroads and border passes to cut down and hand over the refugees who fled. Obadiah’s closing vision reverses the picture, as the delivered house of Jacob on Mount Zion comes to possess “Mount Esau,” and the whole land is brought under the kingdom of the LORD.

Timeline

• Ancient rivalry - Edom (Esau) and Israel (Jacob) descend from twin brothers, and enmity runs through their history.
• 586 BC - Babylon destroys Jerusalem; Edom gloats, plunders, and blocks the fleeing survivors.
• Obadiah’s vision - The prophet announces God’s judgment on Edom and the coming day of the LORD on all nations.
• Edom’s fall - In the centuries following, Edom is overrun and eventually disappears as a nation, while God’s people are restored.