Obadiah: Obadiah 7-Edom’s Allies Will Betray Her

Obadiah 7 All your allies will force you to the border; your friends will deceive and overpower you; those who eat your bread will set a trap for you, but you will not detect it. (NIV)

Obadiah 7 Each of your allies will certainly force you from your territory. Your treaty partners will certainly cause you to be deceived. They will certainly conquer you. Your trusted friends will set an ambush for you. There will be absolutely no intelligence concerning it. (My translation)

“All your allies have driven you to your border” expresses the certainty that each of Edom’s allies will in the future drive her from her territory.

“Those at peace with you have deceived you” expresses the certainty that in the future Edom’s treaty partners will deceive her.

“They have prevailed against you” expresses the certainty that in the future Edom’s treaty partners will conquer her.

“Those who eat your bread have set a trap beneath you” expresses the idea of Edom’s trusted friends setting an ambush for her.

“You have no understanding” indicates that Edom will possess absolutely no military intelligence regarding her treaty partners plan to ambush her.

Obadiah 7 contains five prophetic declarations pertaining to Edom’s allies, who are described in these declarations as “treaty partners” and “trusted friends.”

Together, they predict the nation of Edom will suffer a great betrayal at the hands of her allies who were Gentile nations in the Mediterranean and Mesopotamian regions of the world in the sixth century B.C.

The first predicts that each of Edom’s allies will certainly force her from her territory indicating that her allies will take military action against her which will result in her citizens being dispossessed from the land.

This was fulfilled from approximately 500 B.C. onward since from that time the Edomites were pushed westward into the Negev.

The second asserts that her treaty partners will certainly cause her to be deceived indicating that her treaty partners will cause her to believe things which are not true in order to deceive her so as to take advantage of her militarily.

The third prophetic declaration asserts that Edom’s treaty partners or allies will defeat her militarily implying she will be defeated on the battlefield by her trusted allies and treaty partners.

The fourth predicts that Edom’s trusted friends who would be her allies and treaty partners will set an ambush for her which means that her trusted friends will plot and execute a surprise attack on them.

The fifth and final prophetic declaration asserts that there will be absolutely no military intelligence whatsoever regarding this plot by Edom’s allies to conquer her militarily.

Bob Spender writes “International treaties leading to political coalitions were prevalent in the ancient Near East, and Edom seems to have been no exception. They were proud of their alliances and thought themselves to be secure because of their friends.”[1]

These five prophetic declarations in verse 7 harken the reader back to the very first verse.

Obadiah 1 Obadiah’s vision. This is what my Sovereign Lord says concerning Edom: We have heard a report from the Lord. Consequently, an envoy has been dispatched among the nations: “Arise! Yes, let us rise up against her for war!” (My translation)

“Arise” Yes, let us rise up against her for war!” is the Lord’s command to the Gentile nations of the Mediterranean and Mesopotamian regions of the world in Obadiah’s day and age to wage war against the nation of Edom.

Therefore, Obadiah records the Lord sovereignly ordering the Gentile nations of the Mediterranean and Mesopotamian regions of the world in his day and age after the destruction of the kingdom of Judah by Babylon to wage war against the nation of Edom.

By giving this order, the Lord was intervening in the affairs of mankind.

Therefore, in verse 7, in response to the Lord calling the Gentile nations in the Mediterranean and Mesopotamian regions of the world in Obadiah’s day to wage war against Edom, these nations plotted the demise of Edom.

This plot to destroy Edom was according to the will of the God of Israel as verse 1 makes clear.

As we noted in Obadiah 3, the people of Edom will deceive themselves.

Obadiah 3 Your presumptuous heart has caused you to enter the state of self-deception, you who live in the rock-cliffs, your lofty dwelling place, who say within your heart, “Who will cause me to be brought down to the ground?” (My translation)

However, now in verse 7, we see that she will be deceived by others and in particular by her friends.

Edom’s allies would prove to be her worst enemies.

They would fail to help her in her hour of greatest need just like she failed to help her blood relatives the Israelites in their hour of greatest need when the Babylonians attacked the kingdom of Judah.

Douglas Stuart writes “Edom was a weak country militarily, its small population and its limited agricultural wealth precluding powerful armed forces. Therefore its ability to attack Judah’s Negeb and help plunder Jerusalem had depended on its obsequious alliance with more powerful states, especially Babylon.”[2]

Ironically, Edom was known for her wise men (cf. Obadiah 8; Jer. 49:7).

However, Obadiah 7 reveals that they would be totally and completely ignorant of the plot against them by her allies.

All of which is predicted in Obadiah 7 came to pass in human history because she participated in the sacking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 587 B.C. which we will note in Obadiah 10-14.

Baker writes “The downfall referred to here probably occurred in the late sixth or early fifth century b.c. when the Nabateans went to the Edomites who took them in for a banquet. Once welcomed inside Edomite territory, the Nabateans turned against their ally and killed the guards.[3]

Warren Wiersbe writes “Nations today that boast of their political alliances and their formidable military establishments should take heed to what happened to Edom long ago, for that proud nation is no more. About 300 b.c., the Nabataean Arabs drove out the Edomites and occupied their key city Petra, the ‘rose red city’ carved out of solid rock. The Romans took Petra in a.d. 105, but the decline in the caravan routes eventually led to the nation’s demise.”[4]

The Edomites were bound by blood to the Jews since their progenitors Esau and Jacob respectively were brothers.

Instead running to the aid of the Jews to help fight Nebuchadnezzar, the Edomites helped the Babylonians.

Now, the Edomites will experience a great betrayal at the hands of her trusted friends just as the kingdom of Judah suffered a great betrayal at the hands of those who should have been their friends, the Edomites.

Therefore, God’s punishment of Edom fit the crimes she committed against Judah.

God gave Edom the same treatment she gave Judah.

B.K. Smith writes “Archaeological and biblical evidence point to some time in the sixth century b.c. for the fulfillment of Obadiah’s prophecy of Edom’s destruction. N. Glueck based his dating of the final Edomite period on his work at Tell el-Kheleifeh.[5] Obadiah prophesied deportation for Edom (v. 7). Nabonidus, Babylonian ruler from 555 to 539 b.c., campaigned in southern Transjordan and northern Arabia in 552 b.c. He may have been the ally-turned-enemy. By the latter third of the fifth century b.c., or perhaps earlier, the destruction of Edom was complete (Mal 1:3–5), and their homeland was occupied by the Nabatean Arabs.”[6]

[1] (2005). Emmaus Journal, 14(1), 83. [2] Stuart, D. (2002). Hosea–Jonah(Vol. 31, pp. 417–418). Dallas: Word, Incorporated. [3] Baker, W. L. (1985). Obadiah. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 1456). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books. [4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be concerned(p. 79). Colorado Springs, CO: Chariot Victor. [5] N. Glueck, The Other Side of the Jordan (Cambridge, Mass.: American Schools of Oriental Research, 1970), 126. McCarter concluded his discussion of dating the destruction of Edom with these observations: “The precise date of the final expulsion of the Edomites is undetermined, but is placed late in the sixth century by general agreement. The archaeological evidence, still regrettably meager, shows the last part of that century to have been a period of general collapse in Edomite culture” (“Obadiah 7 and the Fall of Edom,” 89). He rejects the prophetic character of the book, however, and uses the destruction of Edom referred to there to date Obadiah. [6] Smith, B. K., & Page, F. S. (1995). Amos, Obadiah, Jonah (Vol. 19B, pp. 187–188). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.