Obadiah: Obadiah 11-The Second and Third Indictments Against Edom

Obadiah 11 On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. (NIV)

Obadiah 11 Indeed, you were like one of them during that period of time when you stood aloof, during that period of time, strangers took his army captive. Consequently, foreigners penetrated his gates so that they cast lots for Jerusalem. (Pastor’s translation)

Obadiah 11 serves to continue a section in this tiny book which began in verse 10 and ends in verse 14.

This paragraph presents the God of Israel presenting the indictments against the nation of Edom.

In other words, these verses present the reason why the God of Israel will judge this nation.

In fact, verse 10 summarizes what verses 11-14 detail in the same way verse 1 did in relation to verses 2-9.

Furthermore, Obadiah 10-14 fills in some of the blanks of Jeremiah 52 and 2 Kings 25.

In other words, they give us information regarding the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. and reveals the nation of Edom’s role in this destruction at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon.

Verse 10 contains two prophetic declarations which reveal that God will destroy this nation because they sinfully committed violence against the descendants of Jacob who were the Israelites.

Specifically, they committed violence against the southern kingdom of Judah during the Babylonian invasions of Judah which took place in the sixth century B.C.

The first prophetic declaration asserts that the nation of Edom will be covered with shame because of the sinful violence they committed against their relative, who were the descendants of Jacob.

The second advances upon the prophetic declaration recorded in Obadiah 9, which predicts the Edomite people will be violently executed like criminals because of the slaughter as a result of their wise men being killed and their mighty warriors experience dismay because of this.

When God says that they will be cut off, He means that He will cause them to be cut off from the nations of the earth.

In other words, they will no longer be a national entity will geographical boundaries because of God judging them for their sinful treatment of the southern kingdom of Judah in the sixth century B.C.

The violence that the Edomites committed against the people of the southern kingdom of Judah was during the last of three Babylonian invasions of Judah in 587/586 B.C.

They raided villages in Judah.

They sent prisoners to the Babylonians and also invaded southern Judah.

Now, here in verse 11, the God of Israel through the prophet Obadiah emphatically presents the two more indictments against the Edomite people.

The first indictment asserts that the Edomites were like one of those who attacked Judah.

The second is that during this period of time they stood aloof while strangers took Judah’s army captive so that foreigners penetrated the gates of Jerusalem and cast lots for her.

“During that period of time” bĕyôm (בְּיוֹם֙) refers to the period of time in which the Babylonian armies attacked the southern kingdom of Judah in 605, 597 and 586 B.C. and thus, the “strangers” and “foreigners” were the Babylonians.

Therefore, the first indictment is that they were like the Babylonians and the second is that they stood aloof while the Babylonians attacked the people of Judah.

When the Lord states that the Edomites stood aloof, He is speaking of the Edomites inactivity while Judah was attacked in the sense that they refused to act in defense of their relatives who were the descendants of Jacob.

It implies that they were lacking in compassion for their blood relatives.

They stood aloof while the Babylonians took the army of Judah captive and penetrated the gates of Jerusalem.

Their inaction made them complicit in the war crimes committed against the people of Judah by the Babylonians.

B.K. Smith writes “The siege of Jerusalem lasted about eighteen months (2 Kgs 25:1–8). When the city fell, Nebuchadnezzar’s forces moved in with a vengeance to destroy, kill, and pillage. Then when they were finished, Judah’s kinsmen moved in to loot, to capture fugitives to sell as slaves, and to kill those who fled from the destruction.”[1]

Obadiah 11 is describing Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian armies attacking the southern kingdom of Judah in 586 B.C.

Now, there is a principle that the Holy Spirit is presenting to us here in Obadiah 11, though this verse is speaking of one nation’s (Edom) indifference to another (Judah).

However, it applies to individuals.

It is very common in our day and age to not want to get involved.

This is true in the secular world and in the church of Jesus Christ.

For instance, in the latter, many church splits are taking place in America.

Often a certain few oppose the pastor and openly express their antagonism to him and make unjustifiable charges against him while others knowing that this wrong to treat the pastor this way or anybody for that matter, idly stand by and watch it happen.

They do nothing about it.

They don’t have the moral courage to stand up to do what is right.

This is sin according to James 4:17.

James 4:7 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. (NIV)

It is also not loving your neighbor as yourself (cf. Mark 12:28-31) and not loving one another as Christ loves (cf. John 13:34).

This demonstrates a lack of compassion.

[1] Smith, B. K., & Page, F. S. (1995). Amos, Obadiah, Jonah (Vol. 19B, p. 192). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.