Obadiah 15a-The Day of the Lord is Near For All the Nations (Doctrinal Bible Church in Huntsville, Alabama)

Doctrinal Bible Church

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Sunday February 19, 2023

Obadiah: Obadiah 15a-The Day of the Lord is Near For All the Nations

Lesson # 14

Obadiah 15 “The day of the LORD is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.” (NIV)

“For the day of the LORD is near upon all the nations” presents the first of three reasons for the list of indictments the God of Israel through the prophet Obadiah presented in verses 10-14.

“Near” is the adjective qārôb (קָרוֹב), which means “near, imminent” since it pertains to a point of time close to another point of time.

Here the two points of time are the period in history in which Obadiah proclaims this prophecy against Edom in verses 1-14 during the sixth century B.C. and the other point of time is when the God of Israel will judge the nations in the future.

Therefore, this word denotes imminency and this would indicate that the day of the Lord was imminent in Obadiah’s day.

In other words, the God of Israel’s judgment of both Edom and the other Gentile nations which were located in the Mediterranean and Mesopotamian regions of the world in the sixth century B.C. was imminent.

“The day of the LORD” is composed of the following: (1) noun yôm (יוֹם), “the day of” (2) proper noun yhwh (יהוה), “the Lord.”

The noun yôm means “time period” since it does not pertain to a twenty-four period but rather an indefinite period of time which could range from a relatively short to very long period of time.

The context will indicate the extent of the time period and here the period of time is the sixth century B.C.

During this period, the God of Israel would employ the armies of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon to judge Edom and other Gentile nations located in the Mediterranean and Mesopotamian regions of the world.

The construct state of the noun yôm is indicating that the judgment of Edom and the Gentile nations located in the Mediterranean and Mesopotamian regions of the world in the sixth century B.C. would be “produced by” or “brought about” by the God of Israel or it would be caused by Him.

The proper noun yhwh (Yahweh) “Lord” is the covenant-keeping personal name of God used in connection with God’s covenant relationship with the Jewish people.

It emphasizes that God has a covenant relationship with the Jews living in exile in Obadiah’s day during the sixth century B.C.

“For all the nations” is emphasizing no exceptions indicating that each and every one of the Gentile nations located in the Mediterranean and Mesopotamian regions of the world in the sixth century B.C. would be judged by the God of Israel.

Obadiah 15 “For the period of judgment to be brought about by the Lord against each and every one of the nations is imminent. Just as you have done so it will be done in the same manner to you. Your actions will return on your own head.” (Pastor’s translation)

Obadiah 15 contains three prophetic declarations which present two reasons for the lists of indictments against the nation of Edom issued by the God of Israel through the prophet Obadiah in verses 10-14.

Therefore, these prophetic declarations express the idea that Edom never should have mistreated the people of Judah when Nebuchadnezzar attacked the latter in 586 B.C. because the Lord who is the God of Israel is about to judge all the nations implying Edom as well.

The God of Israel would judge all the nations which cruelly mistreated the people of Judah including Edom.

The first prophetic declaration asserts that the period of judgment to be brought about by the Lord against each and every one of the nations is imminent.

The second asserts that just as Edom treated the people of Judah during their time of disaster as a nation, so they would be treated in the same manner and the third reiterates the second by asserting that the Edomites’ cruel actions towards Judah would return upon their head as a nation.

“Lord” is the proper noun yhwh (Yahweh) which indicates that the God of Israel in Obadiah’s day is speaking to those who have trusted in Him and are believers since in Old Testament Israel non-believers do not have a covenant relationship with God but only believers.

Therefore, these three prophetic declarations in Obadiah 15 are not only directed at the Edomites but also the believing Jewish remnant which survived the Babylonian invasions in the sixth century B.C. and had trusted in God.

The implication of this word is that it indicates that these prophetic declarations issued by the God of Israel against the Edomites were also designed to serve as an encouragement to this believing Jewish remnant.

“The day of the Lord” (“day of the Lord”) is not a twenty-four period but rather a period of time in the sixth century B.C. in which the God of Israel would judge the Edomites and all the other Gentile nations who aided Babylon in destroying Judah in 586 B.C.

In Obadiah 15, the prepositional phrase “for all the nations” refers to those Gentile nations located in the Mediterranean and Mesopotamian regions of the world in the sixth century B.C. who aided Nebuchadnezzar in attacking Judah in 586 BC.

It expresses the God of Israel’s righteous indigitation toward each of these nations.

This first declaration is hyperbole which is so called because the expression adds to the sense so much that it exaggerates it and enlarges or diminishes it more than is really meant in fact or when more is said than is meant to be literally understood in order to heighten the sense.

It is poetic hyperbole expressing poetically the finality and decisiveness of God’s judgment against those nations which destroyed Judah as a nation since not every single nation on planet earth destroyed Judah in 585 B.C. but only certain nations in the Mediterranean and Mesopotamian regions of the world did so.

Therefore, the prophetic theme of the day of the Lord which appears here in Obadiah 15 is used of God’s judgment of Edom which was literally fulfilled in human history.

This is indicated by the fact that Obadiah 15 presents two reasons for the indictments against Edom in verses 10-15.

However, this phrase foreshadows prophetically God’s judgement of all the nations of the earth who mistreat the nation of Israel during the last three and a half years of Daniel’s seventieth week (cf. Dan. 9:27; Rev. 13; 19).

Thus, Edom and the Gentile nations located in the Mediterranean and Mesopotamian regions of the world during the sixth century B.C. become the pattern for future nations existing during the seventieth week of Daniel.

These prophetic declarations recorded in Obadiah 15, like all of the prophecies recorded in Obadiah 1-14, were fulfilled in history since Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon was able to capture the city of Petra and take the citizens of Edom into captivity as they did the citizens of the southern kingdom of Judah.

The term “Day of the Lord” and the phrases “that day” or “the day” or the “great day” are used with reference to Daniel’s Seventieth Week (Isaiah 13:5-6; Ezekiel 30:3; Joel 1:15; 2:1, 11, 29, 31; 38:10-19; 39:11, 22; Obadiah 14-15; Zephaniah 1:14, 18; 2:2-3; Zechariah 12:3-4, 6, 8-9; Malachi 4:5), the Second Advent of Christ (Zechariah 12:11; 14:4, 6, 8), millennium (Ezekiel 45:22; 48:35; Joel 3:18; Zechariah 14:9; Zephaniah 3:11), and the creation of the new heavens and earth (2 Peter 2:10).

Now, if you notice that there are only four passages in the New Testament in which “the day of the Lord” appears (Acts 2:20; 1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Thess. 2:2; 2 Pet. 3:10), however, this phrase is used often by the writers of the Old Testament.

Thus, Paul and Peter’s understanding of the day of the Lord was based upon their understanding of this use of the phrase in the Old Testament.

Now a survey of the use of the phrase “the day of the Lord” in both the Old and New Testaments reveal that it is used with reference to the contemporary history of the writer (cf. Is. 13:6; Joel 1:15).

However, it is also used in relation to the future such as Daniel’s Seventieth Week (cf. 2 Thess. 2:2) and the creation of the new heavens and new earth (2 Pet. 3:10).

To summarize, some “the day of the Lord” prophecies have already fulfilled in history in several different ways: (1) Assyrian deportation of the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. (Amos 5:18, 20), (2) locust plague in Joel’s day (Joel 1:15), (3) Babylonian exile of Judah between 605-587 B.C. (Zeph. 1:7; Ezek. 13:5), (4) Babylonian defeat of Egypt in 587 B.C. (Ezek. 30:3), (5) destruction of Edom (Obad. 1-14).

There are several “day of the Lord” prophecies which will be fulfilled during the last three and a half years of Daniel’s Seventieth Week (Zeph. 1:14; Joel 2:1; 2:11, 31; 3:14; Zechariah 14:1-2; Is. 13:6-16).

There are some that will be fulfilled through the Second Advent of Jesus Christ (Zech. 14:3-8) and His subsequent millennial reign (Zech. 14:9-21; Joel 3:17-21).