Obadiah-Obadiah 13-The Sixth and Seventh Indictments Against the Nation of Edom
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday December 10, 2017
Obadiah: Obadiah 13-The Sixth and Seventh Indictments Against Edom
Lesson # 13
Obadiah 13 Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; do not gloat over his disaster in the day of his calamity; do not loot his wealth in the day of his calamity. (ESV)
“Do not enter the gate of my people” is composed of the following: (1) adverb of negation ʾal (אַל), “not” (2) verb bôʾ (בּוֹא), “do enter” (3) preposition b (בְּ), “do enter” (4) noun šaʿar (שַׁעַר), “the gate” (5) noun ʿam (עַם), “people.”
The verb bôʾ means “to penetrate” since the word pertains to entering some area by overcoming resistance implying an impelling force or compelling power that achieves entrance.
This verb was used in this same exact fashion in verse 11 when Obadiah condemned Edom for staying aloof when Judah was attacked and foreigners entered the gates of her capital city Jerusalem and carried off this city’s wealth and cast lots for Jerusalem.
In verse 13, the meaning of the verb bôʾ is emphatically negated by the adverb of negation ʾal, which means “never” since the word is used as a marker of emphatic negation.
The jussive form of this verb and this adverb of negation in verse 13 form an emphatic prohibition which refers to a situation in past rather than future time.
The noun ʾêḏ means “disaster, calamity” since the word pertains to that which causes ruin, harm and violence to a particular people and their property.
The third masculine plural pronominal suffix hē·mā(h) means “their” referring to the people of Judah.
“Do not gloat over his disaster” is composed of the following: (1) adverb of negation ʾal (אַל), “not” (2) second person masculine singular qal jussive imperfect form of the verb rā·ʾā(h) (רָאָה), “do gloat over” (3) adverb gam (גַּם), which is not translated (4) second person masculine singular form of the personal pronoun ʾǎt·tā(h) (אַתָּה), which is not translated.”
The adverb gam, which is not translated by the ESV means “also” since the word is used to mark this second emphatic declaration of guilt in verse 13 as an addition to the first.
The verb rā·ʾā(h) means as it did in verse 12, “to gloat” since the word pertains to taking pleasure in a particular situation implying taking pleasure over someone’s misfortune.
The verb’s meaning is negated by the adverb of negation ʾal, which means “never” since the word is used as a marker of emphatic negation.
The jussive form of this verb and this adverb of negation form an emphatic prohibition which refers to a situation in past rather than future time.
The personal pronoun ʾǎt·tā(h) means “you” and refers to the Edomites as a corporate unit expressing God’s emotion of righteous indignation towards the people of Edom and is also emphasizing their guilt as a people in gloating over Judah’s defeat at the hands of Babylon.
The adjective raʿ means “misery” since the word pertains to a feeling or attitude of anxiety or distress and is used of the people of Judah’s distress when they were attacked by Babylon and other Gentile nations.
“Do not loot his wealth” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction w (וְ), which is not translated (2) adverb of negation ʾal (אַל), “not” (3) second person feminine plural qal jussive imperfect form of the verb šā·lǎḥ (שָׁלַח), “do loot” (4) preposition b (בְּ), which is not translated (5) masculine singular construct form of the noun ḥayil (חַיִל), “wealth” (6) third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hûʾ (הוּא), “his.”
The conjunction w means “namely, specifically” since the word is used to introduce an emphatic declaration of guilt, which identifies specifically what the writer means by the previous emphatic declaration of guilt which accused Edom of gloating during Judah’s misery.
The masculine singular construct form of the noun ḥayil means “wealth” since the word pertains to an abundance of valuable material possessions or resources and refers to all property that has a monetary value or an exchangeable value.
The verb šā·lǎḥ means “to loot, to plunder” since the word in this particular context pertains to an action conceived of as stretching out to grasp something and speaks of taking the wealth of someone by force or wrongfully and pertains to robbing especially on a large scale and usually by violence and corruption.
This verb’s meaning is negated by the adverb of negation ʾal, which means “never” since the word is used as a marker of emphatic negation.
The jussive form of this verb and this adverb of negation form an emphatic prohibition which refers to a situation in past rather than future time.
Obadiah 13 You should have never penetrated My people’s gate during their disastrous period. You should have also never gloated during this misery, during his disastrous period. Specifically, you should have never plundered his wealth during his disastrous period. (My translation)
Here in verse 13, we have three more emphatic prohibitions, which form two more emphatic declarations of guilt directed at the kingdom of Edom because of their sinful treatment of the people of Judah when Nebuchadnezzar defeated them.
These serve as two more indictments against the people of Edom.
The first condemns Edom for penetrating the gate of the God of Israel’s people during their disastrous period, which echoes the last indictment recorded in verse 12.
Then, the Lord states that they also should have never gloated during Judah’s misery, during their disastrous period, which echoes the first emphatic declaration of guilt in verse 12.
Then, He identifies specifically how they gloated over Judah, namely, He asserts that they should have never plundered His people’s wealth during this disastrous period when they were attacked by Babylon or in other words, Edom gloated by plundering the wealth of Judah.
To “gloat” refers to looking admiringly or amorously at something and means to observe or think about something with triumphant and often malicious satisfaction, gratification or delight.
Here the Edomites observed the wealth they seized from the people of Judah with satisfaction, gratification and delight.
As was the case with the indictments presented in verses 10-12, these indictments were the result of the sinful behavior of the Edomites during Judah’s destruction by Babylon in 586 B.C.
Nebuchadnezzar’s armies attacked Judah and her capital city three times (605 B.C., 597 B.C. and 586 B.C.) and during each of these invasions, a portion of the population of Judah was deported to Babylon.
During the last invasion, the city of Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed.
Second Chronicles 36:1-21 records the destruction of Judah and the city of Jerusalem and its temple by Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon.
Obadiah 10-14 is describing the actions of the people of Edom during this final invasion.
This period in which Judah was attacked by Babylon and other nations such as Edom is referred to by the prepositional phrases bĕyôm ʾêdām (בְּי֣וֹם אֵידָ֔ם), “during their disastrous period,” which appears in the first empathic declaration of guilt and bĕyôm ʾêdōw (בְּי֥וֹם אֵידֹֽו), “during his disastrous period,” which appears twice in the last declaration of guilt.
The indictments presented in Obadiah 13 must be compared with the one’s listed in verse 11, which records the God of Israel accusing Edom of standing aloof while other Gentile nations took Judah’s army captive and penetrated her gates of her capital city Jerusalem and cast lots for this city.
In verse 13, God is accusing Edom of penetrating Judah’s gate and plundering her wealth.
There appears to be a contradiction but verse 11 is describing the attack on Jerusalem while on the other hand here in verse 13 there is no mention of an attack on this city since it is not mentioned explicitly in this verse as it was in verse 11.
The indictments in verse 13 only accuse Edom of penetrating the gate of God’s people and gloating over His people’s misery by plundering His people’s wealth.
These indictments indicate Edom plundered the wealth of Judah and not her capital city.
Therefore, more than likely the indictments in verse 13 are describing Edom’s attacking various towns in the kingdom of Judah during Nebuchadnezzar’s attack on her capital city Jerusalem in 586 B.C.
Jerusalem fell in the first month of 586 B.C. after a two-year siege (cf. 2 Kgs. 25:1-8).
Therefore, it is not unlikely that during the siege of 588-586, when Babylonian troops were concentrating their attack on Jerusalem, Edomite troops looted unprotected cities and towns in the kingdom of Judah.
The indictments presented in Obadiah 11 are the reason for the God of Israel declaring in Obadiah 5-6 that He would judge Edom by having her wealth plundered by other nations.
Notice in Obadiah 13, that God describes Judah as “My people,” which expresses the covenant relationship that existed between God and the people of Judah who were descendants of Jacob.
These covenants not only speak of the Mosaic covenant which was a conditional covenant but they also refer to the four unconditional covenants which God established with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David and all the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
These four unconditional covenants guarantee that despite Judah’s destruction at the hands of Babylon and other nations like Edom, the nation of Israel will always exist through a remnant (cf. Jer. 31:31-40).
This guarantees that a remnant of the descendants of Jacob would always exist and be protected by God.