Pride Goes Before Destruction: The Doom of Edom Text: Obadiah 1:1-14
Introduction: The Sin of All Sins
The book of Obadiah is the shortest book in the Old Testament, a single, tightly-packed chapter. It is a concentrated dose of divine judgment, a rifle shot aimed directly at the heart of a proud and treacherous nation. And because it is so focused, it serves as a powerful diagnostic tool for us. The central sin condemned here is not some exotic, foreign transgression that we can safely observe from a distance. The sin of Edom is the original sin, the fountainhead of all other sins. It is pride.
Every sin that can be committed is traceable back to pride. Boil all the sinful meat off, and what you have left are the bones of pride. It was pride that caused Satan to fall from Heaven, and it was pride that caused our first parents to reach for the forbidden fruit. They wanted to be as God, determining good and evil for themselves. This is the native language of the fallen human heart. And in Edom, this pride had grown into a monstrous, national characteristic. They were a people defined by their arrogance.
But there is another layer here. This is not just a generic screed against a proud nation. This is a family dispute. Edom was descended from Esau, the twin brother of Jacob. This prophecy, then, is about the bitter fruit of a sibling rivalry that had festered for generations. Jacob is Israel, and Esau is Edom. And when Israel, God's chosen people, fell on hard times, when Jerusalem was sacked by the Babylonians, Edom did not act like a brother. They acted like a vulture. They stood by, they gloated, they helped the enemy, and they picked over the corpse of their brother's calamity. This sin of delighting in the misfortune of others, this malicious joy, is what the Germans call schadenfreude. And God hates it.
So as we walk through this prophecy, we are not simply looking at ancient history. We are looking in a mirror. The pride of Edom, their self-sufficient arrogance, their contempt for the people of God, and their gloating over the righteous when they stumble, these are perennial temptations for all men in all ages. And the judgment that falls on Edom is a standing warning to all who would follow in their footsteps. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
The Text
The vision of Obadiah. Thus says Lord Yahweh concerning Edom, We have heard a report from Yahweh, And an envoy has been sent among the nations saying, “Arise! And let us arise against her for battle”, “Behold, I will make you small among the nations; You are greatly despised. The arrogance of your heart has deceived you, You who dwell in the clefts of the cliff, In the height of your habitation, Who says in his heart, ‘Who will bring me down to earth?’ Though you build loftily like the eagle, Though you set your nest among the stars, From there I will bring you down,” declares Yahweh. “If thieves came to you, If robbers by night, Oh how you will be ruined!, Would they not thieve only until they had enough? If grape gatherers came to you, Would they not allow some gleanings to remain? Oh how Esau will be searched out And his hidden treasures ransacked! All the men who have a covenant with you Will send you forth to the border, And the men at peace with you Will deceive you and overpower you. They who eat your bread Will set an ambush for you. (There is no discernment in him.) Will I not on that day,” declares Yahweh, “Cause the wise men to perish from Edom And discernment from the mountain of Esau? Then your mighty men will be dismayed, O Teman, So that each one may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter. “Because of violence to your brother Jacob, You will be covered with shame, And you will be cut off forever. On the day that you stood aloof, On the day that strangers took his wealth captive And foreigners entered his gate And cast lots for Jerusalem, You too were as one of them. Now do not look on your brother’s day with triumph, The day of his misfortune. And do not be glad over the sons of Judah In the day when they perish; And do not let your mouth speak great things In the day of their distress. Do not enter the gate of My people In the day of their disaster. Indeed, you, do not look on their calamity with triumph In the day of their disaster. And do not send out for their wealth In the day of their disaster. Do not stand at the fork of the road To cut down those among them who escape; And do not deliver over their survivors In the day of their distress.
(Obadiah 1:1-14 LSB)
The Divine Summons to War (vv. 1-2)
The prophecy begins with a declaration of its source and its subject.
"The vision of Obadiah. Thus says Lord Yahweh concerning Edom, We have heard a report from Yahweh, And an envoy has been sent among the nations saying, 'Arise! And let us arise against her for battle', 'Behold, I will make you small among the nations; You are greatly despised.'" (Obadiah 1:1-2)
This is not Obadiah's opinion. This is a vision, a word directly from the sovereign Lord, Yahweh. And the subject is Edom. God Himself is stirring the pot of international politics. He sends a report, an envoy, a rumor of war among the nations. God is the one who raises up nations and brings them down. He is mustering an army to come against Edom. This is a holy war, but Edom is on the wrong side of it.
Notice the immediate result of God's decree. "Behold, I will make you small." Edom was puffed up with pride, but God is in the business of puncturing inflated egos. The nation that sees itself as great will be made small. The one who is highly esteemed in his own eyes will become "greatly despised." This is the fundamental law of God's moral government: pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. God sets Himself against the proud, and what God sets Himself against cannot stand.
The Deception of Pride (vv. 3-4)
Verses 3 and 4 diagnose the root of Edom's problem with surgical precision.
"The arrogance of your heart has deceived you, You who dwell in the clefts of the cliff, In the height of your habitation, Who says in his heart, ‘Who will bring me down to earth?’ Though you build loftily like the eagle, Though you set your nest among the stars, From there I will bring you down,” declares Yahweh." (Obadiah 1:3-4)
Here it is plainly: "The arrogance of your heart has deceived you." Pride is, at its core, a lie. It is a form of self-deception. The proud man lives in a fantasy world of his own making, a world where he is the center, he is secure, he is untouchable. Edom's pride was fed by their geography. They lived in a mountainous region south of the Dead Sea, with cities like Petra carved directly out of the rock cliffs. Their capital was a natural fortress. From their high habitation, they looked down on the world and felt secure. Their geography became their theology.
Their heart said, "Who will bring me down to earth?" This is the anthem of arrogant self-sufficiency. It is the voice of the creature shaking his fist at the Creator. But God's reply is swift and decisive. You may build your nest high like an eagle, you may even set it among the stars in your own imagination, but it does not matter. "From there I will bring you down." No fortress is impregnable to God. No height is beyond His reach. Your security is an illusion, a self-spun lie, and God is coming to unravel it.
Total Devastation and Betrayal (vv. 5-7)
The totality of this coming judgment is now described with two illustrations, followed by a description of profound betrayal.
"If thieves came to you, If robbers by night, Oh how you will be ruined!, Would they not thieve only until they had enough? If grape gatherers came to you, Would they not allow some gleanings to remain? Oh how Esau will be searched out And his hidden treasures ransacked! All the men who have a covenant with you Will send you forth to the border, And the men at peace with you Will deceive you and overpower you. They who eat your bread Will set an ambush for you. (There is no discernment in him.)" (Obadiah 1:5-7)
The point here is that even common criminals have their limits. A thief takes what he needs and leaves. A grape harvester always leaves a few gleanings behind. But the judgment God is bringing will be total. There will be nothing left. Esau will be completely stripped bare, his hidden treasures plundered. This is not a mere robbery; this is annihilation.
And the instruments of this destruction will be Edom's own friends. The very ones they made treaties with, their allies, "the men at peace with you," will be the ones to betray them. Those who ate at their table will turn on them. This is a classic case of poetic justice. Edom betrayed his brother Jacob, and now his own "brothers" in covenant will betray him. The proud man who trusts in his own strength and his own alliances will find that they are all reeds in the wind. His lack of faithfulness to his true brother has resulted in a world where no one can be trusted. As the parenthetical note says, "There is no discernment in him." Pride blinds you. It makes you a fool.
The Loss of Wisdom and Might (vv. 8-9)
The internal collapse of Edom is described next. God will not just attack them from the outside, but will rot them from the inside.
"Will I not on that day,” declares Yahweh, “Cause the wise men to perish from Edom And discernment from the mountain of Esau? Then your mighty men will be dismayed, O Teman, So that each one may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter." (Obadiah 1:8-9)
Edom, particularly the city of Teman, was renowned in the ancient world for its wisdom (cf. Jeremiah 49:7). But God will turn their wisdom into foolishness. He will remove their discernment. When God decides to judge a nation, He first makes them mad. He takes away their ability to think clearly, to see the danger coming. Their counselors will give foolish advice, and their generals will make fatal errors.
The result is that their "mighty men will be dismayed." Their warriors will lose their courage. The proud confidence they once had will evaporate into terror. When God removes wisdom from the leaders and courage from the soldiers, a nation is finished. The slaughter will be complete, and the mountain of Esau will be cut off.
The Indictment: Violence Against a Brother (vv. 10-14)
Now we come to the specific charge, the reason for this terrible judgment. It is a long and detailed list of sins against their brother, Jacob.
"Because of violence to your brother Jacob, You will be covered with shame, And you will be cut off forever. On the day that you stood aloof, On the day that strangers took his wealth captive And foreigners entered his gate And cast lots for Jerusalem, You too were as one of them." (Obadiah 1:10-11)
The core sin is "violence to your brother Jacob." This was not just a sin of commission, but a sin of omission. When Jerusalem was being destroyed, Edom "stood aloof." They did nothing. They were passive bystanders. But in God's economy, neutrality in the face of such evil is complicity. By standing by and doing nothing to help your brother, you become "as one of them." You have sided with the enemy.
But it did not stop with passive indifference. It progressed to active malice. The prophet issues a series of prohibitions, which are really descriptions of what Edom actually did.
"Now do not look on your brother’s day with triumph... do not be glad... do not let your mouth speak great things... Do not enter the gate... do not look on their calamity with triumph... do not send out for their wealth... Do not stand at the fork of the road To cut down those among them who escape; And do not deliver over their survivors..." (Obadiah 1:12-14)
This is a devastating progression of sin. It begins with the eyes: looking on with triumph, gloating. Then it moves to the heart: being glad over their destruction. Then to the mouth: boasting in their distress. Then to the feet: entering the city to loot. And finally, to the hands: actively participating in the slaughter by cutting off the refugees and handing them over to the enemy. This is the deadly progress of malice. It starts with a sinful attitude in the heart and, if not checked, will inevitably grow into monstrous action. Edom's sin was not a momentary lapse. It was a settled, gloating hatred that revealed the blackness of their pride-filled hearts.
Conclusion: The Warning to All the Proud
The message of Obadiah to Edom is a message from God to all proud nations and all proud individuals. God sees. He sees the arrogance of the heart. He sees the malicious glance. He hears the boastful word. He notes the failure to act when a brother is in need. And He will bring judgment.
The story of Jacob and Esau is the story of two humanities. One is the line of the flesh, represented by Esau, which trusts in its own strength, its own wisdom, its own location. The other is the line of the promise, represented by Jacob, which is chosen by grace and stumbles its way toward the blessing. The world, like Esau, hates the people of God. It stands aloof when they are persecuted, and it rejoices when they fall. It will join in the plunder when it gets the chance.
But the final word is God's. He will bring down the proud. He will humble the arrogant. And as the rest of Obadiah declares, He will establish His kingdom on Mount Zion. The warning for us is clear. Examine your heart. When a brother or sister in Christ falls into sin or calamity, what is your first reaction? Is it a secret flicker of satisfaction? Is it a desire to stand aloof? Or is it genuine grief and a desire to help restore?
We must root out the spirit of Edom from our hearts, from our families, and from our churches. For God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. And the kingdom belongs to the humble, to those who, like Jacob, have learned to wrestle with God and limp away with the blessing, not to those who, like Esau, stand on their mountain fortress and declare that no one can bring them down.