Obadiah 1:15-21

Obadiah 1:15 a, Obadiah 1:16. The Judgment of the Nations. The Day of Yahweh approaches; Judah has already drunk her cup of suffering (cf. Jeremiah 25:15; Jeremiah 49:12), and now the other nations shall drink destruction. Mount Zion shall be a sanctuary, and the house of Jacob (here for Judah) shall recover what has been lost (Obadiah 1:17). Judah shall be joined by the restored northern kingdom (the house of Joseph), and together they shall utterly destroy the Edomites (Esau, Obadiah 1:18; for the contrast of Jacob and Esau, cf. Malachi 1:2). The territories to be recovered in S. and N. are indicated (Obadiah 1:19 f.). Judah in Zion shall be reinforced by the help of the restored Israel (the saviours of Obadiah 1:21) against Esau, and the Messianic kingdom shall be established (Zarephath on coast, between Tyre and Sidon, cf. 1 Kings 17:9); Sepharad, since the Persian period a name for Asia Minor, particularly Phrygia; this host, Obadiah 1:20, may be a corrupt form of Halah (cf. 2 Kings 17:6).

Obadiah 1:19 seems to have been expanded by glosses, and Marti suggests as its original form, And they (i.e. the united Israel and Judah) will take possession of the Negeb and the Shephelah, and the fields of Ephraim and Gilead. In Obadiah 1:20, we should probably read, shall possess the Canaanites, the Heb. being impossible as it stands.