n Saturday, August 10, 2013 by Bill Salus
This 4-part study comes from the Chapter called Obadiah’s Mysterious Vision in my book called Psalm 83 – The Missing Prophecy Revealed, How Israel Becomes the Next Mideast Superpower.
This 4-part study comes from the Chapter called Obadiah’s Mysterious Vision in my book called Psalm 83 – The Missing Prophecy Revealed, How Israel Becomes the Next Mideast Superpower.
It is my sincere belief that achieving a rich understanding of Obadiah’s vision requires a basic understanding of the Psalm 83 prophecy. My book, which is available for purchase at this link, is a compilation of over 11-years of research on the subject of the Psalm 83 concluding Arab-Israeli war. For information about the Psalm 83 book click here.
Onward with Obadiah’s Vision – Part 2 This study looks at Obadiah 1:3-7 (all footnotes are included in the Psalm 83 book).
“The pride of your heart has deceived you, You who dwell in the clefts of the rock, Whose habitation is high; You who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’ Though you ascend as high as the eagle, And though you set your nest among the stars, From there I will bring you down,” says the LORD. (Obad. 1:3–4, NKJV)
Though they are the least among the member nations of the confederacy, they are under the illusion that they are invincible. This is the result of their deluded religious thinking, “you ascend as high as the eagle; you set your nest among the stars.” By his usage of “stars,” Obadiah prompts us to recognize the Bible typology of angels. Numerous passages in the scriptures associate the angelic realm with the stars. Thus, there is a possible connection to be made between the deluded condition of the Palestinians, and their religious Islamic mindset.
Notice the decline of Edom. First they are reduced nationally in Obadiah 1:2, and then they are to be brought down spiritually in Obadiah 1:4. It is important to recognize the role of Islam as the embodiment of all the ancient hatred passed down through the ages, throughout the region, against Israel. Islam tends to encourage violence against the Jewish people.
The Islamic suicide bomber notoriously utters the chant “Allah Akbar” just before he or she blows up their intended Israeli target. This chant means Allah, their Islamic god, is greater than everything. Furthermore, remember that the predominant attitude of the Arab countries in the Middle East is to hinder the worship of Jehovah, the Old Testament God of the Jews. They generally prohibit the establishment of Jewish synagogues on Arab soil.
Onward with Obadiah’s Vision
If thieves had come to you, If robbers by night—Oh, how you will be cut off!—Would they not have stolen till they had enough? If grape-gatherers had come to you, Would they not have left some gleanings? Oh, how Esau shall be searched out! How his hidden treasures shall be sought after! (Obad. 1:5–6, NKJV; emphasis added)
Up to verse 5, Edom has been described as a confederate member “among the nations,” that would become “made small among them (the nations),” and “greatly despised,” but now in verse 5–6 Edom “will be cut off,” and “his (Esau’s) hidden treasures shall be sought after.” Obadiah warns of the severest form of judgment, thieves taking everything, grape-gatherers leaving no gleanings, and even hidden treasures sought after.
The prophet Amos tells us that there is a point whereby Edom’s punishment cannot be postponed.
Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because he pursued his brother [Israel] with the sword, And cast off all pity; His anger tore perpetually, And he kept his wrath forever.” (Amos 1:11, NKJV; emphasis added)
Amos alludes to the historical hatred of the Jews by their Edomite brothers with “His anger tore perpetually,” and informs us that it continued through the ages: “And he kept his wrath forever.” From generation to generation, an enmity toward the Jews tore at the very core of Edomite existence. They never abandoned this feeling, which perpetuates even today through the Edomite remnant contingency residing within the modern-day Palestinians.
It is important to note that God does not levy punishment upon Gentile nations randomly. He judges Edom specifically for their continual assaults against the Jews. As such, they will provoke upon themselves the Genesis 12:3 clause contained within the Abrahamic Covenant, i.e., the curse-for-curse-in-kind.
The “him” that curses you in that important verse, has individual, national, and international applications. All who individually or collectively come against Israel beyond that point determined by God as acceptable will provoke the curse-for-curse-in-kind clause upon themselves.
There is a point whereby God used Gentile nations, such as in the Babylonian captivity, to serve out judgment against the Jews, and in these instances, those nations were “in exempt.” However, the minute those nations crossed beyond the acceptable point and persecuted the Jews, they were determined to be operating “in contempt” or “in excess,” and they provoked the Genesis 12:3 clause upon themselves.
All the men in your confederacy Shall force you to the border; The men at peace with you Shall deceive you and prevail against you. Those who eat your bread shall lay a trap for you. No one is aware of it. (Obad. 1:7, NKJV; emphasis added)
In verse 7 we gain the recognition that Edom, made small among the nations and greatly despised, is involved in a confederate effort, which is most likely the same confederacy described in Psalm 83:5–8.
These nations, supposedly having pledged a peaceful allegiance with the Edomites in support of the Palestinians plight, actually “force” them “to the border” (of Israel). Because the Edomites have their minds set upon their religious invincibility “Though you ascend as high as the eagle, And though you set your nest among the stars,” the Palestinians become deceived. The deception encourages them toward the border of Israel, and serves the other nations purposes to use them as their pawns. This diabolical scheme uses the Palestinians as insulation between Israel and the other confederate nations listed above.
This deception predominately started in 1967 because of the Arab defeat in the Six-Day War. At that point, the Jews expanded their borders and the Arab leaders realized they could not cut off the nation Israel militarily. Henceforth, the Arab leaders in the region adopted the unconventional strategies of terror and propaganda. Terror enabled them to conduct an ongoing war against Israel, aimed at the continued disruption of Israel’s national sovereignty. Terror also gave these Arab nations the ability to conduct this dirty war with somewhat clean hands. They found the displaced Palestinians to be great foot soldiers and human land mines, yet the Jewish blood would not blatantly appear as stains upon their national hands.
These nations opted to keep these displaced peoples deceptively deployed within the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and various border lying refugee camps. Note that all of these locations above are nearby the border of Israel. These Palestinians now breed profusely in these border-lying communities, and from their moment of birth are taught in textbooks to hate Israel.
With apparently clean hands, these nations go about the dirty business of promoting Palestinian propaganda within the international community. The three main issues that fuel the unrest in the Middle East are: Israel’s right to exist as a sovereign nation, a Palestinian state within the borders of Israel, and the rights of the Arab-Palestinian refugees at the borders of Israel to return to Israel. What to do about Jerusalem is a byproduct of these three issues. These Arab nations refuse Israel the right to exist, they demand a state for the displaced Arabs—but only within the borders of Israel—and they demand the refugees be assimilated within the borders of Israel.
Numerous studies have shown that the Arab refugees could be easily assimilated into these bordering Arab nations, but these nations make it difficult for the refugees to become citizens. All of these issues are only issues, because these Arab nations are poised to confederate in an attempt to destroy the nation Israel. This effort will fail!
This confederacy is rising into formation for the specific purposes referenced in Obadiah 1:1: “Arise, and let us rise up against her for battle.” They confederate to destroy Israel. They encourage the Palestinians toward the borders of Israel as their front line offensive, while they themselves protect their own borders.
Is this not the case today, with the Palestinians and the many refugee camps along the borders of Israel? These Palestinians have a plight, and their so-called Arab partners have fully propagandized it to their favor. For the most part, they discourage the thought that Israel has any right to exist, and encourage the thought that the Palestinians and refugees belong in Israel. They do not assimilate these peoples into their borders; rather, they promote the thought that they all belong in the land of Israel. They have encouraged the myth that Israel is the homeland of the Palestinians, whereas history suggests no such thing. The trap is that Israel has nowhere else to go and, as such, they have become a great army ready to protect the very borders at which this confederacy forces the Palestinians to remain. As quoted earlier from Obadiah 1:7:
“Those who eat your bread shall lay a trap for you.” No one is aware of it.
“Those who eat your bread shall lay a trap for you.” No one is aware of it.
Ultimately, these nations will unite in a conventional military effort to destroy the nation Israel, but the “exceedingly great army” of Israel will decisively defeat these Arab nations.
The confederacy of Obadiah 1:7 is exposited upon in great detail in my article “The Palestinian Confederacy.” Click HERE to read this informative article.
Click HERE to read Obadiah’s Mysterious Vision – Part 1 (Commentary on Obadiah 1:1-2)
Click HERE to read Obadiah’s Mysterious Vision – Part 3 (Commentary on Obadiah 1:8-14)
Click HERE to read Obadiah’s Mysterious Vision – Part 4 (Commentary on Obadiah 1:15-21)
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