Obd 2 | KingComments | STEP | In , God first addressed His own people with a word about Edom, to give them courage. But after this single word of encouragement for his people, the LORD bursts forth against Edom from . Without pardon, already at the beginning of His speaking to Edom, He establishes the judgment of that people. In the following verses He expresses the foundation for this determination. Without any defense Edom must hear and suffer the judgment. There is no possibility to appeal. That will not be possible, because God is the highest court of law. They won’t do it either because there is nothing against the accusation. A procedural error is excluded. It is said as if it has already happened. It doesn’t matter to God whether something lies in the future or in the past. For Him it is always present. Time is only an element available to Him. He is not bound by it. Everything that the LORD intends to do, what He says, also happens. The fate that Edom has to endure here is the special fate of all those who are not satisfied with the part assigned to them, of all those who yearn for more. To be despised then is particularly painful. The LORD carries out His judgment through the nations He has summoned, first the Assyrians, then the Babylonians. But He does not leave it at that. After this judgment of Edom by the nations, there is also a judgment which He Himself carries out ( ). But Israel is also called in as an instrument in God’s hand to carry out the judgment on Edom ( ).

‏ Obadiah 2

Humiliated

In Oba 1:1, God first addressed His own people with a word about Edom, to give them courage. But after this single word of encouragement for his people, the LORD bursts forth against Edom from Oba 1:2. Without pardon, already at the beginning of His speaking to Edom, He establishes the judgment of that people. In the following verses He expresses the foundation for this determination.

Without any defense Edom must hear and suffer the judgment. There is no possibility to appeal. That will not be possible, because God is the highest court of law. They won’t do it either because there is nothing against the accusation. A procedural error is excluded.

It is said as if it has already happened. It doesn’t matter to God whether something lies in the future or in the past. For Him it is always present. Time is only an element available to Him. He is not bound by it. Everything that the LORD intends to do, what He says, also happens.

The fate that Edom has to endure here is the special fate of all those who are not satisfied with the part assigned to them, of all those who yearn for more. To be despised then is particularly painful.

The LORD carries out His judgment through the nations He has summoned, first the Assyrians, then the Babylonians. But He does not leave it at that. After this judgment of Edom by the nations, there is also a judgment which He Himself carries out (Isa 63:1-6). But Israel is also called in as an instrument in God’s hand to carry out the judgment on Edom (Oba 1:18).