Restoration of Israel

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Obadiah

A while back I ran across an idea concerning the book of Obadiah and current events. It's one of the shorter books of the Bible, but full of action. He was a prophet from the time of the Babylonian invasion of Israel and other surrounding countries, dates being the progrssive incursions from 605 to 586 BCE. His message parallels the prophet Jeremiah, however Obadiah focuses on the fate of Edom. This appears to be another case of prophetic continuity and recurrence. It's happening all over again. I've listed the verses and a few comments sprinkled in. Remember that Edom was a close neighbor of ancient Israel. Conflict periodically flared up between the 2 rival nations. This map shows where Edom was.http://www.bible.ca/maps/maps%2Ddivided%2Dkingdom.htm. It was considered the "south country" in ancient times, today it's included in the west bank territory, a prime area of conflict between Israel and the Arabs.

vs1 We have heard a report from the LORD, And an envoy has been sent among the nations saying, Arise and let us go against her for battle vs 6 O how Esau will be ransacked, And his hidden treasures searched out!
{support that Israel has gotten from England and the US since 1917 through the present}

vs7 All the men allied 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 {Identifies the indigenous peoples who took the name Palestinians after the 6 day war of 1967. They are used as pawns of political forces by regional Arab and Muslim countries opposing Israel. Otherwise they're despised and kept suffering in refugee camps by their own Arab brothers. Lately being taught the ways of suicide bombing.}

vs8 Destroy wise men from Edom And understanding from the mountain of Esau? 9 Then your mighty men will be dismayed, O Teman, So that everyone may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter.
10Because of violence to your brother Jacob, You will be covered with shame, And you will be cut off forever. {a dreadful fate due to their open opposition against YHWH, in the name of Allah}

11On the day that you stood aloof, {numerous attempts to get favorable treatment and bribes by European governments during Mandate period, started with T E Lawrence and King Faisal of Syria during WW1}
On the day that strangers carried off his wealth, {Nazis confiscation of Jewish wealth and genocide}
And foreigners entered his gate And cast lots for Jerusalem {League of Nations Mandate}
You too were as one of them.

{The Shoah}
12Do not gloat over your brother's day, The day of his misfortune And do not rejoice over the sons of Judah In the day of their destruction; Yes,do not boast In the day of their distress. {Amin al-Husseni, grand Mufti of Jerusalem allied with Nazis}
13Do not enter the gate of My people In the day of their disaster Yes, you, do not gloat over their calamity In the day of their disaster And do not loot their wealth In the day of their disaster. {continual Arab riots and conflict from 1929 onward}
14Do not stand at the fork of the road To cut down their fugitives; And do not imprison their survivors In the day of their distress. {Arabs objections to Jewish immigration along with many British Arabists who blocked Jews trying to escape Europe, then again major aggression during 1948 war of independence}

vs 15For the day of the LORD draws near on all the nations As you have done, it will be done to you Your dealings will return on your own head. {started with fall of Ottoman empire WW1, continued in WW2 and constitutes a major source of world troubles today until the battle of Zechariah 14:3}

vs 16Because just as you drank on My holy mountain, All the nations will drink continually. They will drink and swallow And become as if they had never existed.
vs 17 But on Mount Zion there will be those who escape, And it will be holy
And the house of Jacob will possess their possessions. {progressive increase of Jewish presence in pre 1948 Palestine, building steadily through settlements and Israeli nation building}
vs 18 Then the house of Jacob will be a fire And the house of Joseph a flame; But the house of Esau will be as stubble And they will set them on fire and consume them, {multiple conflicts where Israel has triumphed, 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982, intifadas, etc}
So that there will be no survivor of the house of Esau, {yet to occur}
For the LORD has spoken.

vs 19Then those of the Negev will possess the mountain of Esau, And those of the Shephelah the Philistine plain; {Israel has the right to this territory, they will regain all of it}
Also, possess the territory of Ephraim and the territory of Samaria, And Benjamin will possess Gilead.
vs 20And the exiles of this host of the sons of Israel, Who are among the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, And the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad Will possess the cities of the Negev. {the forgotten expulsions of nearly 1,000,000 Jews from Arab countries since 1948.}

vs 21The deliverers will ascend Mount Zion To judge the mountain of Esau, And the kingdom will be the LORD'S. {David will sit on his throne again, Messiah}

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