TORAH
Gen. 32:4-36:43
HAFTORAH
Obadiah 1-21 (Sephardic)
B’RIT HADASHAH
1 Cor. 5:1-13
Rev. 7:1-12
Obadiah 1-21
In the parashah selection from Friday, November 16, we discussed the relationship between the figures of Jacob & Esau. In that commentary we discussed the idea that “This passage (i.e. Gen. 25:19—28:9) is a very good example of the four levels of Biblical interpretation: the simple (plain, “literal”), the hinted (secondary or implied), the comparative (analogical, symbolic) and the spiritual (mystical, deeply hidden). The simple sense is an historical recounting of the birth and early lives of two brothers. The hinted sense is found in the statement that these two brothers also represent two historical people groups or nations. We see the events of the selling the birthright for a bowl of stew and later, the deceitful presentation of a meal to Isaac in order to obtain blessing as being highly symbolic. Even the names of the brothers, especially of Jacob, have symbolic meaning. Finally, we understand, in light of Gen. 3:15 that in Jacob and Esau, we are dealing with spiritual or mystical truth regarding the establishment of God’s kingdom and the ultimate role of the Messiah in the redemption of God’s people.”
Our comments today build on what was introduced in that previous post, specifically that Esau represents a people (the nation of Edom) but further—for the prophets of Israel—on a spiritual level the nation of Edom represents all the kingdoms of the world that stand in opposition to the Kingdom of Heaven. In other words, Edom represents the realm of Satan. As we wrote in our previous post we take this understanding from a consideration of Gen. 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
This verse is a key to understanding the symbolism of Obadiah. For him, Esau’s kingdom is the national symbol of all that opposes Israel, which nation is God’s chosen nation—intended, through her Messiah, to be a “light to the nations” (Isa. 42:6; see also 60:1-22).
In verses 2-4, we have an attitude shared by several other prophets, especially Isaiah and Ezekiel. Obadiah writes, “We have heard a report from the LORD, and a messenger has been sent among the nations: ‘Rise up! Let us rise against her for battle!’ Behold, I will make you small among the nations; you shall be utterly despised. The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’ Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the LORD.” Such language is reminiscent of that found in Ezekiel to describe the king of Tyre—himself a stand-in for Satan, “…I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you” (Eze. 28:16b-17).
As Esau was to his brother Jacob, so Edom was to Israel. Edom had historically always been an enemy of Israel. When she was not actively joining other nations in their wars of conquest against Israel, she was standing by in complicity, waiting and hoping for Israel’s destruction, ready to move in and take whatever spoils she could. (Edom was approximately the size of Israel and lay south of the Dead Sea. Edom bordered Judah and Moab.)
In verses 10-14 the LORD through Obadiah warns Edom against taking delight in Israel’s destruction and in verses 15-18 He declares the punishment that awaits Edom, while in the concluding verses God re-invokes His promises to the remnant of Israel that “this host of the people of Israel shall possess the land of the Canaanites.”
In his prophetic testimony, Obadiah makes it clear that the kingdom of Satan ultimately cannot stand; that God is even now in control and working all things according to the good pleasure of His will. Indeed that Christ has already won the victory; it has already been accomplished in principle. It only awaits the fullness of time for its complete consummation in glory. Verses 19-21 of this prophecy make it clear that the forces of evil will not just be defeated. They will themselves be given over in eternal subjection to the Kingdom of God—represented by “the exiles of this host”, that is to say God’s “chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession” (1 Peter 2:9a).
Once again the Bible testifies that God has not only not abandoned His chosen people, but that in due course He will uphold His ancient promises and actually give all the blessings to Israel, including but not limited to the promise of the Land. More than that however the last verse makes it plain that a remnant—“the exiles of this host”—shall actually become the “saviours” of the final and ultimate “Israel of God.” And from the spiritual center of Jerusalem/New Jerusalem they shall go as saviours to rule Mount Esau—the stronghold and center of evil in the world.
The word rendered into English as “saviours” is the plural Hebrew verb yasha from which comes the word Massiach (Messiah) and which also forms the root of the name Yeshua which itself means God saves or God delivers. This is significant when we consider the NT verse, “you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21, which Gospel was originally written in Hebrew, not Greek). Jesus is simply the English version of the Greek Iesous, which is a meaningless phonetic rendering of the Hebrew Yeshua, itself so pregnant with meaning.
The fact that the word saviours is plural indicates, on the one hand that real individual people—the remnant, the exiles—will do the saving but that, in light of the fact of the Messiah as God’s chosen and anointed one, they will do this saving as members of His body, of which He is the Head, and therefore it is done with His authority. When Paul was persecuting followers of the Way in Jerusalem and elsewhere, Yeshua came to him on the Damascus road and asked him, “Why are you persecuting me?” He did not ask, “Why are you persecuting my people or my followers or my disciples?” We must understand this in light of such passages as John 15:5; 17:11; Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 10:17; 12:20; Eph. 5:23, 29, 32 etc. The bond between Christ and His true church (Ekklesia) is so intimate that they are in effect “one flesh” (Eph. 1:25; Rev. 21:9; Gen. 2:24).
It is in this mystical or spiritual sense, with prophetic insight, that Obadiah can affirm that even though it is a plurality that will carry on the saving (whether he knew it or not) it is at the same time, because of the intimate union we have with Christ, that it is really He—as the Messiah—who ultimately accomplishes the salvation.
AMEN
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