Edom’s First Sin: Part I

We left off last time at verse two which states: “Behold I will make you small among the nations; you shall be greatly despised.” Furthermore we promised to finally beginning to look at this prophecy and how it may apply to us today. I have purposely chosen to skip over the next seven verses and begin this post with verse ten. In verses ten thru sixteen there are four sins listed that the Edomites committed. The skipped over verses give the reason for and the result of why these sins were committed. We will definitely come back and explore these, but first let’s look these four sins.

We are about to take a huge left turn so I ask that you please hold with me here. In Matthew 13:24-30 Christ tells the story or parable about the “Wheat and the Tares.”

I can hear many of you saying, “what does this parable have to do with Obadiah and the Edomites?” That is a fair question which is answered in Obadiah’s tenth verse. “For violence against your brother Jacob.” Obadiah is making the point of emphasizing that Jacob and Esau were brothers and their descendants are also to be considered brothers, closely related by family ties.

In the Christian community, we often call each other brothers and sisters in Christ, and indeed all mankind are related through a common ancestry. If the Biblical account of the flood is true, and I believe it is, then we are all related. We are then brothers and sisters through Noah and his three sons.

In the parable Christ comes along and states there was a field that was planted with wheat. Wheat being a symbol of those that are members of spiritual Israel. Christ then states that another came along and planted tares or weeds in the field. The tares represent those that by their vary actions, show that they do not belong to the kingdom of God. In a church setting they often sit side by side in the pew.

In the prophecy of Obadiah, the first 16 verses are talking about those who have aligned themselves with the Edomites. Those that have taken on the same characteristics as the descendants of Esau. The last five verses state the reward of those that remain faithful and are found to be the wheat.

Verse ten: “For violence against your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.”

In our next post, we will discover why the Edomites are cut off forever.