Obadiah prophesied, as did Jeremiah, of the complete destruction of Edom, the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s twin brother. Unlike other plundering and pillaging, that of Edom will be thorough, and nothing will be left. The judgment would result in the complete nihilation of the Edomites. Edom was perpetually at war with Israel and would often align itself with the other enemies of Israel. The plundering of Edom would come from their supposed allies. Obadiah 1:7 says, “All your allies have driven you to your border; those at peace with you have deceived you; they have prevailed against you; those who eat your bread have set a trap beneath you—you have no understanding.” The key point of this verse, as well as other verses that will follow, is that Edom will be betrayed by those he thought he could trust. They had misplaced confidence.
Betrayal is not an infrequent theme in the Bible. In Psalm 41:9, we read, “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.” This is a prophetic psalm. It speaks of the Messiah being betrayed by a close friend. It’s mostly understood as referring to Judas. In John 13:11, Jesus said he knew who it was that would betray him. It’s interesting also that it was his closest disciple who denied him in the courtyard on the night of his crucifixion. We see how David, a prefigure of the Messiah, was treacherously betrayed by Ahithophel. He was also betrayed by several of his own sons. Shenton observes, “Obadiah prophesies in this verse about the nations who were in league with the Edomites, who were supposedly trustworthy and friendly; they will not only ‘deceive’ them by feigning their support, but will, when war comes, actively help the enemy to ‘overpower’ them. The Edomites, for their part, will fail to ‘detect’ the secret treachery of their friends. Without wisdom or discernment, they will fall into the traitors’ trap. Ironically, those who know so much will fall because of their ignorance; the people who had betrayed their brother will be betrayed by their friends.” This is clear from the condemnation Obadiah delivers to Edom in verse 15. “As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.”[1]
History is full of famous betrayals. Julius Caesar was surprised when the man he considered a faithful son, Brutus, pulled his dagger and killed him. William Tyndale, who translated the bible from the original languages into English, was betrayed by a friend that had him turned over to the king of England, that had Tyndale burned alive at the stake. His last words in the fire were, “May God open the eyes of the King of England.” That happened a year later. The birth of the United States records the betrayal of Benedict Arnold. Yes, from biblical days to the race to colonize the New World to the situation in the Middle East today, human history has been dotted with self-serving traitors and collaborators who have betrayed their peoples and their nations. One website tries to describe the pain of a betrayal. It’s very much like death. She writes, “Imagine one day you wake up, and you find yourself 30,000 feet above the earth, and you are free-falling. You don’t know how you got into this situation. But, you feel sheer terror. You instinctively start grabbing everything on your body to feel for something like a parachute cord. You search frantically for this cord that will save your life. You never find the cord. Soon, you pinch yourself and tell yourself, ‘It’s all a bad dream. It’s all a bad dream. Isn’t it? Wake up. Wake up. WAKE UP!!!’ You do not wake up. With each second, you grow closer to the ground below. You have not woken up yet, and you have not found a parachute cord. A minute later, your body smashes into the earth at 500 miles per hour; your body is shattered into a million pieces. It was NOT a bad dream, and you just died. Everything that was you was obliterated into formless and scattered pieces.”[2] It’s not a physical death, but everything you trusted in and believed in is gone. Jesus warns us of this in Luke 21:16-19. He says, “You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all, for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance, you will gain your lives.” We will all face betrayal of some kind in life. The only sure thing is to trust in the one who said, “I will never leave you. I will never forsake you.”
[1] Shenton, Tim. 2007. Nahum and Obadiah: An Expositional Commentary. Exploring the Bible Commentary. Leominster, UK: Day One Publications.
[2] The Pain of Betrayal – Do We Have Words to Describe What it Feels Like? (emotionalaffair.org)