Peter made a bold assertion: “All the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days” (Acts 3:24). By “these days,” he means the days in which he lived, his generation.
This series of posts tests this claim by searching through the prophets to see if they all spoke of Peter’s time.
I’m making two suggestions as we conduct this search. You can see them in the footnotes.1
We began this series by showing (here and here) that the prophets provided the context, content, and consequences for the apostles’ ministry. We then looked at how Moses (here and here) and Samuel (here) foretold Peter’s “these days.” Let’s look at the next prophet chronologically, as best we know it.
Scholars debate the date and occasion of Obadiah but, “the best argument places Obadiah in the 840s BC, making him the earliest writing prophet.”2 As for the prophet himself, we know nothing except that he gave us the Old Testament’s shortest book.
This short work is about Edom, Jacob’s brother. Moses tells us how he got this name: “And Esau said to Jacob, ‘Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.’ Therefore his name was called Edom” (Gen 25:30). He also gives his place of residence: “So Esau dwelt in Mount Seir. Esau is Edom” (Gen 36:8).
Esau had struggled with his twin brother Jacob (i.e., Israel) since they were in the womb (Gen 25:26). Obadiah shows how this struggle had continued between their descendants. And he foretells a time when Israel would win complete victory—when saviors would come to Mount Zion.
Let’s look at the three parts of Obadiah’s prophecy that move toward this dramatic conclusion: 1) he looks forward to Edom’s consummation; 2) he looks backward at Edom’s confederacy; and 3) he looks forward again to Israel’s ultimate conquest.
Edom’s Consummation
Obadiah looked forward to the day of Edom’s consummation (Obad 1–9). The Lord had circulated a rumor: His ambassador was preparing for battle (Obad 1). The aim was to humble Edom before the other nations (Obad 2).
Soon after Obadiah’s day, Israel reasserted control over Edom. Their struggle continued until the Babylonians invaded their area. Not only did the invaders demolish Israel’s temple, but they also destroyed Edom. John Gill says, “This destruction of Edom here prophesied of, and of all the Heathen, was accomplished about five years after the destruction of Jerusalem”3 in 587 BC.
This destruction surprised Edom, for her pride had deceived her (Obad 3–4). Obadiah says she had built houses “in the clefts of the rock” and considered herself safe. His phrase “may also be translated as ‘clefts of Sela’ (or Petra).”4 These dwelling places remain intact so that we can understand Edom’s sense of security.
Still, God had decreed Edom’s destruction, and the historical record of its accomplishment brings us back to Peter’s “these days.” In the fourth century BC, the Nabateans forced the Edomites to leave their territory.
They moved to southern Palestine and became known as Idumeans. Judas Maccabeus (a Jewish leader) gained victory over them in 164 BC, and when his nephew, John Hyrcanus, came into power in 120 BC, he compelled the Idumeans to adopt Judaism.
Herod the Great, an Idumean, became king of Judea under Rome in 37 BC. In a sense, the enmity between Esau and Jacob was continued in Herod’s attempt to murder Jesus. The Idumeans participated in the rebellion of Jerusalem against Rome and were defeated along with the Jews by Titus in AD 70. After that time they were never heard of again. As Obadiah predicted, they would be ‘cut off forever’ (v. 10), ‘and no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau’ (v. 18).5
God fulfilled Obadiah’s prophecy against Edom in Peter’s “these days.”
Edom’s Confederacy
Obadiah then looked back to the day of Edom’s confederacy and cooperation with Israel’s enemies (Obad 10–14). Esau’s descendants seemed ready to assist anyone who opposed Jacob’s family. This instance may have been the attack against Jehoshaphat, probably in the 890s BC:
It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat. Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria; and they are in Hazazon Tamar” (which is En Gedi). (2 Chr 20:1–2)
The Lord had spoken to Rebekah, Isaac’s wife, about Jacob and Esau:
The children struggled together within her; and she said, “If all is well, why am I like this?” So she went to inquire of the LORD. And the LORD said to her: “Two nations are in your womb, two peoples shall be separated from your body; one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger.” (Gen 25:22–23)
Later, Isaac told Esau how he would live: “By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother …” (Gen 27:40).
Obadiah was reflecting on the most recent example of the ongoing struggle between the two nations.
Israel’s Conquest
Obadiah again looked forward to the day of Israel’s conquest in the messianic age (Obadiah 15–21).
To understand the prophet’s progress toward that goal, we must understand the idea of “the day of the Lord” (Obad 15). This term does not, in most cases, refer to the last day of history. It designates the day of God’s judgment against any city or nation. There have been many, including a “day of the Lord” against Babylon (Isa 13:1, 6, 9) and another against Egypt (Jer 46:1, 10).
This explains Obadiah’s time statement: Edom’s “day of the LORD … is near” (Obad 15). It began a few years later as Israel regained supremacy. After that, it took a giant step forward under the Babylonians in the sixth century BC. It finished its task in Peter’s generation.
We should always respect scriptural time statements. God meant it when he said this “day of the Lord” was near. He wasn’t using elastic time (a thousand years is as a day), dual fulfillment (this and that), or any other special interpretive device. We must not interpret terms like “near,” “soon,” “at hand,” and “this generation” to make them fit our preconceived ideas. Israel’s conquest of Edom began in Obadiah’s day and ended in Peter’s.
Obadiah’s place of fulfillment also shows how he spoke of Peter’s generation. He said, “On Mount Zion there shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions” (Obad 17).
Peter and the apostles knew they had come to this place of deliverance:
You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant. (Heb 12:22–24)
To them (and us), God has given “a kingdom which cannot be shaken” (Heb 12:28). He has revealed that this kingdom will grow until Christ, through the church, defeats all His enemies (e.g., Psa 110:1; Dan 2:44).
To this end, says Obadiah, “Saviors shall come to Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the LORD’s” (Obad 21). Who are these saviors? Christians. You and me. We provoke our kin to “save some of them” (Rom 11:14). Pastors take heed to themselves and their doctrine to save themselves and their hearers (1 Tim 4:16). Husbands save their wives, and wives their husbands (Eph 5:23; 1 Cor 7:16). Etc.
This way, “The kingdom shall be the LORD’s” (Obad 21).
Conclusion
When I was in college many years ago, we sang a hopeful song: I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing In Perfect Harmony.
The flower children of my generation didn’t have a concrete way to achieve this vision.
Now I see how God plans to make it happen. He will use His church as we obey His Word, live together in community under Christ’s lordship, and evangelize the nations to do the same (Matt 28:18–20). A time will come when “men shall be blessed in Him; all nations shall call Him blessed” (Psa 72:17). We have God’s Word on it!
Will you be a savior on Mount Zion to transform the world and teach it to sing in harmony?
Footnotes
- First, consider becoming familiar with the inmillennial view of prophecy. You can read a summary version here or tackle the full book-length version here. The title of the book—Inmillennialism: Redefining the Last Days—hints at the reason for my suggestion. This model says the “last days” are identical to Peter’s “these days”; both terms refer to the “last days” of the Mosaic age. This perspective will shed light on the prophets as we work through them.
My second suggestion is that you consider watching the sermons related to this subject. I preached the material in this post at Hopewell Primitive Baptist Church in Opelika, AL, on June 4, 2023. You can watch it here.
- Chuck Swindoll, Obadiah, https://insight.org/resources/bible/the-minor-prophets/obadiah
- John Gill, An Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, 9 vols. (1809–10; repr., Paris, AR: The Baptist Standard Bearer, 1989), 6:528.
- Gregory W. Parsons, “Obadiah,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1396. The image in this post is of Petra.
- Irvin A. Busenitz, Commentary on Joel and Obadiah, Mentor Commentaries (Geanies House, Fearn, Ross-shire, Great Britain: Mentor, 2003), 238.
