The pride of thy heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; -- he that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?
The shortest book in the Old Testament brings a charge against one nation. This verse names the reason for its fall: a heart that talked itself into safety. It asks whether any height a man builds can hold when God moves against it.
Obadiah does not speak to strangers. Edom was family, and the quarrel behind the prophecy runs back to two brothers.
This short book of prophecy has only one subject: the nation of Edom. Their hatred for Israel will in the end lead to their total destruction. Edom is the name of Esau's descendants. The nation of Edom lived in the mountains of Seir south of the Dead Sea down to the Gulf of Akaba (Gen. 36:8-9). Esau was Jacob's twin brother. Before the twins were even born, God announced that the older son Esau would serve the younger son Jacob (Gen. 25:23). Out of despising his birthright rose Esau's hatred against Jacob (Gen. 27).
The phrase is not poetry only. Edom lived inside stone.
Their land had once belonged to the Horim, a people who lived in caves in the mountains… Edom had the so-called troglodyte homes — cave dwellings cut into the sandstone cliffs. These homes suited their warlike character and gave them the shelter they needed. So verse 3 speaks of them as those who "live in the clefts of the rock." The ruins of Petra still bear witness to its former grandeur.
Edom refused the place assigned to them and reached for more. The fortress they trusted turned out to be no fortress at all.
They sought great things and hated the dignity of Israel. To be despised is not the lot of a man or a people content with the place assigned and fitting for them. It falls above all on those who aspire beyond their measure… For as we see pride in Esau from the first, so we see it in the Edomites to the last… "The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock." Their position looked impossible to attack. It would give them no protection once God called in the instruments to pull them down from their proud heights.
Underneath the boasting was something older than politics — a grudge against a brother who had been blessed.
Obadiah ("Serving Jehovah") writes the shortest book of the Old Testament, and his whole prophecy is against Edom. This is, of course, the family of Esau, Jacob's brother. His hatred and violence against Israel was a terrible result of pride and self-righteousness. He could not bear to see his brother receive blessing from God.
Edom asked who could bring them down. It was a boast, not a question. God answers it anyway.
Living in the rocks, they thought they were safe and boasted about it, saying, "Who will bring me down to the ground?" But the Lord had decreed Edom's humiliation, and no power could stop it. Their nests were high as the eagles', so high that their homes seemed to be among the stars. Yet the Lord would bring them down.
The fall reached past the cliffs to Edom's advisers and allies.
Edom, with all its pride, was to be brought low… God would destroy its wise men. He would smash to pieces the alliance by which it hoped to secure a leading and lasting place on the earth.
Edom's cliff-top city stands for something that outlives Edom. The pattern repeats wherever man builds his own security away from God.
If we trace the history of Edom through the Bible, we always find the same features… we always find what is profane and coarsely worldly, together with opposition to God. Mount Seir is the stronghold of the flesh, the fortress of godless man. But Edom would be pulled down from his high nest (see Obadiah), and in the end driven off his high perch and brought low. And so all proud thoughts and pretentious strongholds of the flesh will be laid in the dust!
That turns the prophecy into a mirror.
The book of Obadiah then would lead us to a very serious self-judgment of our ways and of the secret thoughts and feelings of our hearts.
- Height built. Edom cut its homes into the sandstone cliffs at Petra. Those caves gave them the shelter they needed.
- Height deceived. Their pride told them no one could reach them. The lie came from their own heart, not from outside.
- Height overreached. They refused the place assigned to them and reached beyond their measure, and there their ruin began.
- Height demolished. Though their nest rose as high as the eagle's, God Himself would bring that boastful nation down, destroy its wise men, and smash its alliances.
- Height in us. Mount Seir stands for the stronghold of the flesh. Every proud thought ends in the dust, so the book calls us to judge our own secret thoughts.
Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith Jehovah.
Obadiah speaks his whole message against Edom, the nation descended from Esau, Jacob's brother. This verse answers the boast of verse 3. The picture is a nest set among the stars, and a God who says the height changes nothing.
Edom's confidence rested on where they lived. They carved their homes into cliff faces, and the ruins still stand.
Their homeland once belonged to the Horim, a people who lived in caves in the mountains. Edom then had the so-called cave dwellings cut into the cliffs of sandstone. These rocky homes suited their warlike character and gave them the shelter they needed. That is why they are mentioned in verse 3 as "dwelling in the clefts of the rock." The ruins of Petra still bear witness to its former grandeur.
God assigned Edom a small place among the nations. Their sin was not being small. It was refusing to stay there.
They sought great things and hated the dignity of Israel. "Behold, I will make you small among the nations; you shall be utterly despised." This is not the case where a man or a people is content with the place assigned to them and right for them. It is especially the doom of those who aspire beyond their measure... Nature made their position impossible to attack. Yet it would be no protection when God called in the forces to pull them down from their proud heights. The word has gone out from God, and their fall would be all the more complete and hopeless.
Pride is what put Edom in this position, and the Lord had already settled the outcome.
It was pride which brought them low, so that they would be greatly despised. As dwellers in the rocks they thought themselves secure. They boasted of it, saying, "Who will bring me down to the ground?" But the Lord had decreed the humiliation of Edom, and no power could stop it. Their nests were as high as the eagles'. Their homes seemed to be among the stars. Yet the Lord would bring them down.
Edom's instinct is one that rulers keep repeating, and there is an opposite way to build.
In history we see again and again that rulers invade the land of other nations by force. They conquer it to enlarge their power. They build the greatness of their own house out of what they have taken from others. They build their nest high... The same pride drove Edom to build its nest among the stars. In the end all such plans result in nothing but the downfall and shame of such ambitious rulers... In contrast, the believer who wants to serve God never thinks of enlarging his own house. His joy and his honour are these: like David, he gathers the building materials for the house of his God.
Edom's name points past one nation to something in every person.
Edom is the same name as Adam, only a little disguised. The nation therefore stands for the flesh, and "those who are in the flesh cannot please God." The flesh may appear in many believable forms. It pleases the natural senses and appeals to the reasoning minds of men. In our day the strong humanist movement is a marked example of this proud, empty pretension of the flesh. It will fall under the awesome judgment of God, while the despised people of God will be delivered.
The same boast is heard wherever human progress is celebrated.
Think for a moment of the world as it lies around us. Think of the onward march of civilization, the achievements of science, the spread of knowledge. How men boast of all this! In truth they say in their hearts: "Who will bring me down to the ground?" Do they not soar aloft like the eagle and set their nest among the stars?
- Built high — Edom cut its homes into the sandstone cliffs at Petra. The height in the verse was real, not just a picture.
- Deceived high — they refused the small place God gave them, aspired beyond their measure, and hated the honour given to Israel.
- Brought down — the Lord decreed Edom's humiliation, and no power could stop it.
- Building high — rulers still enlarge their own house from what they take from others. The believer's honour is to gather materials for God's house.
- Still climbing — Edom's name is close to Adam's, and every generation proud of its own progress repeats the boast, "Who will bring me down?"