the people of
God--they even obtain the dominion of the world; but to the heathen
world, which is at enmity with God, their exaltation is a forerunner
of destruction.

All which Obadiah had to say in reference to the heathen, God-hating
world, and to the form which, in future, Israel's [Pg 402] relation to
it would assume, has been exemplified by him in the case of Edom. For
the fact, that it is only the heathen power individualized which we
have before us, is shown by the transition to the heathen in general in
ver. 15, according to which, Edom comes into consideration only as a
part of the whole: "For near is the day of the Lord upon _all the
heathen_." So also is it in ver. 16: "For as ye[1] have drunk upon My
holy mountain, so shall _all the heathen_ drink continually;[2] and
they drink, and sup up, and they are as though they were not." When
speaking of the guilt, he mentions Edom only; when speaking of
punishment, he introduces all the heathen at once. According to ver.
17, Israel shall occupy the possessions of _all the heathen_. And even
the last words of the whole prophecy, "And the kingdom shall be the
Lord's," show that it bears a universal character,--that in the case of
Edom, we have only a principle exemplified which applies to all the
enemies of the kingdom of God. The leading thought is: The kingdom of
God shall obtain universal dominion, which follows the deepest
abasement of the people of God, and of which the fullest and most
perfect realization must be sought in Christ.

The animating thought could be so much the better individualized in the
case of Edom, as its natural relation to Israel was one of special
nearness, and its hatred specially deep; and as, moreover, it at all
times considered itself the rival of Israel, of whose advantages it was
envious. That which Amos, the cotemporary of Obadiah, says of Edom in
chap. i. 11--"He pursues his brother with the sword, and corrupts
his compassions, and his anger tears perpetually, and he keeps his
wrath for ever"--shows how exceedingly well he was fitted to be a
representative of the enemies of the kingdom of God. It was so much the
more obvious thus to represent Edom as a particular and individualizing
exemplification of this principle, as the prophets of that period had
not as yet received any more definite disclosures as to the threatening
kingdoms of the future, while Edom, in his [Pg 403] hatred against the
people of God, stood before their eyes