The judgment of Edom; or, the sin and punishment of revenge.
"Thus saith the Lord God; Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance," etc. The Edomites were the descendants of Esau, who settled in Mount Seir immediately after the death of his father Isaac. The country in which they dwelt was called Edom, or Idumaea. It was situated south of the territory of Moab; and "it only embraced the narrow mountainous tract (about a hundred miles long by twenty broad) extending along the eastern side of the Arabah, from the northern end of the gulf of Elath to near the southern end of the Dead Sea." Of their religion little is known; but that they were idolaters appears from 2 Chronicles 25:14, 2 Chronicles 25:15, 2 Chronicles 25:20, and Josephus, 'Ant.,' 15.7. 9. Consider—
I. THE HEINOUS SIN OF THE EDOMITES. "Thus saith the Lord God; Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them." Notice:
1. The sin itself. Revenge is the sin with which the Edomites are here charged. Distinguish between revenge and vengeance. "Revenge is an act of passion; vengeance, of justice; injuries are revenged, crimes are avenged" (Johnson). Vengeance is righteous, calm, majestic; revenge is wicked, cruel, malignant. The accusation against the Edomites is revenge. Schroder translates, "Because Edom exercises vindictive revenge upon the house of Judah." The hatred of Esau towards his brother Jacob for fraudulently depriving him of his blessing seems to have run down through all his generations. And it was increased by what the Edomites afterwards suffered in conflict with the descendants of Jacob (cf. 1 Samuel 14:47; 1 Kings 11:15, 1 Kings 11:16; 2 Chronicles 25:11, 2 Chronicles 25:12); although Hengstenberg says "that Edom brought upon himself, by his own conduct, what he formerly, particularly under David, suffered from Judah. For only on this supposition was the revenge sinful." Revenge was prohibited by the holy Law of God as declared in the Old Testament (cf. Le 19:18). And much more so as expressed in the New Testament (cf. Matthew 5:44-48; Romans 12:17, Romans 12:19; Ephesians 4:31).
2. The manifestation of this sin. Joel, who probably prophesied in the early years of the reign of King Uzziah, predicts that "Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land" (Joel 3:19; see also Amos 1:11, Amos 1:12). But probably the reference in our text is chiefly to the action of Edom during the Chaldean invasion of Judaea. "When Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, the Edomites joined him, and took an active part in the plunder of the city and slaughter of the poor Jews. Their cruelty at that time seems to be especially referred to in the hundred and thirty-seventh psalm: "Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof!" Their conduct at that time is described by the Prophet Obadiah (Obadiah 1:10-14).
3. The aggravations of their sin. They were kinsfolk of Israel and Judah. In joining Nebuchadnezzar against Judah, they were uniting with a foreigner against those who had descended from the same ancestor as themselves. Moreover, in former times the Israelites had made distinctions in their favor. When they marched to the conquest of Canaan, they were commanded not to contend with the Edomites (Deuteronomy 2:4, Deuteronomy 2:5); and they observed that command. The Lord also commanded them not to hate the Edomites (Deuteronomy 23:7). Yet the Edomites hated the Jews, and rejoiced in revenging themselves upon them.
II. THE RIGHTEOUS RETRIBUTION OF THE SIN OF THE EDOMITES. "Therefore thus saith the Lord God; I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it," etc. (Obadiah 1:13, Obadiah 1:14).
1. The judgment inflicted. Two chief elements of it are mentioned by the prophet—slaughter by the sword, and the laying waste of the land. It is also intimated that the judgment should, pass over the whole land. "And I will make it desolate from Teman; even unto Dedan shall they fall by the sword." Or, as some would punctuate, "From Teman even unto Dedan they shall fall by the sword." Teman was a district in the south of Edom, and Dedan was in the north; so that "from Teman unto Dedan" signifies over the entire country. Not in one event alone may we trace the fulfillment of this prediction, but in several. In the time of the Maccabees, Judas the Maccabee slew more than forty thousand Edomites (1 Macc. 5:3; 2 Macc. 10:15-23). About thirty years afterwards, John Hyrcanus turned his forces against Edom, completely subdued the country, and compelled the people to submit to circumcision and to conform to the Jewish religion, or to suffer expatriation. And they were so desirous of remaining in the country of their forefathers, that they yielded to his conditions, and, as Josephus says, "they were hereafter no other than Jews" (Josephus, 'Ant.,' 13.9. 1). So complete was their incorporation with the Jews "that the name of Idumaea appears no more in history as a separate kingdom." As Schroder remarks, "The vengeance of God could not in a more marked retribution manifest itself upon Edom than by the extirpation of his nationality, and that precisely in the form of an absorption by Israel." The desolation of the land was at length accomplished by the Mohammedans. "In the seventh century," says Dr. J. L. Porter, "the Mohammedan conquest gave a death-blow to the commerce and prosperity of Edom. Under the withering influence of Mohammedan rule, the great cities fell to ruin, and the country became a desert. The followers of the false prophet were here, as elsewhere, the instruments, in God's hands, for the execution of his judgments." And so "the Edom of prophecy—Edom considered as the enemy of God and the rival of Israel—has perished for ever: all, in that respect, is an untrodden wilderness, a hopeless ruin; and therein the veracity of God's Word finds its verification."
2. The instruments for the infliction of the judgment. "I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel," etc.; "And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble," etc. (Obadiah 1:18). The prophecy points to Judas the Maccabee and his army, and yet more to John Hyreanus, who completely subjugated the country of Edom, and annihilated the nationality of the Edomites.
3. The retributory character of the judgment. "Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them; therefore thus saith the Lord God … I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel, and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord God." The Edomites inflicted vindictive revenge upon the Jews; and for so doing they must suffer the vengeance of the Lord Jehovah. "Revenge for revenge." "The Lord is a God of recompenses; he shall surely requite" (Jeremiah 51:56).
CONCLUSION. Our subject addresses to us:
1. Warning against estrangement or want of love amongst relatives. When kinsfolk or former friends become hostile to each other, they are much more embittered than strangers in a similar condition. "A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and such contentions are like the bars of a castle" (Proverbs 18:19); "Love one another with a pure heart fervently."
2. Warning against encouraging any feeling of revenge. Such feelings turn the heart which entertains them into a hell; and the entertainment of them awakens the stern displeasure of the Most High. Our Lord says," Love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you," etc. (Matthew 5:44, Matthew 5:45). And St. Paul writes, "Bender to no man evil for evil … Avenge not yourselves, beloved, but give place unto wrath," etc. (Romans 12:17, Romans 12:19-21).—W.J.