Today we begin Sefer Ovadya (the Book of Obadiah). The entire book consists of only a single chapter - it has no division into chapters - and its entire content is a single prophecy concerning Edom: about the retribution awaiting the descendants of Edom, and how their downfall will bring salvation to Israel. We will study the verses in sequence, primarily following the commentary of the Malbim, while weaving in the insights of Chazal and the Midrashim.
The early commentators already questioned the identity of the Ovadya mentioned here. The Radak writes: Concerning this prophet, we do not know in which generation he prophesied; but the view of our Sages of blessed memory is that he is the well-known Ovadya from the days of Eliyahu HaNavi and Achav, the very same "Ovadya who was over the household." The Ibn Ezra also notes that we do not know his generation, but he goes further and asserts that he cannot be the one mentioned in the Book of Kings during the reign of Achav. His proof: there it is written of him, "Now Ovadya feared the Lord greatly" - and had he been a prophet, how could he be described merely as one who fears Hashem rather than as a prophet? After all, prophecy is the loftiest spiritual level, and it is by this that he should have been praised! From this, the Ibn Ezra concludes that they were two distinct individuals named Ovadya.
The Abarbanel counters this sharply with a simple distinction: Why was it not mentioned there that he was a prophet? Because at that time he lived between two wicked individuals, Achav and Izevel (Jezebel). In such an environment, the spirit of prophecy cannot rest - could a person possibly prophesy in such an impure place? Therefore, at that stage he had not yet received prophecy, and was merely referred to as one who "feared the Lord greatly." Only later, once he departed from Achav's company, did he merit prophecy. We find a precedent for this with Avraham Avinu: as long as Lot was with him, divine speech departed from him, and only when Lot separated from him did God reveal Himself to him.
There is another difficulty worth noting briefly: chronologically, if we arrange Ovadya as coming after Amos, it would mean his time was much later. Therefore, the commentators explain that the juxtaposition of Ovadya to the Book of Amos is thematic rather than chronological: in Amos we find a prophecy concerning Edom, and here too is a prophecy concerning Edom, which is why they were placed adjacent to one another. One should not infer from this that Ovadya lived after Amos, as that would completely sever the connection between Ovadya the prophet and the Ovadya of the Book of Kings, who lived in the generation of Achav.
Chazal state: Ovadya was an Edomite convert, and he prophesied evil upon Edom. "This is what people say: From the spoon the carpenter carved, he is made to burn his mouth with mustard." That is, the Holy One, Blessed be He, says, as it were: I will strike them from within, from their very own midst. The author of the Aruch explains the parable: the craftsman who carved a wooden spoon is fed burning hot mustard from that very spoon. The spoon you made - that is what burns your mouth.
And in the Gemara in Sanhedrin 39b, Efraim Maksha'ah, a disciple of Rabbi Meir, says: "This is what people say: From the forest itself comes the handle for the axe that chops down the trees." For were it not for wood taken from the forest to serve as a handle for the iron blade, the axe could not chop at all. By what power does the axe fell the forest? By the power of the trees themselves. So too here: through Ovadya, who was an Edomite convert, the retribution against Edom will come.
Furthermore, the Sages said: The Holy One, Blessed be He, proclaimed: Let Ovadya come, who lived between two wicked people, Achav and Izevel, and did not learn from their deeds, but remained righteous and feared Hashem greatly - and let him exact retribution from Eisav the wicked, who lived between two righteous people, Yitzchak and Rivkah, and did not learn from their deeds. One stands directly opposite the other: Ovadya lived in a corrupt environment yet did not become corrupted, whereas Eisav grew up in the finest home imaginable, with Yitzchak and Rivkah, yet became corrupt from within it. See, Eisav, how different Ovadya is from you - and that is precisely why he is the one to rebuke you and prophesy your downfall.
In Aggadat Bereishit, chapter 59: Another interpretation of "The vision of Ovadya" - what prompted Ovadya to exact retribution from Edom? Rather, the Holy One, Blessed be He, said: Avraham used to provide food for wayfarers, yet Eisav went and slaughtered them, filling the caves with corpses. And Izevel was slaughtering the prophets - yet Ovadya concealed them in caves and sustained them, as it is written, "And it was, when Izevel cut down the prophets of the Lord, that Ovadya took a hundred prophets and hid them fifty men to a cave, and sustained them with bread and water." The Holy One, Blessed be He, said: Let Ovadya come, who sustained the prophets in caves, and exact retribution from Eisav, who murdered people in caves. Therefore it is said, "The vision of Ovadya."
Another connection: Eisav was circumcised by his forebears, yet he rejected circumcision and chose uncircumcision; while Ovadya was uncircumcised, being an Edomite convert, yet he rejected uncircumcision and chose circumcision. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said: Let Ovadya come, who was uncircumcised, despised his uncircumcision, and circumcised himself, and let him exact retribution from Eisav, who was circumcised yet made himself uncircumcised. Here we should note: there is no unanimous agreement that Eisav was ever circumcised, and a certain Midrash states that Eisav was never circumcised at all. Now, if you ask how an uncircumcised child could have grown up in the home of Yitzchak, the answer is that when Eisav was born he was ruddy, indicating that his blood had not yet been absorbed into his limbs. In such a state it was life-threatening to circumcise him, lest his blood flow continuously without clotting (similar to hemophilia today). Therefore, they waited until his blood was absorbed, but when he grew a bit older and they wished to circumcise him, he already resisted. According to this, the Midrash is even more profound: Eisav despised circumcision and refused to be circumcised even though his parents wished to circumcise him, whereas Ovadya, who was under no initial obligation at all, went and circumcised himself. Therefore, he is the one to exact retribution from him.
Furthermore: Esav anticipated the mourning of his father, as it says, "And Esav said in his heart: Let the days of mourning for my father draw near" - looking forward to the day of his father's death. Ovadya, by contrast, showed deep honor to one who was not his father, as it says, "And as Ovadya was on the way, behold, Eliyahu met him; and he recognized him, and fell on his face." Said the Holy One, Blessed be He: Let Ovadya, who honored one who was not his father, come and exact retribution from Esav, who anticipated the death of his father. Therefore it says, "The vision of Ovadya."
And one final connection: The Tanchuma says regarding "The vision of Ovadya" - the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Eliphaz (the son of Esav): You rebuked My servant Iyov through a vision, as it says, "In thoughts from visions of the night"; I will raise up from you a prophet who will exact retribution from your father's house through a vision, as it says, "The vision of Ovadya." For Ovadya was a descendant of Esav through Eliphaz. And we find in several places that when a person uses an improper expression, the Holy One, Blessed be He, exacts retribution from him with that very same expression: Moshe Rabbeinu said, "You have taken too much upon yourselves (rav lachem), sons of Levi," and he was later told, "Enough for you (rav lach); do not speak to Me anymore of this matter." Here too, from that very term of "from visions" (chizyonot), retribution came through the expression of "vision" (chazon).
חֲזוֹן עֹבַדְיָה, כֹּה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה לֶאֱדוֹם: שְׁמוּעָה שָׁמַעְנוּ מֵאֵת יְהֹוָה וְצִיר בַּגּוֹיִם שֻׁלָּח, קוּמוּ וְנָקוּמָה עָלֶיהָ לַמִּלְחָמָה. - The vision of Ovadya: Thus said the Lord Hashem concerning Edom: We have heard a message from Hashem, and an envoy has been sent among the nations: "Arise, and let us rise up against her in battle."
"Thus said the Lord Hashem to Edom" - the Radak explains that this does not mean He is addressing them directly, but rather thus said and spoke the Lord Hashem concerning Edom. And the prophecy, the Radak explains, refers to what occurred in the era of the Second Temple, when the descendants of Edom wronged the people of Israel during the destruction of the Temple - just as he also explained in the prophecy of Amos, "For three sins of Edom." This is the thematic connection between the books: Amos spoke of the sins of Edom, and here the prophecy addresses their downfall. The prophet foretells that the Holy One, Blessed be He, will exact retribution from them at the End of Days, when Israel returns from exile, for what they did to us during the destruction of the Second Temple, destroyed by Titus.
The Radak further notes: The land of Edom in our times no longer belongs to the descendants of Edom, for Sancheiriv intermingled the nations, and most of them now adhere to either the Christian or Ishmaelite faith; no one can identify who descends from Edom, who from Moav, who from the children of Ammon, or from the other nations, since all were exiled from their lands and intermingled among the peoples. Rather, the Roman Empire was originally composed primarily of Edomites, and when the prophets speak of the destruction of Edom, they are referring to the End of Days, as in Yeshayahu in the passage of "Come near, you nations, to hear." Likewise, Yirmiyahu said in the book of Eichah: "Your iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; He will no more exile you; He will punish your iniquity, O daughter of Edom" - when the iniquity of the daughter of Zion is ended, then Hashem will visit the iniquity of the daughter of Edom. Their retribution still awaits them; this is not something that has already transpired, but something we will witness in the future.
When speaking of Edom, the reference is generally to the nations of Europe and Russia. Germany is referred to in Chazal as "Germamia of Edom," and as for the other nations of Europe - their soil is soaked with the blood of Israel, spilled there like water throughout the generations; these are the Edom from whom the Holy One, Blessed be He, will exact retribution. It is difficult to define America strictly as Edom, since it is a blend of many nations (and in truth Europe too is increasingly becoming a mixture of nations, and is rapidly becoming Muslim). In any case, when speaking of Edom, one is not speaking of the descendants of Ishmael, but of the nations of Europe and Russia, and typically those nations where the color red is prominent in their flags.
"We have heard a message from Hashem" - who are the ones hearing? The Radak offers one explanation: The nations say this concerning Edom, that they have heard a report that an envoy has already been dispatched among the nations summoning them to gather: "Arise, and let us rise up against her in battle." Another explanation: Ovadya speaks on behalf of himself and his fellow prophets - "We have heard a message," I and my fellow prophets, Amos, Yirmiyahu, and Yeshayahu; this is also the commentary of the Ibn Ezra, and this is the approach followed by the Malbim.
The Malbim explains that Edom wronged us already during the First Temple: when they saw the downfall of Israel, their exile, and the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash - they rejoiced. During the Second Temple era they were no longer content with passive joy, but became active participants: the Second Temple was destroyed by Rome, and Rome is called Edom, as Edomites settled in the city of Rome. Afterward, their faith was founded by the descendants of Edom - namely, Christianity. Furthermore, those Edomites whom Herod brought into the Jewish faith - who appeared to be converts through circumcision and immersion - did not prove faithful when the time came; at the moment of destruction, they turned hostile and served as a fifth column from within. And judging by what we see today, it is very plausible that many of their descendants are still among us at the heights of the judiciary and the media - such converts who ultimately became enemies, or the "erev rav" (mixed multitude), in the terminology of the holy Zohar.
Subsequently, the Malbim explains, "their well-known faith" spread - he does not name it explicitly, living as he did under European censorship, but the reference is to Christianity - and then all adherents of that faith were called Edomites. Under them, Israel endured exile and countless massacres over many centuries. The Malbim wrote this even before the Holocaust, and we in the recent generation have witnessed this all the more intensely.
And in the future, says the Malbim, all adherents of that faith will gather to conquer the Land of Israel from the hands of the Ishmaelites. We have already learned this in the prophecy of Yechezkel regarding Gog and Magog, where the Malbim explains that the Ishmaelites will come to fight here, followed by the descendants of Edom who will come to fight against them; then all the Ishmaelites of the East will gather to avenge their brothers and take vengeance upon Edom. If we had only heard a rumor of this, we would have believed it with complete faith - how much more so when we see Edom right here at our border. Russia is present here; every strike in Syria requires the Air Force to coordinate with the ruler of Edom, with Putin. It is already evident that there is a conflict here, and their battle is against the descendants of Ishmael, against the extremists of their faith, ISIS and the like. Anyone attuned to the situation understands that this is a powder keg, and the entire situation could easily shift and reach the Land of Israel, at which point the forces of Edom would become direct participants in the war here, since in any future conflict in the region, Syria, Russia, and Iran will be major components. And how astonishing it is: when the Malbim wrote this, there was not a trace of any of it; there was barely any Jewish presence in Eretz Yisrael, and one could not even speak realistically of a clash between Ishmael and Edom here - it all sounded entirely detached from reality. Yet today, these events are knocking at our door. May Hashem protect us, and may it all turn to ruin solely for the descendants of Edom and Ishmael, as we see in the prophecy: "And on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance, and it shall be holy," and may no harm befall Israel at all.
Thus, according to the Malbim: regarding that era when the descendants of Edom will come to wage war against Yishmael, and Yishmael will turn the battle back to the gate - concerning this, I and my fellow prophets prophesy, for we have a report from Hashem that the Holy One, blessed be He, made this known from of old, and already "an envoy is sent among the nations": messengers have already gone forth to the lands of the children of Yishmael to prepare them for a war in which they will strike Edom, to take vengeance on the nations of Europe for what they have done to the Jewish people throughout all the generations.
הִנֵּה קָטֹן נְתַתִּיךָ בַּגּוֹיִם, בָּזוּי אַתָּה מְאֹד. - Behold, I have made you small among the nations; you are very despised.
"I have made you small" - you are small, despised, and lowly; and so the Targum renders: "I have made you weak, wicked Esav, among the nations." "You are very despised" - Radak explains: there is no one who would grieve if you were destroyed and vanished from the world. Ibn Ezra explains "small" - that their numbers were few and the territory of their kingdom was not expansive; at that time, Edom was few and small.
Our Sages expound, and Rashi cites this: In contrast to his father referring to him as "his older son" and his mother referring to him as "her older son" - the Holy One, blessed be He, said: Great? Before Me, he is small. Do not look at his size and stature; to Me, he is small. Furthermore, they expounded: "Small" - that they possessed neither their own script nor their own language; "despised" - that they did not establish a royal dynasty of a king succeeding his father, but each time a different king arose. This is a sign of a kingdom of vanity: when a son succeeds his father as king, it indicates stature and greatness, like King David and his son Solomon. But when someone ascends who has no connection to royalty, who is unfamiliar with royal protocol and lacks the stature and virtues of kingship - that fits the definition of "you are very despised."
זְדוֹן לִבְּךָ הִשִּׁיאֶךָ, שֹׁכְנִי בְחַגְוֵי סֶלַע מְרוֹם שִׁבְתּוֹ, אֹמֵר בְּלִבּוֹ מִי יוֹרִדֵנִי אָרֶץ. - The arrogance of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, who says in his heart, "Who will bring me down to the earth?"
The Malbim explains that the preceding verse was stated as a question of wonder: Behold, "I have made you small among the nations" - the children of Edom who dwelt on Mount Seir in the days of the prophets were both small and despised, so why would all the nations need to gather against them for war? One does not mobilize heavy artillery to kill a fly. To this the prophet answers: "The arrogance of your heart has deceived you."
What is "arrogance of heart" (zedon lev)? The Malbim explains: an ordinary zed is one who challenges the fundamentals of faith and denies them brazenly (this is the meaning of "do not act willfully" [lo tazidu]). That is to say: you acted willfully in matters of faith, speaking perversely of Hashem and attributing disgraceful descriptions to Him - this refers to Christian theology regarding the holy spirit, Heaven spare us, which attributes to it the conception of an impure woman; notions that represent speaking perversely of Hashem and assigning disgraceful descriptions. And this willful arrogance has deceived you, to the point that "you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high" - you ascended to sit at the heights of the world, confident: "Who will bring me down to the earth?" This faith will become renowned throughout the world, and who could ever abolish it? Indeed, the wealthiest religion in the world is Christianity; it counts billions upon billions of donors. In Islam, donations go primarily toward murder and terrorism, whether as protection money or to finance terror elsewhere - Saudi Arabia donates to Hamas so that Hamas will not operate within its borders, for otherwise, terror factions would spark riots and revolutions there. But the religion that holds immense wealth simply by virtue of being a religion is Christianity. Therefore, they say in their heart, "Who will bring me down to the earth?": this faith has already spread across the globe, and the kingdom of Edom in the end of days will possess prestige, authority, and power. The Holy One, blessed be He, says to them: None of it will avail you.
Radak explains "The arrogance of your heart has deceived you" - because you act haughtily, exalting yourself and speaking boastfully against your brother Jacob, feeling that you can speak and act against him with impunity. And by virtue of what? Our Sages expound "you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high" - that he leans upon the support of his fathers, Abraham and Isaac, but they will not help him. He comes with pedigree: "My father is Isaac, my grandfather is Abraham; surely I have a mighty rock in which to be fortified and saved." Likewise, in its plain sense: he dwelt on Mount Seir and thought that no one could bring him down from there. But he is mistaken, for from there Hashem will bring him down.
The Malbim notes that in several places Scripture associates the dwelling place of Edom with "the rock" (sela): "and took Sela in battle," "and cast them down from the top of the rock," "and dash your little ones against the rock" - all of these are stated in connection with Edom. And what are "the clefts of the rock" (chagvei ha-sela)? Some explain, following Targum Yonatan, as the crags of the rock, meaning its jagged protrusions; others interpret it as fissures in the rock, hidden recesses in the stone, related to the word for a cleft (beka); and a third explanation cited by the Malbim links it to the phrase "the vault of the earth" (chug ha-aretz) - the summit of the rock, the rounded peak at its top, where you took for yourself a high place to be fortified - yet none of it will avail you at all.
אִם תַּגְבִּיהַּ כַּנֶּשֶׁר, וְאִם בֵּין כּוֹכָבִים שִׂים קִנֶּךָ, מִשָּׁם אוֹרִידְךָ נְאֻם יְהֹוָה. - Though you soar high like the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down, says Hashem.
Even if you soar very high - from there the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring you down and humble you.
The sefer Petach HaSha'ar explains this with a parable. A king grew angry with one of the most distinguished and important ministers in his kingdom and wished to punish him as he deserved - that he be subjected to the servitude of a slave. However, the king knew that this minister was a prominent and respected man whom everyone knew, and no one would truly dare to treat him as a menial slave. What did he do? He took one of the lowest and most contemptible people in the kingdom, a coarse, vulgar man who understood nothing of status or nobility, and said to him: "I am handing him over to you as a slave." The king knew that this man would harbor no hesitation or respect - if given a slave, he would subjugate him thoroughly; "an important minister" was not a concept he recognized, as he had never met him before. Indeed, that vile and lowly man came and enslaved the minister mercilessly, and then went around boasting to his friends: "Look how important I am to the king! He did not hand his minister over to be enslaved by anyone else, only to me." They said to him: "You fool! It is precisely because you are so lowly that he handed him to you. Any person of standing would have refused to enslave him, so they sought out someone base, cruel, and completely blind to dignity, someone capable of subjugating even a minister. It is because of your lowliness that you were chosen, not because of your importance."
The moral of the parable: The Holy One, blessed be He, sought to punish His prominent minister, the people of Israel, and He found no nation with such arrogance of heart and brazenness as Edom. In them lies the harshest impudence and malice, and whoever looks at what occurred in Europe during the dark fury of the Holocaust sees that no brazenness is as dreadful as theirs. It was Edom whom Hashem chose to afflict and distress the people of Israel. When Edom sees their power and might, they say: "Who gave me all this? Hashem gave it to me - proof that I am important, proof that I am precious in His eyes, which is why He handed them over to me." This is precisely what Christianity claimed: that the people of Israel were delivered into its hands because it is the true religion, that the Holy One, blessed be He, abandoned and forsook Israel, and that they would therefore suffer forever, never return to their land, and always remain scattered throughout the world. They used our troubles to validate their false religion: "Behold, they were delivered into our hands, and if I rule over you, it is a sign that Hashem is with me."
To this, the prophet replies: "You fool of the world! The reason for your dominion is that 'I have made you small among the nations; you are greatly despised' - it is precisely because you are despised that you were chosen." Another nation might have treated the people of Israel with a measure of respect, but you - "the arrogance of your heart has deceived you" into thinking that you found favor in the eyes of Hashem, that you dwell in the clefts of the rock with your lofty dwelling, exalted and important, and that this is why they were handed over to you. Hashem says: "From there I will bring you down, declares Hashem" - I will humble you from that station, and then it will become clear to you that all your thoughts were mere fantasy and delusion.
Sefer Ovadya is a single prophecy dedicated entirely to Edom. Chazal taught that specifically Ovadya, an Edomite convert who grew up among Achav and Izevel and did not learn from their deeds, was chosen to exact retribution from Esav, who grew up between Yitzchak and Rivka and did not learn from their deeds - "from within it comes the ax." The prophecy opens with a summons to the nations to rise up against Edom in battle, posing the question: after all, you are small and despised, so what is the point of a great gathering against you? The answer is: "The arrogance of your heart has deceived you." Edom's pride, the heresy and blasphemous attributes it ascribed to Heaven, and the spread of its faith across the world led it to boast, "Who can bring me down to earth?" To this, the Holy One, blessed be He, responds: "Though you soar like an eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down." Furthermore, Edom's very selection to distress Israel is not a token of its importance, but rather of its degradation, like the parable of the minister handed over to the basest man in the kingdom. In our generation, we see how the words written by the Malbim regarding the war between Edom and Yishmael over Eretz Yisrael are drawing ever closer to our doorstep, and we await the fulfillment of what follows: "And on Mount Zion there shall be a remnant, and it shall be holy."