Ob 1:15-21

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The day of the Lord (Ob 15-21)

In the day of the Lord, God will intervene in human affairs and punish sinners according to their sins. The Edomites celebrated their plunder of Jerusalem by holding wild drinking parties among the ruins of the temple on Mt Zion. They, as well as Jerusalem’s other enemies, will now be drunk in a different way. They will drink the cup of God’s wrath until, unable to stand any longer, they will stagger and fall (Ob 15-16).

Having punished Jerusalem’s enemies, God will release his people from captivity and bring them back to their homeland. He will restore holiness to Mt Zion, but send a fitting judgment upon Edom. He will destroy Edom as a fire burns up a field of dry grass (Ob 17-18).

From Jerusalem the re-established Israelite nation will expand south into Edomite territory, west over Philistine territory, north over its own territory that the Philistines had seized, and east across Jordan to retake former territory there (Ob 19; cf. Amos 9:12).

Captives will be taken from various camps in foreign countries and resettled permanently in their own land, from Phoenicia in the north to the Negeb in the south (Ob 20).

Israel will then rule over former enemies, showing clearly to everyone that God controls all history. Sovereign rule belongs to him (Ob 21).