Obadiah 1:3

The outstanding mark of Edom’s national character was pride. The Hebrew word for pride (zadon) comes from a verb meaning to boil up (zid). It pictures pride as water that boils up under pressure in a cooking pot. Similarly the proud person is like a bubble that thrusts itself up but is hollow. Interestingly, the same Hebrew word occurs three times in the account of Esau, the father of the Edomites, squandering his birthright (Genesis 25:27-34).

". . . the key that unlocks the central moral lesson of the book is found in these words in the third verse: ’The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee." [Note: Gaebelein, p. 48.]

"It is possible for Christians also to fall into the sin of pride. One has only to dismiss God from the reckoning, one has but to slip into the habit of neglecting his Bible, one has merely to fail to be alone with God daily in prayer, and he too may fall into the sin of making decisions and living his life on a secular basis without placing God and His will foremost." [Note: Ibid., p. 52. This writer’s discussion of the sin of pride in the light of today (pp. 48-52) is worth reading.]

The Edomites thought they were superior because they inhabited a lofty region, Mt. Seir. They thought they were secure because they occupied this militarily favorable location. In fact, they thought they were invincible.

"Edom’s natural defenses were imposing. Its main centers of civilization were situated in a narrow ridge of mountainous land southeast of the Dead Sea . . . This ridge exceeded a height of 4,000 feet throughout its northern sector, and it rose in places to 5,700 feet in the south. Its height was rendered more inaccessible by the gorges radiating from it toward the Arabah on the west and the desert eastwards.

"In addition to these natural fortifications, Edom was strongly defended by a series of Iron Age fortresses, particularly on the eastern frontier where the land descended more gradually to the desert." [Note: Armerding, pp. 342-43.]

The rock (Heb. sela’) in view is the granite and sandstone that made up Mt. Seir. Though Sela was also the name of an Edomite town (cf. 2 Kings 14:7), here the mountain home of the whole nation seems to be in view. The Greek translation of sela’ is Petra, the modern name of this town.