4 Though
thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars,
thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.
Talk about
an ultimatum that says, “Your better off not trying!” I can’t help but be
reminded of satans fall from the heights.
Isa. 14:12-15 How art thou fallen
from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the
ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I
will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will
sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will
ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou
shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
Amos 9:2 Though they dig into hell,
thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I
bring them down:
Luke 10:18 And he said unto them, I
beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
5 If thieves came to thee, if robbers
by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had
enough? if the grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes? 6
How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up!
(How thou
art cut off!) is better understood in today’s language, “Oh how you would be
ruined!” Thieves in their haste to grab valuables and leave undetected, usually
leave things behind, but the pilferers of judgment unleashed on Edom will be so
thorough so as to leave nothing behind.
The Stones
Tanak lets us know that, “The prophet describes the disaster that will befall
Edom/Esau. Ordinary robbers leave incidentals and gleanings behind, but Edom
will be stripped bare, and betrayed by her allies.”
The Full
Life Study Bible says, “The Edomites had made it a practice to plunder other
people, robbing and killing them. Now they would experience the same thing, for
God would bring another nation against them.”
Matt. 7:2
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye
mete, it shall be measured to you again.
7 All the
men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were
at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that
eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him.
This speaks
of the betrayal of Edom by her neighbors; “Divine Karma” as I like to call it.
I am referring to the Golden Rule.
One
interesting principle that has made its way around the globe among virtually
every people group of the earth is what Christianity has termed “The Golden
Rule”
“Do to
others as you would have them do to you” – Yeshua, Matthew 7:12
Yeshua
didn’t make this up; he learned this from Rabbi’s and sages growing up. For a
Sage around the same time who was the founder of one of two schools of Jewish
thought named Hillel is recorded as saying in the Talmud, the compendium of
Jewish Law:
“What is
hateful to you, do not unto your neighbor. This is the whole Torah; the rest is
just commentary. Go and learn it.” Hillel, Talmud, Shabbath 31a
Zoroastrianism,
the original Persian religion says: “Do not do unto others whatever is
injurious to yourself.” Shayast-naShayast 13.29
Now The Jews
were once subject to King Cyrus who was good to the Jewish People, perhaps that
is were they picked this concept up.
The other
Abrahamic religion of Islam says: “Not one of you truly believes until you wish
for others what you wish for yourself.” Muhammad, Hadith
Let us
examine the Eastern Asian religions and what they have to say about the Golden
Rule:
Buddhism:
“Treat not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.” Buddha,
Udana-Varga 5.18
Confucianism:
“One word which sums up the basis of all good conduct… loving kindness. Do not
do to others what you do not want done to yourself.” Confucius, Analects 15.23
Hinduism:
“This is the sum of duty, do not do to others what would cause pain if done to
you.” Mahabharata 5:1517
Jainism:
“One should treat all creatures in the world as one would like to be treated.”
Mahavira, Sutrakritanga 1.11.33
Sikhism: “I
am a stranger to no one; and no one is a stranger to me. Indeed, I am a friend
to all.” Guru Granth Sahib, p.1299
Taoism:
“Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain and your neighbor’s loss as your
own loss.” Lao Tzu, T’ai Shang Kan Ying P’ien, 213-218
Even the
modern religious movements have picked up on this concept.
Baha’I
Faith: “Lay not on any soul a load that you would not wish to be laid upon you,
and desire not for anyone the things you would not desire for yourself.”
Baha’u”llah, Gleanings
Unitarianism:
“We affirm and promote respect for the interdependent web of all existence of
which we are apart.” Unitarian principle
Native
American Spirituality too has a way of putting it.
“We are as
much alive as we keep the earth alive.” Chief Dan George
Even in
blatantly pagan religions such as Wicca have what is called the three fold law
in that what ever you do to someone else will be done back upon you three fold;
like unto the Karma of Eastern religions. This meshes well with the golden
rule.
Even in
Greek Philosophy the Golden Rule has found a place: "No act of kindness,
however small, is ever wasted." Aesop
The obvious
exception would be Satanism which Anton Levye states in the Satanic Bible: “Do
what thou wilt is the whole of the law.”
To be
honest, the Golden Rule (Now don’t stone me for saying this) like unto the Rule
of Selfishness of Satanism, is indeed selfish too, but a selfishness that if
observed is benefit to everyone. In other words the way I look out for “number
one” is by looking out for the “other guy”.
This
principle is engrained with in us because we are fallen selfish creatures. The
Golden Rule is a type of Self Preservation and Self Preservation is what
evolutionist calls a “Primal Instinct”. Anyone, from any people group who sat
and thought would come to the conclusion perhaps on seeing two people do each
other wrong in some way might say to themselves: “You know I wouldn’t do that
to a person, because I wouldn’t want it done to me!”
I am in no
way an Ecumenical Interfaith type of guy, although I do have friends from
various religions, but it is foolish to try to deny that there are no universal
common principles in virtually every faith. And grain of the truth which lies
within each culture; which lends to the possibility of a pagan culture to come
to the truth. Indeed, it is an ingenious plan of the evil one to hide truth in
plain sight, yet disguised in cultural paganism that if welded correctly will
be the double edged sword that pierces the Adversary.
What Edom
did to the peoples that surrounded them and how they treated them would be
dished out and returned in kind to Edom.
“Esau
naively failed to realize that these dangers were imminent.” – Stones Tanak
8 Shall I
not in that day, saith the LORD, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and
understanding out of the mount of Esau?
Every people
have their intelligencia, their strategist, their think tank, their wise men.
One who could see what’s coming around the bend. Even Israel had their own wise
men.
I Chron.
12:32 And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of
the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred;
and all their brethren were at their commandment.
Edom’s wise
men will be blindsided and won’t know what hit them. “That day” is an idiom for
the day of allotted judgment, usually an idiom for Yom Kippur the Day of
Atonements which was also the Day of Judgment.
9 And thy
mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount
of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.
Teman was an
important and mighty city in southern Edom and may have been the location of a
major training facility for Edom’s army. Teman here is obviously referring to
Edomite military mighty and how when their judgment comes their armies will be
decimated.
10 For thy
violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be
cut off for ever.
Why this
impending judgment? Because of their persecution of Israel.
“Violence” in the Hebrew in this verse implies
violent, unjust and unwarranted cruelty which ends in disgrace.
And just as
Edom has disgraced Jacob so too will Edom be disgraced in turn, for the word
shame in this verse also implies disgrace. It says such disgrace and shame will
cover them so much that it will hide them, implying that their name will become
a definition for shame and will be slot as a people to the annuls of history.
Even today there is a big controversy of who is the modern day Edomites. Some
say it’s the Muslims, some say the Arabs, some say they no longer exist.
The Full
Life Study Bible comments, “Obadiah prophecies that the Edomites would be
completely destroyed and because of their violent cruelty (cf. vv. 16, 18),
whereas Judah would be restored and God’s kingdom would prevail (vv.17, 19,
21). In 582 B.C., four years after Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians
and forced to live in southern Judah. In A.D. 70, after the destruction of
Jerusalem by Rome, they were never heard from again.”
The Key Word
Study Bible adds regarding vv.10-14, “These verses may not refer to one
specific instance, but rather to a prophesy of future judgments of God on Edom
because of the evil he committed against his brother, Israel.”
