Sibling Rivalry

This reflection is part of the ongoing Forest Hills Haftorah Series. The rest of the content can be found here: https://www.sefaria.org/groups/FHJC-Haftorah-Series .

The year 586 was most definitely the worst year in Israelite and Judean history.

The glorious Judean capital of Jerusalem, existing as such for over half a millenium, was brought to destruction. The majestic Holy Palace of YHWH, brought to rubble. Homes, markets and businesses set aflame; Families torn apart; Captives being dragged off, suffering the shock of seeing the blood of their loved ones flowing through the streets.

The trauma of this year would be enough to bring people to tears for the next 2.5 thousand years (and counting).

It was a bad year.

There is something quite surprising though, about the aftermath of these events that I want to show you.

First, let's take a look at how our Ancient Histories portray some of these final moments, and here's the question I want to have in mind: Who is responsible for the horrors of 586?

So? Who's the villain here?

It seems pretty clear here that the answer would be Nebuchadnezzar.

This isn't too surprising. Nebuchadnezzar was the "Big Bad Guy" of the beginning of the 6th century BCE. His father, Nebopelassar, was at one point merely an official in in the Neo-Assyrian Empire (they were the ones who exiled the Northerners in the 8th century BCE). When the last of the Neo-Assyrian emperors died, there was great instability for about 5 years, until Nebopelassar would emerge triumphant in 626, establishing a new family-dynasty and a new empire; the Babylonians.

Under Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonians were strong enough to expect any and all kingdoms throughout the ancient near east to show fealty and pay tribute, in exchange for safety.

This was an offer that couldn't be refused. Unfortunately for the Judeans, their king at the time didn't realize this:

After the destruction, on their way to exile, some of the surviving Judeans would be sitting around by a riverside, bewailing their fate. And to their dismay, their Babylonian captors thought they would have a little fun, taunting the Judeans and asking them to sing, ironically, of their All-Powerful and Ever-Vigilante YHWH.

One of these Judeans memorialized this moment in a poem, in which he opens up with a description of the setting:

It is in the lament that follows, however, when things take a very strange turn:

Does anything strike you as strange here?

How about the fact that whoever crafted this lament, for some reason, expresses bitterness at Edom (?????) !!! But where did this come from! Shouldn't the anger be directed at those Babylonians?

This is very strange indeed. Why express anger at Edom for something that the Babylonians did, as the poet goes on to conclude?

Well, look carefully at exactly what is said about Edom here. What are they doing?

So the Edomites are not participating in the destruction; But they are standing by on the sidelines - and they seem to be watching gleefully, egging on the Babylonians as they lay waste to everything that Judah holds dear!

If this is indeed true, that Edom had acted thusly, it does make sense that Judah would be beyond bitter, sometimes perhaps even more bitter with Edom than the Babylonians. For, while it is true that Edom and Judah were in conflict throughout much of their histories, they did see each other as brethren.

Let's take a moment to retrace this. A passage in Genesis takes great pains to get the point across that the Edomites emerged from Esau:

Okay okay, we get it already! - Esau is the father of Edom!

This is significant, because, well, the forefathers of these two nations were twins!

Here is the moment of their birth. If you're able to, take a peek at the Hebrew and keep your eyes open for a nod to the future Edomites.

below: Can you tell who is whom?

Did you find the "Edomite" reference? Hint - How do you say "red" in Hebrew? ---- Edom!

This is not the only narrative though, that connects, by way of puns, the figure Esau to the Edomite people.

Here is another hugely defining moment in the brothers' lives:

Very interesting. In the same book, in the same chapter, we get two completely different etymological explanations as to why Esau's descendants would come to be known as the "Edomites," or "the Red ones."

In the first case, it was because Esau, himself, looked red from birth. While here in our second case, it is because he exchanged his birthright for some "red red stuff."

If you continue reading their story in the book Genesis, you'll see that these brothers were not always on the best of turns. (Admittedly, that's quite an understatement!)

But despite all of this, after a long time apart, long enough for them to reach manhood and build their respective families, they ultimately make amends when they finally reunite! (Or do they?):

I don't know about you, but I personally find it curious as to why Jacob was unwilling to travel together with Esau? What do you think? Could Jacob have been suspicious as to the Esau's sincerity, and therefore fearing for his life?

The answer Jacob actually gives kind of seems like a cop-out. But if it is, I can't think of another answer more compelling than the explanation above.

Just as the relationship between Jacob and Esau was... complicated... so too was the relationship over the years between their descendants, the Judeans and Edomites; Sometimes enemies (eg. 1 Sam. 14) and sometimes friends (eg. 2 Kings 3).

But however fraught it was, at the end of the day, Judah's perception of its relationship with Edom was that they were brothers.

And no one ever said it better, or more straight to the point, then Moses himself:

Which is what, if there is any truth to that which is described in the lament-poem above, would make Edom's reaction to Judah's ultimate downfall that much more painful... and unforgiveable.

The lament-poem of Psalm 137 is not the only place where this anger emerges. We have a very short oracle from an ancient Judean prophet named Obadiah. Were this to be considered a "book," it would be the very shortest in the TaNaKh-collection, being no more than one chapter.

But it is as long as it needs to be, for it really only wants to speak to one thing. In its entirety, it is a revenge fantasy that the prophet paints of Edom's future downfall, as a consequence of how she had mistreated Judah back in 586.

Let's look at the first few lines:

What seems to be happening is that the prophet Obdadia is granted a vision of a proclamation that is making its way throughout the world, proclaiming that the nations are to prepare for battle, everyone being marshaled against solely Edom.

But then we then get a shift in perspective; As the nations start heeding the call, we see YHWH himself turning to Edom, with a message that is utterly terrifying:

In conversation once about the various genres in the TaNaKah-works, someone suggested horror, citing the lion-fanged locusts of the prophet Joel as his reason. (Gosh, remember those? Here's the link to our limmud if you want to revisit it, but don't blame me for any nightmares: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/263949?lang=bi )

Well, I think this passage, in Obdaiah, is yet another reason that the horror section is a reasonable suggestion.

The first place YHWH mentions that the Edomites might fruitlessly try to hide in this passage is amongst the rocks.

This is quite a common "protection-image" throughout the works in the TaNaKh.

Here's a nice example from Isaiah 32:

But, as is always the case when it comes to the ancient Judean and Israelite prophets, there is more here than meets the eye.

Note Obadiah's choice of his word for "rock" in the Hebrew - Sela. (And the same word appears in Isaiah above.)

But "selah" mean something else to the ancient Judeans, as well.

Check out this map. Look carefully!

See anything interesting? There is a city literally named Sela all the way to the north of the Edomite territory!

So on one hand, while YHWH is certainly saying that there is no hope for Edom even if she hides amongst the crags of the rocks, he is also saying something along the lines of, I know Edomite territory. I know you might try to take refuge in your city, Selah. And I'll find you there.

But there's more where this came from! For Obadiah continues:

What's most interesting in this passage here, for our purposes, is Obadiah's use of grape-harvesters to refer to people who would come in and pillage the Edomites. What is this term in Hebrew? ----Botsrim.

Well, go ahead and take a look at our Edomite map again! What do you notice? (Major hint: Look right next to Sela.)

YHWH is hinting, by way of puns, at his familiarity with Edomite terrain and geography. The Edomites might have thought that they would have home-turf advantage if YHWH would venture to sally forth against them.

YHWH's response? Think again.

Later on in Obadiah's oracle, YHWH begins to recount why it is that he is so furious with Edom. Well, we already saw a hint of this in the anonymous lament-poem, composed by the Babylonian river.

Here is Obadiah's take:

Yikes.

If there was any confusion as to why Edom was so deserving of YHWH's anger, well, it's made pretty clear here.

This basically takes what warranted but one comment in the lament-poem above, and expands it completely, going into much more detail.

So what did Edom to on that day? Let's list them:

• Stood aloof (didn't help);
• Cast lots for Jerusalem (looked forward to claiming the land for themselves);
• Gazed with glee;
• Gloated;
• Jeered;
• Collected the spoils;
• Cut down the fugitives

I didn't notice this as I was reading through Obadiah the first time around - but now that I have all of YHWH's criticisms arranged in bullet-points, it really seems like there is narrative progression, beginning with Edom's mere watching, then becoming continuously more active before finally participating completeley in the murder and mayhem by the end.

(Do you see this, too?)

Note also the recurring refrain, the emphasis that this all occurred on that day.

Any thoughts about why Obadiah mentions this again, and again, and again? Don't we know what day he's speaking about after even the first mention?

I'm not entirely sure I understand what the intended rhetorical effect of this is - but we've seen something like it before! Back when we looked into one of Zecharia's oracles in A Day Is Coming... (Here is the link: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/266794?lang=bi) .

Here is how that limmud began:

There are other places where this occurs as well. Take a look, for example, at chapter 7 of the oracles of Isaiah, and you'll repeatedly encounter the line On that day. So I find it interesting that, when speaking about a day of significance, be it in the future as in Zechariah, or in the past as in Obadaiah, that they would hammer this idea home again and again.

I want to point out something strange that happens in verse 15. While we thought that Obadiah had been anticipating a day of judgement specifically for Edom, he suddenly includes all nations!

Why the shift, when it has bee so clear so far that it was specifically Edom who committed such betrayal?

I'm not sure I have a compelling answer to this question, but it does beg another:

Who is the "you" of verse 15? It it Edom? Or all the nations?

Here is the verse again:

I wonder if there is not a particular "you" in mind at all, but that this is YHWH expressing a universal principle, which these days we might say as, What goes around, comes around.

Or, if you are an ancient Israelite or Judean, you might prefer:

And while this individual ends up being rebuked for false council, perhaps Job's friend was on the right track when he said the following:

So back to Obadiah, perhaps the "you" in verse 15 could be directed generically to everyone.

What you intend for others, so shall it happen to you.

Unfortunately for Edom, they intended for wicked, so they are now reaping what they themselves had sown.

Obadiah goes on:

I want to share just two thoughts on these lines. Firstly, read through verse 16 in Hebrew if you can, and you might pick up, as Robert Alter points out, an untranslatable pun.

Secondly, here is a nice comment from Bob Utley's (wonderful!) You Can Understand the Bible Commentary Series (2014):

Like Robert Alter's point, this one can only really be appreciated if you read the Hebrew. It's well-worth it!

The last few lines of Obadiah's oracle is on a a note of triumph. (For Judah, that is. Not, unsurprisingly for Edom.)

I want to just look at the very last line:

Here's a comment from the Jewish Study Bible commentary:

Interesting! What do you make of this reading? Do you think that by saying YHWH is king, this precludes there also being some kind of human king as well? Can both possibly be true?

Personally, I tend to be with the JSB commentary on this one. In fact, a long way back, we looked at this in more depth during our The Messiah Reimagined limmud. Here's the link if you want to revisit it: https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/256449?lang=bi

And there you have it, that is the entirety of the oracles that we have from Obadiah! When's the last time you ever studied a whole book of the TaNaKh?

(We skipped a few verses here and there, but you basically saw the whole thing.)

And as it turns out, there is a sequel to all of this!

For the Herald of Zion, a much-later prophet, invites us into his mind as he actually sees a vision of YHWH returning from having exacted the vengeance that Obadiah was hoping for. And we even already looked at this in-depth, in our Glory! Glory, Hallelu-Ya! limmud : https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/260717?lang=bi

In closing, I want to just take a moment to acknowledge that this oracle is fraught with difficulties for us. The extent of the intensity of Obadiah's anger towards Edom, for us, is shocking, as we encounter it so far removed from his reality and his experience. But it is important to recognize that Obadiah was not alone in this, as we see from the Herald of Zion and the lament-poem above.

But, as hopefully you have come to notice and appreciate, our prophets and poets of yore were most definitely not always so vengeance-focused. So I'd like to leave us on a positive note, just to act as a counter to all of the fury in Obadiah.

There are SO MANY passages to choose from. This one comes from a beautiful prayer-poem-hymn, Psalm 145:

Israelites and Judeans believed, so deeply, in the eternal truth of verses such as those quoted here, and they celebrated YHWH for being good, compassionate, and merciful to ALL, often and loudly.

That doesn't mean that there would never have been an appropriate context in which a voice like Obadiah's could emerge, a voice of heartbreak and betrayal and fury; But I think such moments should, and most definitely were, tempered or balanced with the conviction that everyone - Judean and Edomite alike (and beyond!) - has access to the ability tap into YHWH's goodness and his love, if only we reach out with a sincere and a deeply yearning heart.