Verses 2-9 contain three sections, which the phrase "declares the Lord"marks off (vv. 4, 8).
v. 2 Yahweh called Obadiah's hearers to see that He would make Edom, which was already despised because of her character, small among the nations. He would humble her further.
v. 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 being like 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 (Gen. 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."14
"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."15
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."16
The rock (Heb. sela') in view is the granite and sandstone that made up Mt. Seir. Thought 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.17
v. 4 Here the figure of an eagle that was also in view in the previous verse becomes explicit. Even if the Edomites would build their nest as high as the stars (hyperbole), God would bring them down.18They might have been humanly unassailable, but they were not divinely unassailable. They had proudly boasted, "Who will bring me down to the earth?"(v. 3), but Yahweh replied, "I will bring you down"(v. 4). He would burst their bubble. He Himself declared that He would.
