Isaiah’s Prophecy Against Edom

 4, 5. (a) Who were the Edomites, and what attitude did they take toward their twin-brother nation, Israel? (b) What did Jehovah therefore decree concerning Edom?

⁴ Operating among today’s national groups is a particularly responsible element. That element was typified by the nation of Edom, which is specifically named in this prophecy. The Edomites were descendants of Esau, who sold his birthright to his twin brother, Jacob, for “bread and lentil stew.” It was on that occasion that Esau came to be called Edom, meaning “Red.” (Genesis 25:24-34) Because Jacob supplanted him in the precious birthright, Esau became filled with hate toward his twin brother. Edom became the implacable enemy of the ancient nation of Israel, or Jacob, even though they were twin-brother nations. For this hostility against God’s people, Edom incurred the deserved wrath of Jehovah, the God of Israel, and He decreed the eternal annihilation of Edom. This divine determination is set forth in the words of the prophet Isaiah:

Jehovah has a sword; it must be filled with blood; it must be made greasy with the fat, with the blood of young rams and he-goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For Jehovah has a sacrifice in Bozrah [Edom’s most prominent city], and a great slaughtering in the land of Edom.”​—Isaiah 34:5, 6.

 6. (a) Why could Jehovah speak of wielding his “sword” against Edom “in the heavens”? (b) When the kingdom of Judah was attacked by Babylon, what unbrotherly attitude did Edom display toward Jehovah’s people?

⁶ The land of the murder-minded nation of Edom must be drenched with their own blood by means of the “sword” of Jehovah. Edom occupied a high, mountainous region. (Jeremiah 49:16) So in causing a slaughter to take place in that land, Jehovah could pictorially say that he was wielding his sword of judgment “in the heavens.” Edom was strongly militarized, and its armed forces roved through heaven-high mountain ranges to safeguard the country against invaders. So the army of Edom could fittingly be called “the army of the heavens.” But powerful Edom furnished no aid to its twin-brother nation, Israel, when it was attacked by the armies of Babylon. Rather, Edom rejoiced to see the overthrow of the kingdom of Judah and even urged on her devastators. (Psalm 137:7) Edom’s treachery went to the point of chasing down individuals running for their lives and handing them over to the enemy. (Obadiah 10-14) The Edomites planned to take over the abandoned country of the Israelites, speaking boastfully against Jehovah.​—Ezekiel 35:10-15.

 7. How did the God of Israel view the treacherous conduct of the nation of Edom?

⁷ Did Jehovah, the God of ancient Israel, overlook this unbrotherly conduct on the part of the Edomites toward his chosen people? No. That is why God’s heart entertained the purpose of “a day of vengeance” and “a year of retributions” in repayment for what had maliciously been done to his earthly organization, called Zion. Said the prophecy: “For Jehovah has a day of vengeance, a year of retributions for the legal case [before the Court of the Universe] over Zion.”​—Isaiah 34:8; Ezekiel 25:12-14.

 8. (a) Whom did Jehovah use to bring punishment upon Edom? (b) What did the prophet Obadiah foretell regarding Edom?

⁸ Not long after the destruction of Jerusalem, Jehovah began expressing his righteous vengeance upon the Edomites by means of the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. (Jeremiah 25:8, 15, 17, 21) When Babylon’s armies moved against Edom, nothing could save the Edomites! Babylon’s armies tumbled the Edomites from their rocky heights. It was “a year of retributions” upon Edom. As Jehovah foretold through another prophet: “Because of the violence to your brother Jacob, shame will cover you, and you will have to be cut off to time indefinite. . . . In the way that you have done, it will be done to you. Your sort of treatment will return upon your own head.”​—Obadiah 10, 15.