MORE INTERESTING FACTS ON OBADIAH

Edom was the rocky range of mountains east of the Arabah, it stretched about 100 miles north and south, about 20 miles east and west. It had abundant pasturage and was quite well watered. Sela (Petra), carved high in a perpendicular cliff, underneath the cliff was a valley of marvelous beauty. The capital was set way back in the canyons of the mountain. The Edomites would go out on their raiding expeditions, and then retreat back into the impregnable strongholds high up in the rocky gorges.

These people were descendants of Esau, always were such bitter enemies of the Jews thus caused the enmity to last indefinitely of Esau and Jacob (Genesis 25:23; 27:41). Moses was refused passage by the Edomites (Numbers 20:14-21). The Edomites were always ready to go out on any raiding parties.

Within four years after the burning of Jerusalem, Edom was raided and destroyed (582 B.C.) by the Babylonians, the very same ones they had helped with the raids on Jerusalem. Obadiah, verse 20 says,"And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanite's, even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south." The Nabathaeans took over Edom.***

The few Edomites left were confined to a region in south Judea, there they continued to exist as active enemies of Jews for four more centuries. John Hyrcanus, one of the Maccabean rulers finally defeated them and they were absorbed into the Jewish state. 63 B.C. the Romans conquered Palestine, the Herod's, an Edomite family was placed in control of Judah. With the destruction of Jerusalem (A.D. 70), they disappeared from history.

***Semitic (Arabian rather than Syrian) tribe whose home in early Hellenistic times was Southeast of Palestine, where they had either supplanted or mingled with the Edomites (Malachi 1:1-5).

They were so numerous that the territory between the Red Sea and the Euphrates was called Nabatene; they extended themselves along the East of the Jordan with Petra as their capital. Their earlier history is shrouded in obscurity. Genesis 25:13 gives the names of Ishmael's sons. One of which is named, Nebajoth.

Nabateans, a wild nomadic folk, with no agriculture, but with flocks and herds and engaged in considerable trading. Later, however, they seem to have imbibed considerable Aramean culture, and Aramaic became at least the language of their commerce and diplomacy. They were also known as pirates on the Red Sea; they secured the harbor of Elah and the Gulf of `Akaba. They traded between Egypt and Mesopotamia and carried on a lucrative commerce in myrrh, frankincense and costly wares (http://net.bible.org/dictionary.php?word=Nabataeans).

PETRA,––the capital of that portion of Arabia which is thence called Petræa,––occupies a mountain-hollow in the rocky region known to the readers of Scripture by the name of SEIR; a territory which extends from the north-eastern extremity of Arabia to the south of the Dead Sea, and which the Almighty assigned to the Edomites, or the descendants of Esau. It is twice mentioned in the Bible by the equivalent Hebrew name SELAH, or the rock; and thenceforward (namely, from the seventh or eighth century before our æra), it obtains no further notice for four hundred years. During this interval, the Nabathæans, or descendants of Nebaioth, the eldest son of Ishmael, had expelled the Edomites from their ancient stronghold, and driven them northward, where their territory was recognized for a few centuries under the Hellenised name of Idumæa. Then it was that one portion of the prophecy concerning the descendants of Esau obtained its fulfillment : they faded from the world’s eye, and ceased to be a nation.

Petræa, henceforth part of the Nabathæan territory, became a Roman province; and PETRA, as some ancient historians relate, and as its astonishing ruins abundantly testify, continued to be its wealthy and flourishing capital. It obtains some slight Ecclesiastical notice so late as the sixth century, but from that time it suddenly disappears from the page of history; and the doom pronounced on the land of the Edomites was entirely accomplished. PETRA had continued wholly unknown for twelve hundred years, when the adventurous Burckhardt discovered its ruins in 1812. (http://www.emule.com/2poetry/phorum/read.php?4,187196,187320)

Smith’s Bible Dictionary
“Nebaioth, Nebajoth” means heights,p>

Nebaioth, Nebajoth: the "first-born of Ishmael," (Genesis 25:13; 1 Chronicles 1:29) (B.C. about 1850), and father of a pastoral tribe named after him, the "rams Of Nebaioth" being mentioned by the prophet Isaiah, (Isaiah 60:7) with the; flocks of Kedar. From the days of Jerome: this people had been identified with the Nabathaeans of Greek and Roman history Petra was their capital. They first settled in the country southeast of Palestine, and wandered gradually in search of pasturage till they came to Kedar, of which Isaiah speaks. Probably the Nebaioth of Arabia Petrea were, as M. Quatremere argues the same people as the Nebat of Chaldea. --McClintock and Strong's Cyclopedia.(http://www.christnotes.org/dictionary.php?dict=sbd&id=3143)

Sorry, if you think I got carried away with the history, but it is all so interesting I just had to include it all. Thank you for reading.

God's blessing to each of you,
LJG

SOURCES:
KING JAMES BIBLE
H H Halley Bible Handbook
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