“The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord GOD concerning Edom — we have heard a report from the LORD, and an envoy has been sent among the nations saying, “Arise and let us go against her for battle — behold, I will make you small among the nations; you are greatly despised. The arrogance of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in the loftiness of your dwelling place, who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to earth?’ Though you build high like the eagle, though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD. If thieves came to you, if robbers by night — O how you will be ruined! — would they not steal only until they had enough? If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleanings? O how Esau will be ransacked, and his hidden treasures searched out!<\/em>” (Obadiah 1-6).<\/p><\/blockquote>\nWhen taken in its context, we see that God is talking about the small nation of Edom on the southern border of Judah. The region was mountainous with many cliffs. Edom apparently thought it was well protected from attacks because of scaling the cliffs to reach their dwellings.<\/p>\n
The phrasing of the prophecy is in hyperbole — a stating of things in the extreme. Even if Edom managed to put homes so high that they were in the stars, God would still bring the nation down. It is neither saying that Edom had done this, nor that it would do this. Therefore, this figure of speech doesn’t answer the question that was asked.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: On your website is a question about “What does the Bible say about man inhabiting space?” Wouldn’t that include man living on other planets and their moons? I think Obadiah 1:4 in the New King James Version says it all: “‘Though you ascend as high as the eagle, And though you set your nest…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[119],"tags":[211,1449,1213],"class_list":["post-54263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","tag-figurative-language","tag-figures-of-speech","tag-obadiah"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23736,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-obadiah-21-speak-of-saviors-when-there-is-only-one-savior\/","url_meta":{"origin":54263,"position":0},"title":"How can Obadiah 21 speak of saviors when there is only one Savior?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about Obadiah verse 21, in the King James Version the second word is \"saviors\". And I know it does not mean Jesus, and it is a plural form. But who can be called savior except for Jesus Himself? I don't understand the verse. Can you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3263,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-is-edom-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":54263,"position":1},"title":"Where is Edom today?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 24, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is Edom's name today? Answer: The country of Edom was founded by Jacob's brother Esau. He picked up the nickname \"Edom\" or \"Red\" when he sold half of his massive inheritance for a simple bowl of red bean stew. Edom was located in the region to the southeast\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The country of Edom would remain perpetually desolate.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lavistachurchofchrist.org\/images\/Edom.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lavistachurchofchrist.org\/images\/Edom.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lavistachurchofchrist.org\/images\/Edom.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":98017,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/edomites-among-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":54263,"position":2},"title":"Edomites Among Us","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 16, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Floyd Chapelllear via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 22 No. 3, September 1996 The sounds of battle had to have been terrifying to those Jews cowering within the walls of Jerusalem. The terrors of war were about to descend on them, and no relief seemed possible. The Sabine women's fate would no\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63092,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/neutrality-in-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":54263,"position":3},"title":"Neutrality in War","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 5, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Download Audio by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Obadiah 10-15 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The book of Obadiah is directed to the nation of Edom. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Edomites were related to Israelites through Abraham. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0While never fond of each other, they usually managed to live peacefully next to each other. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When Israel fell, Edom did not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9315,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-day-of-the-lord\/","url_meta":{"origin":54263,"position":4},"title":"The Day of the Lord","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 29, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Acts 2:14-24 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In Peter\u2019s first sermon, he quotes the prophet Joel who warns of the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As we read the warnings of God through the prophets, repeatedly we find references to \u201cthe day of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27798,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-the-bible-say-about-man-inhabiting-space\/","url_meta":{"origin":54263,"position":5},"title":"What does the Bible say about man inhabiting space?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear sir, What does the Bible say about man inhabiting space? Particularly the satellites, the Hubble telescope, astronauts, and the space station. Did the Bible foresee how men would try to conquer space and to some degree has? Could the verse that says \"the stars will fall from the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54263\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}