Exploring the Meaning of Obadiah 1
Ngu New Christian Bible Study Staff
In Obadiah 1, the sole chapter in this book, there's a prophecy of destruction for Edom. The people of the land of Edom -- the Edomites -- were descendants of Esau, so they were cousins and neighbors of the Jewish people.
In Swedenborg's sketch of the internal sense of this part of the Word, (The Inner Meaning of the Prophets and Psalms 213), we find this:
- Edom represents people who are in self-intelligence and who pervert the sense of the letter of the word.
- In Obadiah 1:1-3, They must be combated, because they believe themselves to be more intelligent than others.
- In 1:4-5, They defend falsities by natural light, but they will perish, and with them, the falsities themselves.
- In 1:6, They have pride.
- In 1:7, They have no truths.
- In 1:8-9, They will perish on the day of judgment, because they have oppressed the church.
- In 1:10-14, They destroy the church still further, and this is their delight.
- In 1:15-16, Destruction will come upon them on the day of judgment.
- In 1:17, A new church will come into existence.
- In 1:18, in place of the former church, which is condemned.
- In 1:19-21, The new church will be in the understanding of truth, and those that are in it will be saved.
This story was written around 2600 years ago. There were people alive then who were impressed with their own intelligence. They didn't respect the Word's inner meaning, and twisted its literal meaning. In Obadiah 1:10, we see them even taking delight in destroying true ideas.
Today, maybe it's easier than ever to be impressed by our own intelligence, because we can do so much. We're putting vehicles on Mars, and making robots that can do back flips. But how should we regard the Word? We need to look at its deep meaning, to really understand spiritual truths -- so that we have the fundamental spiritual wisdom to hold and harness our intelligence -- and to be part of the Lord's church, where we're open to receiving his good and truth, and living by it.
The Inner Meaning of the Prophets and Psalms #0
Table of Subjects 1
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1. The Lord's advent.
2. The successive vastation of the church.
3. The church totally devastated, and its rejection.
4. The rejection of the Lord by the church.
5. Temptations of the Lord in general.
6. Temptation even to despair.
7. The combats of the Lord with the hells.
8. Victory over them, or their subjugation.
9. The passion of the cross.
10. The glorification of the Human of the Lord, or its union with the Divine.
11. A new church in place of the former.
12. A new church together with a new heaven.
13. The state of humiliation before the Father.
14. 2
15. A last judgment by the Lord.
16. Celebration and worship of the Lord.
17. Redemption and salvation by the Lord.
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Editor's Introduction: In this work, Emanuel Swedenborg outlined the internal meaning of all the Prophetical Books, from Isaiah to Malachi, and the Psalms, and then the first 16 chapters of Genesis. It provides a survey of the inner meaning of a substantial portion of the Old Testament, in one place.
This work was written by Swedenborg in Latin, in 1761. It was translated from Latin into English by Rev. J. E. Schreck, and this translation was published by the Swedenborg Foundation, in New York, in 1900. This modified version of Schreck's 1900 translation does not update the text; instead just modifying numbering and formatting for clarity of use online.
Each chapter of each book of the Prophets has one corresponding numbered section in Swedenborg's explanation of its inner meaning, or internal sense. Swedenborg listed the verses that relate to each outlined point. We have added hyperlinks to the verse references, shown to the left of each outlined point. The Psalms and initial chapters of Genesis are treated in a similar fashion.
This work was not published by Swedenborg, but it is consistent with other more detailed treatments made in his published works. For example, Swedenborg refers to this work in Doctrine of the Lord 37.
Readers may also find these comparisons useful:
- No. 124 of this work, explaining Ezekiel 1, with The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture 97,
- Nos. 161, 162, explaining Ezekiel 38, and 39, with Apocalypse Revealed 859,
- No. 236, explaining Zechariah 4, with Apocalypse Revealed 43, and
- Nos. 244-246 of this work, explaining Zechariah 12, 13, 14, with Apocalypse Revealed 707.
In the manuscript, at the beginning, Swedenborg wrote out a list of works that he intended to write and publish. While it's clearly related to the project of outlining the internal meaning of the Prophets, Psalms, and historical parts of the Word, it seems to be an independent list. We reproduce Rev. Schreck's translation of that list here:
"To Be Published:
1. Concerning the Lord.
2. Concerning the Sacred Scripture or concerning the Word of the Lord.
3. All things of religion and of the worship of God in one complex in the Decalogue.
4. Concerning Faith.
5. Angelic wisdom concerning the Divine Providence.
6. Angelic wisdom concerning the Divine omnipotence and omniscience, and concerning infinity and eternity.
7. Angelic wisdom concerning life.
8. Angelic wisdom concerning the Divine love and Divine wisdom."
Imibhalo yaphansi:
1. In the original Latin manuscript, Swedenborg cross-referred the outlined internal sense to a more general Table of Subjects, shown above. In the following passages, those references are shown in parentheses, e.g. (3) would refer to subject number 3 above. We received the Latin text for this "front matter" from the Heavenly Doctrines Publishing Foundation.
2. Editor's Note (Schreck): No. 14 is crossed out by Swedenborg in his MS., and is never referred to in the text. It reads, "The state of unition with His Divine," which is the same as No. 10.
Doctrine of the Lord 3 for an outline of a similar set of themes that form the internal sense of the prophetical books.
