Obadiah 1:9

"And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one may be cut off from the mount of Esau by slaughter."

In this verse, the summary end of the nation was indicated. God here prophetically announced the judgment and destruction of Edom, and this is as good a place as any to glance at the subsequent history of that nation which reveals the fulfilment of the prophecy.

THE HISTORY OF EDOM

The fulfilment began in the Chaldean period, for Nebuchadnezzar unquestionably destroyed Edom upon the same occasion as that of his capturing Jerusalem, and five years later destroying the Moabites and Ammonites, "as unquestionably inferred from Jeremiah 49:7ff; Ezekiel 35; Jeremiah 25:9,21, and Malachi 1:3."[8]. The Edomites were mentioned among the nations round about Judah whom God would deliver into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 25:9). It is certain that this was accomplished, despite the fact of Josephus having failed to mention it.

By the times of Alexander the Great, Edom was of no great importance, and the accounts of Alexander's exploits make no mention of their subjection by the fierce Macedonian, but it is certain that they shared the fate of the rest of the known world during the fourth century in falling under the dominion of Alexander's worldwide empire.

Their continued destruction continued in the second century B.C. when John Hyrcanus subdued Edom entirely from 129 B.C., even compelling them to submit to circumcision,[9] and submit to the Mosaic law. Some independence remained for Edom until the first century; but when they became conspicuous for cruelties perpetrated during the closing years of the Jewish state, the Romans utterly destroyed them in 70 A.D., and in the mop-up campaign afterward, utterly devastating their fortress homeland. "The few who remained were lost among the Arabs, so that the Edomites were cut off forever (Obadiah 1:1:10)."[10]