Obadiah 1:3-4

3, 4. It was the pride and arrogance of Edom that caused her to scheme against the people of Jehovah. This arrogance was based very largely upon the almost impregnable position of the Edomite strongholds; but, says Jehovah, these natural defenses will not be able to withstand the divine attacks.

Pride Not the rock-castles, though these furnished the basis for the pride. For the sake of emphasis the subject is, contrary to common Hebrew usage, placed first.

Clefts of the rock The word translated “rock” Hebrews sela’ might be understood as a proper noun, Sela, which is the name of the ancient capital of Edom, changed at a later time to Petra, a word of similar import. If so, the reference would be to the rock-hewn dwellings of the capital. “Sela was situated on either side of a deep ravine, which runs winding like a stream through precipitous and overhanging cliffs for a distance of not less than a mile and a half. The cliffs are honeycombed with caverns, and in these caverns, reached by artificial means of access, the Edomites dwelt” (compare Hastings’s Dictionary of the Bible, article “Sela”). It is more probable, however, that the allusion is to the rocky features of the entire country.

Who shall bring me down to the ground? To the proud Edomites their position seemed impregnable; they might laugh at every attempt to displace them. “The great strength of a position such as Sela’s was shown during the war of the independence of Greece, in the case of the monastery of Megaspelion, which was situated, like Sela, on the face of a precipice. Ibrahim Pasha was unable to bring its defenders down by assault from below or above, and though ungarrisoned it baffled his utmost efforts.” The failure of the natural strongholds of Edom to protect the inhabitants would bring out more prominently the irresistible power of Jehovah (Jeremiah 49:16).