Please don’t get ‘A Diamond Out of The Rough’ confused with “A Diamond in The Rough”. Huh?! ‘A Diamond in The Rough meaning is someone (or something) that has hidden exceptional characteristics and/or future potential, but currently lacks the final touches that would make them (or it) truly stand out from the crowd. The phrase is metaphorical and relates to the fact that naturally occurring diamonds are quite ordinary at first glance, and that their beauty and value as jewels is only realized through the cutting and polishing process. This is known as a jewel (diamond) found in a diamond mine. We want to talk about someone who is of much greater value than even the “Hope” diamond.
The Old Testament was one rough place to be living in – up to your neck! Times were hard, people were hard, lives got broken, life was perilous. Isaac and his wife Rebekah had twin boys, and named them Jacob and Esau. The descendants of Esau, the Edomites, were in constant conflict with Israel, the descendants of Jacob. The Edomites rejected Moses’ request to pass through their land. They opposed King Saul, they fought against King David, and they hated King Solomon, and Jehoshaphat and Jehoram. For eight centuries they settled in Mount Seir, a mountainous region south of the Dead Sea. Their capital was Sela. If you’re a world traveler, you know the modern name of Sela is Petra. “The rose red city of Petra”. The only way to access Petra is through a narrow canyon with walls that are from 200 to 250 feet high. Some of the surrounding cliffs are 2000 feet high. The city of Sela was almost impregnable. The Nabataeans finally forced the Edomites to move to Idumea in southern Palestine. Herod the Great was an Edomite.
Some of the major battles against Jerusalem involved the Edomites. There were four major invasions of Jerusalem in O.T. times: (1) by Shishak, King of Egypt in 926; (2) by the Philistines and Arabians from 848-842; (3) by King Joash of Israel in 790; (4) by Babylon from 606-586.
The nation of Israel has had trouble with the nation of Edom from day one. The crimes of Edom are detailed in the Bible: (1) Edom stood and watched while Jerusalem was invaded; (2) Edom rejoiced when the people of Judah were taken captive by the Babylonians; (3) Edom participated in the sacking of Jerusalem; (4) and finally, Edom helped set up roadblocks to prevent the escape of the Jewish people!
Whatever happened to the once mighty Edomites? After all they did to torment the nation of Israel, what do you think happened to them? Edom’s punishment is not in the future, it has already given an accounting. There are no survivors today of the once mighty Edomites. See Isaiah 34:5-17.
Is the diamond Edom? Oh no! It is Obadiah, who records the fall of Edom!
Hyper Smash
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