“For the day of Yahweh is near all the nations!  As you have done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will return upon your own head.  For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so will all the nations drink continually. Yes, they will drink, swallow down, and will be as though they had not been.  But in Mount Zion, there will be those who escape, and it will be holy. The house of Jacob will possess their possessions.”

–  The Vision of Obadiah

Anyone who has taken time to read the Bible, specifically the Old Testament, has no doubt encountered text similar to that found in the first sentence in the above excerpt taken from the prophetic vision of Obadiah.

It refers to the fall of nations.  For years we were somewhat vexed as to what this would mean.  It is clear that history itself appears to be a constant rising and falling of nations as weaker or “evil” nations fall and stronger, more “just” nations take their place.  What would happen, then were all of the nations to fall at once?

What at first appeared vexing is now clear.  The nations, all nations, are mere constructs of men.  As we have described in this space, at best the nations may be seen as a response, albeit misguided, to humankind’s inherently anarchic surroundings.  Yet as human constructs, it is inevitable that the nations, rather than improving over time, are bent on self-destruction from their inception.

Indeed, this is the case today.  When nations appear to be getting stronger, this is a result of an increase in human cooperation fostered on a base of trust and free trade.  Over time, the nations unwittingly work to erode the base of trust and free trade that humans have formed.  Once the people realize this, they inevitably work to throw off the yoke of the nation, and begin to walk in the Kingdom of God.

Such is the rise and fall of nations, and if the vision of Obadiah and countless other biblical prophecies come to pass, the ultimate fall of all nations is a sure thing.