Based on Obadiah 1:21, we can conclude that Mount Esau, also called Mount Seir, is a symbolic reference to the Islamic structures Al Asqa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount. Accordingly, I have written an interpretative paraphrase of Ezekiel chapter 35, which is a prophecy against Mount Seir. If this chapter seems harsh to you, debate God regarding whether He needs to apologize for the harshness of His justice. See the the bottom of this article for a further explanation.
For reference, please first read this, Ezekiel 35, New Living Translation. It will provide a sense of the Lord's anger towards the subjects of this declaration.
1 Again a message came to me from the LORD: 2 "Son of man, turn toward Mount Seir, and prophesy against its people. 3 Give them this message from the Sovereign LORD: I am your enemy, O Mount Seir, and I will raise my fist against you to destroy you completely. 4 I will demolish your cities and make you desolate, and then you will know that I am the LORD.
5 Your continual hatred for the people of Israel led you to butcher them when they were helpless, when I had already punished them for all their sins.
6 As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, since you show no distaste for blood, I will give you a bloodbath of your own. Your turn has come! 7 I will make Mount Seir utterly desolate, killing off all who try to escape and any who return.
8 I will fill your mountains with the dead. Your hills, your valleys, and your streams will be filled with people slaughtered by the sword. 9 I will make you desolate forever. Your cities will never be rebuilt. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
10 "For you said, 'The lands of Israel and Judah will be ours. We will take possession of them. What do we care that the LORD is there!'
11 Therefore, as surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, I will pay back your angry deeds with mine. I will punish you for all your acts of anger, envy, and hatred. And I will bring honor to my name by what I do to you. 12 Then you will know that I, the LORD, have heard every contemptuous word you spoke against the mountains of Israel. For you said, 'They have been destroyed; they have been given to us as food to eat!' 13 In saying that, you boasted proudly against me, and I have heard it all!
14 "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: The whole world will rejoice when I make you desolate. 15 You rejoiced at the desolation of Israel's inheritance. Now I will rejoice at yours! You will be wiped out, you people of Mount Seir and all who live in Edom! Then you will know that I am the LORD!
The interpretative paraphrase:
Here is my message against the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, and the people who ally themselves with those horrid structures. I am your enemy, and I'm going to make this my personal vendetta against you. I will raise my fist against you to make your cities a desolation, to everyone's astonishment. Then you are going to know who the real God is - me!
Because you harbored a persistent hatred for Israel, a hatred of ancient origins, and because you keep on terrorizing them in the time of their calamity, even though I was finished punishing them, here's my personal message to you.
Since you like blood so much, I'm going to give you your own bloodbath. You'll be chased by rivers of blood -- I'll see to that. It's your turn now. And your beloved mosques on my holy hill, well, just watch as I enjoy turning them into rubble. You are not going to come and go there as you please any more.
You know those mountains of Judea and Samaria that you keep holding on to? I'm going to cover them with your corpses. The hills, the valleys, the ravines, the ditches will all be filled with your people that I slaughter. And as for the rest of you, I'm going to run you out of those cities; you are going to leave and never return. It's time to face facts: you are never coming back. Then you'll know that I am God.
So you thought I was out of earshot when you said, "The West Bank and Gaza are ours, we're taking over," did you? Wrong. I was there! Me, the God of the universe. I've seen your fanatical hatred and exorbitant anger against my people. Well, guess what! I can easily match your anger, and take it to another level. This is going to get very personal between you and me, and you'll know I mean business when I punish you. You'll know who I am, all right -- I'm not some phony God, and I'll bring honor to myself by what I do to you.
I've heard the vile abuse, every contemptuous word, you've uttered. Over and over and over you spew out the most excessive invective against Israel. You strut around with your big talk, claiming "Palestine is ours." Here's what you might not realize: all of your many insolent speeches were against me! And you know what? I heard it, every single hate-filled word! I recorded it! All of it!
So this is the verdict of the Lord God: While the whole world applauds, I'll demolish you. Because you partied and celebrated and danced in the streets after every terrorist attack, I'm going to celebrate your terror. I'm going to give you back the desolation you've been meting out to Israel. You tried to lay them waste, so that's what I'm going to do to you. Then you'll realize that I'm God.
The prophecy in Ezekiel 35 is directed at "Mount Seir". Edom, Esau, and Seir are synonymous.
(Genesis 36:8 NIV) So Esau (that is, Edom) settled in the hill country of Seir.
Thus, "Mount Esau " in Obadiah 1:21 is the same as "Mount Seir" in Ezekiel 35.
In the Obadiah prophecy we see something called "Mount Esau" up on Mount Zion. This is the symbolic terminology the prophet uses to describe the Islamic structures on the Temple Mount.
If we compare several translations of verse 21, the meaning readily becomes apparent:
"For liberators shall march up on Mount Zion to wreak judgment on Mount Esau, and dominion shall be the Lord's." (JPS)
"And saviors will ascend Mount Zion to judge the Mountain of Esau, and the kingdom will be Hashem's" (Stone)
"Powerful warriors will go up on Mount Zion....." (NCV)
"The deliverers will ascend Mount Zion to judge the mountain of Esau, and the kingdom will be the LORD'S." (NASB)
Now the picture is clear. Esau represents the enemies of the true God. "Mount Esau" is an entity on the Temple Mount that will be judged. A group of deliverers will go up to the Temple Mount and eradicate the offending edifices.
Ezekiel 35 is thus an extension of the Obadiah verse. After I initially wrote this article, I read two Jewish commentaries on Ezekiel 35 that also linked it back to the Obadiah verse.
When I presented this teaching at a Bible prophecy seminar, a Messianic Jew in the audience told me that the Hebrew words themselves for "Mount Esau" in Obadiah 1:21 could easily be interpreted to mean "Dome of the Rock".
See the article Liberating the Temple Mount for more details on the Obadiah prophecy.