Obadiah 1:1

The Destruction of Edom. 1 9. The Punishment of Edom foretold

1. The vision of Obadiah.] This is the short Title of this short Book. It tells us the name of the Author, which is all that we know of him, and the nature of his work.

The vision This word, like its cognate verb, when it is used with reference to prophetic revelation (e.g. Habakkuk 1:1; Isaiah 1:1; Isaiah 2:1; Nahum 1:1, comp. "seer," 1 Chronicles 21:9 and the explanation given in 1 Samuel 9:9, where however the Heb. word for "seer" is not the same) properly signifies that which appears as it were before the eyes of the prophet, the picture which is represented to his mind in prophetic ecstasy. In that strict sense, part at least of what here follows was the vision of Obadiah. He sees the Edomites in the rocky fastnesses of Petra, like the eagles on their crags (Obadiah 1:3). He beholds them taking part against the Israelites in the day of their calamity, and as a spectator of their actions cries out to them repeatedly, "Do it not" (Obadiah 1:11). But the word comes to be used in a wider sense, and is often, as here, the title of a whole Book, in which, together with visions proper, historical and other matter is contained (comp. Isaiah 1:1 with 2 Chronicles 32:32).

Obadiah i.e. servant, or worshipper of Jehovah.

Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom This is not a second title of the Book. It does not stand as an independent sentence, but is closely connected with what follows. The word "her" at the end of the verse and the direct addresses without mention of name, Obadiah 1:2, refer to and require the word "Edom" in this clause. It is rather the opening announcement of the prophet, that all that he is about to utter is not his own word, but Jehovah's. The remainder of the verse follows logically, rather than formally, upon this announcement. In Obadiah 1:2, Jehovah is introduced as the speaker.

We have heard This has been taken to mean, "I, and other prophets of my own or earlier times," or "I, and my countrymen," implying, in this latter case, "that the tidings were of the greatest interest to Israel, and would afford it consolation." (Delitzsch.) But the absence of the personal pronoun in the Hebrew, and the use of the singular number, "I have heard," by Jeremiah in the parallel passage (Jeremiah 49:14) seem rather to shew that "We" has here no special emphasis. To the prophet as a Jew the world was divided into two parts, his own countrymen and the heathen. "A rumour," he says, "has reached us: a herald is sent to them."

rumour lit. hearing. The same Hebrew word is rendered "report" Isaiah 53:1, and elsewhere. (Comp. ἀ κοαί πολέμων, Matthew 24:6.) It means here tidings (R.V.), or message. There is no idea of uncertainty as in the English word rumour.

ambassador or a messenger (comp. Proverbs 13:17; Proverbs 25:13). The meaning of the word seems to be, to go on circuit; or as we should say to go round, from nation to nation. Jeremiah describes Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, as fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities thereof with "all his army and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people" (Jeremiah 34:1). His army would doubtless be of the same composite character when he subsequently turned his hand against Edom.

Arise ye, and let us rise up This may either be taken as being throughout the address of the messenger or herald to the nations whom he visits, inciting them to arise, and associating himself with them in the invitation which he gives; or it may be the call of the herald and the response of the nations, heard as it were and recorded by the prophet "Arise," says he; "Let us arise," say they. Or yet again, the words may be throughout those of the heathen exhorting one another to obey the summons of the herald, whose address to them is not recorded but left to be gathered by the reader from the effect which it produces. This last is most forcible and most in accordance with the graphic style of Obadiah. He hears the call to arms passing to and fro, brief and eager, "Arise ye," "Let us arise," as Jehovah's herald pursues his onward course. The parallel passage in Jeremiah, however, if it is to be regarded as a version of them in prose, favours the first of these interpretations of the words.