THE VISION OF OBADIAH - , i. e., of “the worshiper of God.” The prophet would be known only by that which his name imports, that he worshiped God. He tells us in this double title, through whom the prophecy came, and from whom it came. His name authenticated the prophecy to the Jewish Church. Thence... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, I HAVE MADE THEE SMALL - God, having declared His future judgments upon Edom, assigns the first ground of those judgments. Pride was the root of Edom’s sin, then envy; then followed exultation at his brother’s fall, hard-heartedness and bloodshed. All this was against the disposition of God’... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PRIDE OF THY HEART HATH DECEIVED THEE - Not the strength of its mountain-fastnesses, strong though they were, deceived Edom, but “the pride of his heart.” That strength was but the occasion which called forth the “pride.” Yet, it was strong in its abode. God, as it were, admits it to them. “Dwel... [ Continue Reading ]
THOUGH THOU EXALT THYSELF AS THE EAGLE - (or, thy nest) The eagle builds its nest in places nearly inaccessible to man. The Edomites were a race of eagles. It is not the language of poetry or exaggeration; but is poetic, because so true. “And though thou set thy nest in the stars.” This is men’s lan... [ Continue Reading ]
IF THIEVES CAME TO THEE - The prophet describes their future punishment, by contrast with that which, as a marauding people, they well knew. Thieves and robbers spoil only for their petty end. They take what comes to hand; what they can, they carry off shortness of time, difficulty of transport, nec... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW ARE THE THINGS OF ESAU SEARCHED OUT! - literally, “How are Esau, out searched!” i. e., Esau, as a whole and in all its parts and in all its belongings, all its people and all its property, one and all. The name “Esau” speaks of them as a whole; the plural verb, “are outsearched,” represents all... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THE MEN OF THY CONFEDERACY HAVE BROUGHT THEE EVEN TO THE BORDER - Destruction is more bitter, when friends aid in it. Edom had all along with unnatural hatred persecuted his brother, Jacob. So, in God’s just judgment, its friends should be among its destroyers. Those confederates were probably M... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL I NOT IN THAT DAY EVEN DESTROY THE WISE OUT OF EDOM? - It was then no common, no recoverable, loss of wisdom, for God, the Author of wisdom, had destroyed it. The pagan had a proverb, “whom God willeth to destroy, he first dements.” So Isaiah foretells of Judah Isaiah 29:14, “The wisdom of the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THY MIGHTY, O TEMAN, SHALL BE DISMAYED - The pagan, more religiously than we, ascribed panic to the immediate action of one of their gods, or to Nature deified, Pan, i. e., the Universe: wrong as to the being whom they “ignorantly worshiped;” right, in ascribing it to what they thought a divine... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THY VIOLENCE AGAINST THY BROTHER JACOB - To Israel God had commanded: (Deuteronomy 23:7 (Deuteronomy 23:8, Deuteronomy 23:9 in the Hebrew text)), “Thou shalt not abbor an Edomite, for he is thy brother. The children that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation of the Lord in their... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE DAY THAT THOU STOODEST ON THE OTHER SIDE - The time when they so stood, is not defined in itself, as a past or future. It is literally; “In the day of thy standing over against,” i. e., to gaze on the calamities of God’s people; “in the day of strangers carrying away his strength,” i. e., “th... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THOU SHOULDEST NOT - , rather it means, and can only mean , “And look not (i. e., gaze not with pleasure) on the day of thy brother in the day of his becoming a stranger ; and rejoice not over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; and enlarge not thy mouth in the day of distress... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE DAY OF THE LORD IS NEAR UPON ALL THE PAGAN - The prophet once more enforces his warning by preaching judgment to come. “The day of the Lord” was already known Joel 1:15; Joel 2:1, Joel 2:31, as a day of judgment upon “all nations,” in which God would “judge all the pagan,” especially for the... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR AS YE HAVE DRUNK - Revelry always followed pagan victory; often, desecration. The Romans bore in triumph the vessels of the second temple, Nebuchadnezzar carried away the sacred vessels of the first. Edom, in its hatred of God’s people, doubtless regarded the destruction of Jerusalem, as a victo... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT (AND) UPON (IN) MOUNT ZION, SHALL BE DELIVERANCE, OR, AN ESCAPED REMNANT, AND THERE (AND IT) SHALL BE HOLINESS - The sifting times of the Church are the triumph of the world; the judgment of the world is the restoration of the Church. In the triumph of the world, the lot was cast on Jerusalem, h... [ Continue Reading ]
Having given, in summary, the restoration and expansion of Judah, Obadiah, in more detail, first mentions a further chastisement of Edom, quite distinct from the former. In the first, for which God summoned the pagan, there is no mention of Judah, the desolation of whose holy City, Jerusalem, for th... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY OF THE SOUTH SHALL POSSESS THE MOUNT OF ESAU - The Church was now hemmed in within Judah and Benjamin. They too were to go into captivity. The prophet looks beyond the captivity and the return, and tells how that original promise to Jacob Genesis 28:14 should be fulfilled; “Thy seed shall b... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE CAPTIVITY OF THIS HOST OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL - , (it must, I believe, be rendered,) “which are among the Canaanites, as far as Zarephath, and the captivity of Jerusalem which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the South.” Obadiah had described how the two tribes, whose were the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAVIORS SHALL ASCEND ON MOUNT ZION - The body should not be without its head; saviours there should be, and those, successively. The title was familiar to them of old Judges 3:9, Judges 3:15. “The children of Israel cried unto the Lord, Who raised them up a savior, and he saved them. And the Lor... [ Continue Reading ]