Obadiah 1:13

Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity; THEIR SUBSTANCE - translated "forces" in ....

It follows, _Thou shouldest not enter the gates of my people in the day of their destruction, nor shouldest thou look on in their calamity_. Probably the Idumeans had made an irruption in company with the Assyrians and Chaldeans, when they ought to have remained at home, and there to lament the slaughter of their brethren. For if I cannot save my friend from death or from a calamity, I shall yet withdraw myself, for I could not bear to look on: but were I constrained to look on my friend, and be not able to succor him in his necessity, I should rather close my eyes; for there is in the eyes, we know, the tenderest sympathy. As then the Idumeans willingly went forth and entered Jerusalem with the enemies, it was hence evident that they were no better than wild beasts. _Thou shouldest not _then, he says, _enter the gates of my people in the day of slaughter, nor shouldest thou especially t...

1-16 This prophecy is against Edom. Its destruction seems to have been typical, as their father Esau's rejection; and to refer to the destruction of the enemies of the gospel church. See the prediction of the success of that war; Edom shall be spoiled, and brought down. All the enemies of God's church shall be disappointed in the things they stay themselves on. God can easily lay those low who magnify and exalt themselves; and will do it. Carnal security ripens men for ruin, and makes the ruin worse when it comes. Treasures on earth cannot be so safely laid up but that thieves may break through and steal; it is therefore our wisdom to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven. Those that make flesh their trust, arm it against themselves. The God of our covenant will never deceive us: but if we trust men with whom we join ourselves, it may prove to us a wound and dishonour. God will justl...

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. Enter not into the gate of My people in the day of their calamity; look not, thou too, on his affliction in the day of his calamity; and lay not hands on his substance in the day of his calamity; And stand not on the crossway, to cut off his fugitives; and shut not up his remnants in the day of distress.” Throughout these three verses, Obadiah uses the future only. It is the voice of earnest, emphatic, dehortation and entreaty, not to do what would displease God, and what, if done, would be punished. He dehorts them from malicious rejoicing at their brother’s fall, first in look, then in wor...

THOU SHOULDEST NOT HAVE ENTERED INTO THE GATE OF MY PEOPLE IN THE DAY OF THEIR CALAMITY,.... Or gates, as the Targum; the gates of any of their cities, and particularly those of Jerusalem; into which the Edomites entered along with the Chaldeans, exulting over the Jews, and insulting them, and joining with the enemy in distressing and plundering them: YEA, THOU SHOULDEST NOT HAVE LOOKED ON THEIR AFFLICTION IN THE DAY OF THEIR CALAMITY: which is repeated, as being exceeding cruel and inhuman, and what was highly resented by the Lord; that, instead of looking upon the affliction of his people and their brethren with an eye of pity and compassion, they looked upon it with the utmost pleasure and delight: NOR LAID [HANDS] ON THEIR SUBSTANCE IN THE DAY OF THEIR CALAMITY; or "on their forces" x; they laid violent hands on their armed men, and either killed or took them captive: and they laid...

OBADIAH 1:1 B. THE DESERVED DOWNFALL OF EDOM. The prophet declares that interpretation of current events which Yahweh has revealed to him. Other nations are combining against Edom (Obadiah 1:1) and Yahweh will make their combination successful (Obadiah 1:2; the perfect tenses are prophetic). Edom has been confident in the inaccessibility of his mountainous land (Obadiah 1:3; see Intro. and read with VSS making high his habitation), but vainly does he build (his nest) on high (for the EAGLE, see on Jeremiah 4:13). This is no passing raid, for the work of the f

The Cause of Edom's Destruction The scene changes. Another picture of violence and cruelty now rises before the prophet's eyes. He sees Jerusalem encompassed by enemies and overcome. Strangers carry away captive her forces, foreigners enter into her gates. And there, not only standing aside in unbrotherly neutrality, but exulting with malicious joy, speaking words of proud scorn, doing acts of robbery and wrong, are seen the Edomites. The two pictures, one of the past, the other of the future, he is commissioned to portray before the eyes of men, and to reveal the hidden link that binds them together in the relationship of cause and effect. Obadiah 1:10 contains a general statement of the sin and its punishment. In Obadiah 1:11 the prophet writes in the impassioned strain of a spectator and describes at lengt

_THE LORD CONDEMNS EDOM'S CRUELTY -- OBADIAH 1:10-14:_ God condemned Edom for violence done to Jacob. There was a physical relationship there and yet there was a great deal of hostility, especially from Edom toward Jacob. This is one of the reasons that motivated God to cut off Edom. Edom did nothing to help when "strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem." Edom took pleasure in the misfortunes of Jacob. When the inhabitants of Judah were carried into Babylon Edom celebrated the disaster. (2 Kings 25) God asked Edom, "Why did you celebrate when such a dreadful disaster struck your relatives? Why were you so pleased when everyone in Judah was suffering?" Edom did not stop with taking delight in the misfortune of Judah. God reminded them that they had personally been cruel to His people. Edom went through the cities of Juda

BUT THOU SHOULDEST NOT HAVE LOOKED ON— Houbigant reads the verbs in these verses in the imperative mood. _Look not—rejoice not,_ &c. Instead of, _Nor have laid hands on,_ &c. Obadiah 1:13. Houbigant reads, _Be not thou sent against his army, when the day of his ruin is at hand._ We have, under no affliction or calamity, more need of support and assistance from the good Spirit of God how to behave ourselves, than in those seasons, when they who have most maliciously persecuted us, and are in all considerations very bad men, fall under some extraordinary misery, and suffer as much as they desired to see us suffer. _Thou shouldest not have rejoiced over the children of Judah,_ &c. If our joy has a mixture of insolence toward the persons of those who suffer (how justly soever), as men who have done us wrong, and so we are glad of their misery as a revenge for what

THE JUSTICE OF GOD'S JUDGMENT UPON EDOM TEXT: Obadiah 1:10-16 10 For the violence done to thy brother Jacob, shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off forever. 11 In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away his substance, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them. 12 But look not thou on the day of thy brother in the day of his disaster, and rejoice not over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither speak proudly in the day of distress. 13 Enter not into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, look not thou on their affliction in the day of their calamity, neither lay ye hands on their substance in the day of their calamity. 14 And stand thou not in the crossway, to cut off those o