Obadiah 1 - Peake Arthur S. and Grieve A. J. - Peake's Comment

Obadiah 1

¹ The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.

² Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised.

³ The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?

⁴ Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.

⁵ If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes?

⁶ How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up!

⁷ All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him.

⁸ Shall I not in that day, saith the LORD, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?

⁹ And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.

Edom's Violence

¹⁰ For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.

¹¹ In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.

¹² But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.

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;

¹⁴ neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress.

¹⁵ For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.

¹⁶ For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.

¹⁷ But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.

¹⁸ And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it.

¹⁹ And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines: and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.

²⁰ And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south.

²¹ And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD's.

Obadiah 1

Oba 1:1-15 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 (Oba 1:1 ) and Yahweh will make their combination successful (Oba 1:2 ; the perfect tenses are “prophetic”). Edom has been confident in the inaccessibility of his mountainous land (Oba 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 Jer 4:13 ). This is no passing raid, for the work of the foe will be thorough (insert “only” after “steal” in Oba 1:5 , to bring out the contrast; for the reference to the gleaning, perhaps suggested by the number of Edomite vineyards, cf. Deu 24:21 ). The secret treasures stored in mountain caves will be stolen (Oba 1:6 , which may be a gloss from Jer 49:10 ; note change of person). The trusted allies (see Intro.) will drive the Edomites from their land (Oba 1:7 mg.; “prophetic” perfect). The last two clauses of Oba 1:7 yield no sense here, the Heb. of the former being “thy bread they put a net”; Oba 1:8 f. seems to have been added, with the appendix, to unite the earlier prophecy with the idea of the “Day of Yahweh” prominent in the later (for Teman, see on Jer 49:7 , possibly the source of Oba 1:8 ). These Edomite disasters are a penalty for the conduct of the Edomites when Jerusalem was destroyed (Oba 1:10 , see Intro.). Edom stood aloof (Oba 1:11 mg.), nay, even laid hands on Judah’s property, and intercepted fugitives (Oba 1:12-14 ). Hence retribution (Oba 1:15 b).



Oba 1:15 a, Oba 1:16-21 . The Judgment of the Nations.—The “Day of Yahweh” approaches; Judah has already drunk her cup of suffering (cf. Jer 25:15 ; Jer 49:12 ), and now the other nations shall drink destruction. Mount Zion shall be a sanctuary, and the house of Jacob (here for “Judah”) shall recover what has been lost (Oba 1:17 ). Judah shall be joined by the restored northern kingdom (the house of Joseph), and together they shall utterly destroy the Edomites (Esau, Oba 1:18 ; for the contrast of Jacob and Esau, cf. Mal 1:2-5 ). The territories to be recovered in S. and N. are indicated (Oba 1:19 f.). Judah in Zion shall be reinforced by the help of the restored Israel (the saviours of Oba 1:21 ) against Esau, and the “Messianic” kingdom shall be established (Zarephath on coast, between Tyre and Sidon, cf. 1Ki 17:9 ); Sepharad, since the Persian period a name for Asia Minor, particularly Phrygia; this host, Oba 1:20 , may be a corrupt form of Halah (cf. 2Ki 17:6 ).

Oba 1:19 seems to have been expanded by glosses, and Marti suggests as its original form, “And they (i.e. the united Israel and Judah) will take possession of the Negeb and the Shephelah, and the fields of Ephraim and Gilead.” In Oba 1:20 , we should probably read, “shall possess the Canaanites”, the Heb. being impossible as it stands.