Obadiah 1:16

16 As you, Israel, drank on my holy mountain, so all nations will drink in turn. They will drink and guzzle down everything in it. They will be like those who have never existed.

Obadiah 1:16 Meaning and Commentary

Obadiah 1:16

For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, [so] shall all the
Heathen drink continually
Which is either spoken to the Edomites; and the sense be, according to the Targum,

``as ye have rejoiced at the blow (given unto or at the subversion and destruction) of the mountain of my holiness, all people shall drink the cup of their vengeance;''

or punishment; and to the same sense Jarchi and Japhet interpret it; and so Kimchi,

``as ye have made a feast, rejoicing at the destruction of my holy mountain, so thou and all nations shall drink of the cup of trembling;''

but Aben Ezra thinks the words are spoken to the Israelites,

``as ye have drank the cup, so shall all nations;''

the cup of vengeance began with them, and so went round the nations, according to the prophecy in ( Jeremiah 25:17 Jeremiah 25:18 ) for, if judgment begins at the house and people of God, it may be expected it will reach to others; wherefore Edom had no reason to rejoice at the destruction of the Jews, since they might be assured by that the same would be their case before long; and with this difference, that whereas the Jews only drank this cup for a while, during the seventy years' captivity, these nations, and the Edomites among the rest, should be "continually" drinking it: yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down;
not only drink of the cup, but drink it up; not only take it into their mouths, but swallow it down their throats; not only sip at it, but "sup [it] up" {a}, as it may be rendered. The phrase denotes the fulness of their punishment, and their utter and entire ruin and destruction, which the next clause confirms: and they shall be as though they had not been;
as now are the Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, and so the Edomites; their names are not heard of in the world, only as they are read in the Bible; and thus it shall be with mystical Babylon or Edom, it shall be thrown down, and found no more, ( Revelation 18:21 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 (welw) "absorbebunt", V. L. Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "deglutient", Montanus, Mercerus. Gussetius renders it "absorbebantur".

Obadiah 1:16 In-Context

14 Don't stand at the crossroads to kill their refugees. Don't hand over their survivors when they're in distress.

15 "The day of the LORD is near for all nations. Edom, you will be treated as you have treated others. You will get back what you have given.

16 As you, Israel, drank on my holy mountain, so all nations will drink in turn. They will drink and guzzle down everything in it. They will be like those who have never existed.

17 "But refugees will live on Mount Zion. It will be holy. The descendants of Jacob will get back their possessions.

18 The descendants of Jacob will be like a fire. The descendants of Joseph will be like a flame. But the descendants of Esau will be like straw. They will be burned and destroyed. There will be no one left among the descendants of Esau." The LORD has spoken.