Ovadyah 1

1 The chazon (vision) of Obadyah: Thus saith Adonoi Hashem concerning Edom: We have heard a report from Hashem, and an envoy is sent among the Goyim, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her (Edom) in battle.

2 Hinei, I have made thee small among the Goyim; thou art greatly despised.

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

4 Though thou exalt thyself to soar as the nesher, and though thou set thy nest among the kokhavim (stars), thence will I bring thee down, saith Hashem.

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

6 How is Esau searched out! How are his hidden treasures pillaged!

7 All the men of thy alliance have forced thee and brought thee even to the border; the anshei shlomecha (the men that were at peace with thee) have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy lechem (bread) have laid a mazor (net, trap) under thee; there is none detecting it.

8 Shall I not in that day, saith Hashem, even destroy the chachamim (wise men) out of Edom, and understanding out of the Har Esav?

9 And thy gibborim (mighty men), O Teman, shall be dismayed and lose courage, to the end that every one of the Har Esav may be cut off by slaughter.

10 For thy chamas against thy brother Ya’akov, bushah (shame) shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off l’olam (for ever).

11 In the day that thou stood aloof on the other side, in the day that the zarim (strangers) carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots for Yerushalayim, even thou wast as one of them.

12 But thou shouldest not have gloated over the day of thy brother in the day of his misfortune; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the Bnei Yehudah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the Yom Tzarah (Day of Trouble).

13 Thou shouldest not have entered into the sha’ar Ami (gate of My people) in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked down 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 crossroads, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did survive in the Yom Tzarah.

15 For the Yom Hashem is near upon all the Goyim: 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 Har Kodesh (Holy Mountain), so shall all the Goyim drink continually; yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.

17 But upon Mt Tziyon shall be deliverance, and there shall be kodesh (holiness); and the Beis Ya’akov shall possess their inheritances.

18 And the Beis Ya’akov shall be an eish (fire), and the Beis Yosef a flame, and the Beis Esav for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the Beis Esav; for Hashem hath spoken.

19 And they of the Negev shall possess Har Esav; and they of the Shefelah, the Philistines; and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Shomron; and Benjamin shall possess Gile’ad.

20 And those of the Golus of Bnei Yisroel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Tzarphat; and those of the Golus of Yerushalayim, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the Negev.

21 And Moshi’im (Deliverers) shall come up on Mt Tziyon to judge the Har Esav; and HaMamlachah (the Kingdom) shall be Hashem’s.

Ovadyah 1 Commentary

Chapter 1

The first part denounces the destruction of Edom, dwelling upon the injuries they inflicted upon the Jews. The second foretells the restoration of the Jews, and the latter glories of the church.

Destruction to come upon Edom. Their offences against Jacob. (1-16) The restoration of the Jews, and their flourishing state in the latter times. (17-21)

Verses 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 justly deny those understanding to keep out of danger, who will not use their understandings to keep out of sin. All violence, all unrighteousness, is sin; but it makes the violence far worse, if it be done against any of God's people. Their barbarous conduct towards Judah and Jerusalem, is charged upon them. In reflecting on ourselves, it is good to consider what we should have done; to compare our practice with the Scripture rule. Sin, thus looked upon in the glass of the commandment, will appear exceedingly sinful. Those have a great deal to answer for, who are idle spectators of the troubles of their neighbours, when able to be active helpers. Those make themselves poor, who think to make themselves rich by the ruin of the people of God; and those deceive themselves, who call all that their own on which they can lay their hands in a day of calamity. Though judgment begins at the house of God, it shall not end there. Let sorrowful believers and insolent oppressors know, that the troubles of the righteous will soon end, but those of the wicked will be eternal.

Verses 17-21 There should be deliverance and holiness at Jerusalem, and the house of Jacob would again occupy their possessions. Much of this prophecy was fulfilled when the Jews returned to their own land. But the salvation and holiness of the gospel, its spread, and the conversion of the Gentiles, seem also to be intended, especially the restoration of Israel, the destruction of antichrist, and the prosperous state of the church, to which all the prophets bear witness. When Christ is come, and not till then, shall the kingdom be the Lord's in the full sense of the term. As none that exalt themselves against the Lord shall prosper, and all shall be brought down; so none that wait upon the Lord, and put their trust in him, shall ever be dismayed. Blessed be the Divine Saviour and Judge on Mount Zion! His word shall be a savour of life unto life unto numbers, while it judges and condemns obstinate unbelievers.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO OBADIAH

The title of this Book, in the Hebrew copies, is usually "Sepher Obadiah", the Book of Obadiah: the Vulgate Latin version calls it the Prophecy of Obadiah; and so the Arabic version: and in the Syriac version it is, the Prophecy of the Prophet Obadiah. His name signifies a "servant" or "worshipper of the Lord". Who he was, what his parentage, and in what age he lived, are things uncertain. The Seder Olam Zuta {a} places him in the reign of Jehoshaphat: and he is thought by some to be that Obadiah that was one of the princes he sent to teach the people, 2Ch 17:7. The ancient Jewish Rabbins take him to be the same with him that lived in the times of Ahab, and in his court, who hid the prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them, 1Ki 18:3,4; to which Aben Ezra objects, because he is not called a prophet, only one that feared the Lord; whereas to be a prophet is something greater. They also say he was an Edomite by birth, but was proselyted to the Jewish religion, and so a fit person to be employed in prophesying against Edom; and it is a tradition with them that his widow is the woman whose cruse of oil Elisha multiplied, 2Ki 4:1. Some have been of opinion that he was the captain of the third fifty, whose life Elijah spared in the times of Ahaziah; and who upon that left the king's service, and followed the prophet, and became a disciple of his; so Pseudo-Epiphanius {b}, and Isidorus Hispalensis {c}, who say that he was of Sychem, a city of Samaria, and of the field of Bethachamar, or Bethaccaron. Others would have him to be one of the overseers of the workmen in the house of the Lord, in the times of Josiah, 2Ch 34:12; to which Mr. Lively {d} inclines; though others, going according to the order of the books in the canon of Scripture, which is not to be depended on, place him earlier, and make him contemporary with Hosea, Joel, and Amos, as Grotius {e}, Huetius {f}, and Lightfoot {g}: but he seems rather to be contemporary with Jeremiah and Ezekiel, with whose prophecies this agrees, as may be observed by comparing it with Jer 49:1-39, Eze 25:1-17; and to have lived and prophesied after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans; in which the Edomites, against whom he prophesies, had a concern; see Ob 1:11-14, Ps 137:7; though Dr. Lightfoot thinks these prophecies refer either to the sacking of Jerusalem by Shishak king of Egypt, 1Ki 14:25; or by the Philistines and Arabians, 2Ch 21:16,17; or by Joash king of Israel, 2Ch 25:21; so that, upon the whole, it is not certain; and, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi own, it is not known in what age this prophet lived: Bishop Usher {h} places his prophecy in the twelfth year of Jeconiah's captivity. However, there is no doubt to be made of the authenticity of the prophecy; as may be concluded, not only from the title of it, and the solemn manner in which it begins; but from the matter of it, and the accomplishment of what is contained in it; as well as from the testimony borne to it in the New Testament, in which not only the book of the minor prophets, in which this stands, is quoted, Ac 7:42; but a passage in it, Ob 1:8; is referred to in 1Co 1:19; as is thought by some learned men. I have only to observe, that, according to Pseudo-Epiphanius {i}, he died in Bethachamar, where he is said to be born, and was buried in the sepulchre of his ancestors; but, according to Jerom {k} and Isidore {l}, his sepulchre is in Sebaste or Samaria; which remained to the times of Jerom, near those of the Prophet Elisha and John the Baptist. Monsieur Thevenot {m} says that John Baptist here lies buried between the Prophets Elisha and Abdias.

{a} P. 103. {b} De Prophet. Vid. c. 15. {c} De Vita & Mort. Sanct. c, 44. {d} In loc. {e} In loc. {f} Demonstrat. Evangel. Prop. 4. p. 290. {g} Works, vol. 1. p. 96. {h} Annales Vet. Test. A. M. 3417 or 587 B.C. {i} Ut supra. (De Prophet. Vid. c. 15.) {k} Comment. in loc. & in Epitaph. Paulae, fol. 59. M. {l} Ut supra. (De Vita & Mort. Sanct. c, 44.) {m} Travels, par. 1. B. 1. ch. 56. p. 216.

\\INTRODUCTION TO OBADIAH 1\\

This prophecy of Obadiah is the least of the minor prophets, consisting but of one chapter; the subject of it is Edom, whose destruction is foretold, and is to be considered as a type of the enemies of Christ and his kingdom, and especially of the Roman antichrist. After the preface, the rumour of war, and preparation for it, which would issue in the ruin of Edom, are observed, Ob 1:1,2; because of their pride, confidence, and security, Ob 1:3,4; which should be complete and entire, Ob 1:5,6; notwithstanding their allies, who would deceive them; and the wisdom of their wise men, which should be destroyed; and the strength of their mighty men, who would be dismayed, Ob 1:7-9; and this should come upon them, chiefly because of their ill usage of the Jews at the time of Jerusalem's destruction, which is enlarged upon, Ob 1:10-14; and this would be when all the nations round about them would be destroyed, Ob 1:15,16; and then deliverance is promised to the Jews, who should not only enjoy their own possessions, but the land of the Edomites, wasted by them, Ob 1:17-20; and the book is concluded with a glorious prophecy of the kingdom of the Messiah, Ob 1:21.