But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother,
&c.] The day of his calamity, distress, and destruction, as afterwards explained; that is, with delight and satisfaction, as pleased with it, and rejoicing at it; but rather should have grieved and mourned, and as fearing their turn would be next: or, "do not look" F20; so some read it in the imperative, and in like manner all the following clauses: in the day that he became a stranger;
were carried into a strange country, and became strangers to their own: or, "in the day of his alienation" F21; from their country, city, houses, and the house and worship of God; and when strange, surprising, and unheard of things were done unto them, and, among them: neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the
day of their destruction;
the destruction of the Jews, of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, by the Chaldeans: this explains what is meant by the Edomites looking upon the day of the calamity of the Jews, that it was with pleasure and complacency, having had a good will to have destroyed them themselves, but it was not in the power of their hands; and now being done by a foreign enemy, they could not forbear expressing their joy on that occasion, which was very cruel and brutal; and this also shows that Obadiah prophesied after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar: neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress;
or "magnified thy mouth" F23; opened it wide in virulent scoffing, and insulting language; saying with the greatest fervour and vehemence, and as loud as it could be said, "rase it, rase it to the foundation thereof", ( Psalms 137:7 ) .