Obadiah 1:11 In the day thou stoodest on the other side
Aloof off, as a spectator of the ruin of Jerusalem, and that with delight and pleasure; when they should, as brethren and neighbours, have assisted against the common enemy; but instead of this they stood at a distance; or they went over to the other side, and joined the enemy, and stood in opposition to their brethren the Jews: in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces;
that is, at the time that the Chaldeans took Jerusalem, and carried captive as many of the forces of the Jews as fell into their hands; or when
``the people spoiled his substance,''
as the Targum; plundered the city of all its wealth and riches:
and foreigners entered into his gates;
the gates of their cities, particularly Jerusalem; even such who came from a far country, the Babylonians, who were aliens and strangers from the commonwealth of Israel; whereas the Edomites were their near neighbours, and allied to them by blood, though not of the same religion; and by whom they helped against a foreign enemy, instead of being used by them as they were:
and cast lots upon Jerusalem;
either to know when they should make their attack upon it; or else, having taken it, the generals of the Chaldean army cast lots upon the captives, to divide them among them, so Kimchi; see (
Joel 3:3 ) (
Nahum 3:10 ) ; or rather, the soldiers cast lots for the division of the plunder of the city, as was usual at such times:
even thou [wast] as one of them;
the Edomites joined the Chaldeans, entered into the city with them, showed as much wrath, spite, and malice, as they did, and were as busy in dividing the spoil. So Aben Ezra interprets these and the following verses of the destruction of the city and temple of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar; but Kimchi expounds them of the destruction of them by the Romans, at which he supposes many Edomites to be present, and rejoiced at it: could this be supported, the connection would be more clear and close between these words and those that follow, which respect the Gospel dispensation, beginning at (
Obadiah 1:17 ) ; but the Edomites were not in being then; and that there were many of them in the Roman army, and that Titus himself was one, is all fabulous.