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
) .