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Obadiah Overall

Obadiah 1

Chapter Contents

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)

Commentary on Obadiah 1:1-16

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.

Commentary on Obadiah 1:17-21

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.

── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Obadiah》

Obadiah 1

Verse 1

[1] The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the LORD and an ambassador is sent among the heathen Arise ye and let us rise up against her in battle.

Obadiah — His name speaks a servant or a worshipper of the Lord but who he was we know not.

We — The prophets have heard.

A rumour — Not an uncertain report but it comes from God.

Is sent — By the Lord first and next by Nebuchadnezzar who executed on Edom what is here foretold.

The nations — Those that were with or subject to Nebuchadnezzar.

Verse 2

[2] Behold I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised.

Small — Thou art a small people. In comparison with other nations.

Despised — What ever these Edomites had been now they were despised.

Verse 3

[3] The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart Who shall bring me down to the ground?

The pride — The Edomites were as most mountaineers are a rough hardy and daring people. And proud above measure.

Deceived thee — Magnifying thy strength above what really it is.

Verse 4

[4] Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle and though thou set thy nest among the stars thence will I bring thee down saith the LORD.

Bring thee down — God who is in the heavens would throw thee down. When men could not marshal armies against thee stars should fight in their courses against thee. Nothing can stand which God will cast down Jeremiah 49:16 17.

Verse 5

[5] If thieves came to thee if robbers by night (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grapegatherers came to thee would they not leave some grapes?

If thieves — If thieves by day had spoiled thee they would not have thus stripped thee.

Robbers — If robbers in the night had been with thee they would have left somewhat behind them.

'Till they had enough — But here is nothing left.

Some grapes — But here have been those that have cut up the vine.

Verse 6

[6] How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up!

Esau — The father of this people put for his posterity.

Sought up — All that the Edomites had laid up in the most secret places are seized and brought forth by soldiers.

Verse 7

[7] All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him.

Thy confederacy — Thy confederates have marched with thee until thou wert come to the borders of thy country.

Deceived thee — Proved treacherous.

Prevailed — Treacherously.

A wound — A snare armed with sharp points.

No understanding — Thou wast not aware of it.

Verse 9

[9] And thy mighty men O Teman shall be dismayed to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.

Teman — A principal city of Idumea.

Verse 11

[11] In the day that thou stoodest on the other side in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces and foreigners entered into his gates and cast lots upon Jerusalem even thou wast as one of them.

In the day — During the war which the Babylonians made upon Judea.

Stoodest — Didst set thyself in battle array against thy brother.

Jerusalem — Upon the citizens and their goods.

As one of them — As merciless and insolent as any of them.

Verse 12

[12] But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.

Looked — With joy on the affliction.

A stranger — As a stranger one who had no more right to any thing in the land.

Proudly — Vaunting over the Jews when Jerusalem was taken.

Verse 13

[13] Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity;

Entered — As an enemy.

Verse 14

[14] Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress.

The breaches — Of the walls by which when the city was taken some might have made their escape.

Delivered — To the Chaldeans.

Remain — Survived the taking of the city.

Verse 15

[15] For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.

The day — The time which the Lord hath appointed for the punishing of this and other nations.

As thou hast done — Perfidiously cruelly and ravenously against Jacob.

Verse 16

[16] For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain so shall all the heathen drink continually yea they shall drink and they shall swallow down and they shall be as though they had not been.

As ye — As ye my own people have drunk deep of the cup of affliction so shall other nations much more yea they shall drink of it 'till they utterly perish.

Verse 17

[17] But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.

Zion — Literally this refers to the Jews: typically to the gospel-church.

Deliverance — A remnant that shall be delivered by Cyrus a type of Israel's redemption by Christ.

Holiness — The temple the city the people returned from captivity shall be holy to the Lord.

Their possessions — Their own ancient possessions.

Verse 18

[18] And the house of Jacob shall be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame and the house of Esau for stubble and they shall kindle in them and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it.

Shall kindle — This was fulfilled in part by Hyrcanus and the Maccabees 1Ma 5:3 but will be more fully accomplished when the Lord shall make his church as a fire to all its enemies.

Verse 19

[19] And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines: and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim and the fields of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.

They — The Jews who live in the south parts of Canaan next Idumea shall after their return and victories over Edom possess his country.

Of the plain — The Jews who dwell in the plain country shall enlarge their borders possess the Philistines country together with their ancient inheritance. The former was fully accomplished by Hyrcanus. And if this were the time of fulfilling the one doubtless it was the time of fulfilling the other also. And all the land which the ten tribes possessed shall again be possessed by the Jews.

Gilead — Here is promised a larger possession than ever they had before the captivity; and it does no doubt point out the enlargement of the church of Christ in the times of the gospel.

Verse 20

[20] And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem which is in Sepharad shall possess the cities of the south.

The captivity — Those of the ten tribes that were carried away captive by Salmanesar.

Of the Canaanites — All the country they anciently possessed with this addition that what the Canaanites held by force and the Israelites could not take from them shall now be possessed by these returned captives.

Zarephath — Near Sidon.

Of Jerusalem — The two tribes carried captive by Nebuchadnezzar.

Sepharad — Probably a region of Chaldea.

The cities — All the cities which were once their own.

Verse 21

[21] And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD's.

Saviours — Deliverers literally the leaders of those captive troops who shall come up from Babylon such as Zerubbabel Ezra and Nehemiah. Mystically Christ and his apostles and other preachers of the gospel.

To judge — To avenge Israel upon Edom.

The Lord's — The God of Israel Jehovah shall be honoured obeyed and worshipped by all.

── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Obadiah》

 
Obadiah - The Judgment Of Edom (1:1-21)
 
INTRODUCTION
 
1. The first of the "The Minor Prophets" we shall consider is Obadiah

 whose book is the shortest of all books in the Old Testament
 
2. His name means "Servant of Yahweh (Jehovah)"
and was quite
 common...
 a. Thirteen different people are called by this name in the Old 
 Testament
 b. One Jewish tradition identifies him as the one who was Ahab's 
 steward
 1) Who hid 100 prophets from Jezebel
Ahab's wife - 1 Kin 18:3-4
 2) Who feared the Lord from his youth - 1 Kin 18:12
 c. He may have also been...
 1) The Obadiah sent by Jehoshaphat to teach the law in Judah 
 - 2 Chr 17:7
 2) The Obadiah who was one of the overseers in repairing the 
 temple under Josiah - 2 Chr 34:12
 -- Whoever this Obadiah was
his message contains valuable lessons
 for us today
 
[Before looking at the book itself
let's consider some...]
 
I. BACKGROUND INFORMATION
 
 A. THE DATE...
 1. Two dates are often proposed: 845 B.C. and 586 B.C.
 2. The prophet refers to an attack on Jerusalem; commentators 
 offer these two possibilities:
 a. The days of Jehoram (848-844 B.C.)
when Philistines and 
 Arabians attacked the city - 2 Chr 21:8-10
16-17
 b. The destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians (586 B.C.)
 3. The internal evidence appears to support the early date of
 845 B.C. (Keil
Hailey)
 a. The language of Obadiah is much different from Jeremiah
 b. There is no mention of the destruction of the temple
the
 deportation to Babylon
the remnant who went to Egypt
 -- I accept the early date
that it was around 845 B.C.
 
 B. THE MESSAGE...
 1. The fall of Edom
 a. Because of its pride
 b. And its cruelty against Israel
their cousins
 2. The exaltation of Zion
 a. When Seir
the Edomite counterpart of Zion
will be cast 
 down
 b. The rescued of Israel will be in Zion
for in it the 
 redeemed shall be found
 -- For this reason I have subtitled this lesson as "The Judgment
 Of Edom"
 
 C. THE HISTORY OF EDOM...
 1. The people of Edom descended from Esau
Jacob's twin brother
 2. There was sibling rivalry between Edom and Israel
found first
  in Esau and Jacob
 a. The twins struggled in their mother's womb - Gen 25:22-26
 b. Esau sold his birthright to Jacob - Gen 25:27-34
 c. Jacob stole Esau's blessing as the firstborn - Gen 27
 3. While Jacob and Esau eventually reconciled (Gen 32-33)
their
 descendants were often at odds with one another
 a. In the Exodus
Edom refused Israel passage through their
 land - Num 20:14-21
 b. Edom was finally subjected by David - 2 Sam 8:13-14
 c. During the reign of Jehoram
Edom revolted - 2 Kin 8:20-22
 4. Located south of the Dead Sea
they built their cities in the
 cliffs and thought themselves impregnable
 5. After the prophecy of Obadiah...
 a. The Edomites were overcome by the Nabataeans
forced to 
 settle south of Judah
 b. Around 100 B.C.
they were conquered by John Hyrcanus of
 the Maccabees
 1) Who forced many of them to be circumcised and accept the
  Law
 2) As such
many became nominal Jewish proselytes (Herod
 the Great was one)
 c. By 100 A.D.
Edom as a race and nation had become lost to
 history
 
[With this background
let's now read through the prophecy of Obadiah

with the aid of the following...]
 
II. OUTLINE OF THE BOOK
 
 A. THE COMING JUDGMENT ON EDOM (1-9)
 1. The decree has gone forth to the nations (1)
 2. Deceived by pride in her location
Edom will be brought down 
  (2-4)
 3. Destruction will be complete (5-6)
 4. Edom will be betrayed by allies (7)
 5. Not even wisdom and might can save them (8-9)
 
 B. THE REASON FOR JUDGMENT ON EDOM (10-16)
 1. For violence and unbrotherly conduct toward Jacob (10-11)
 2. A rebuke against such conduct (12-14)
 3. Therefore the "Day of the Lord" for them will mean receiving 
 the same sort of treatment! (15-16)
 
 C. THE EXALTATION OF ISRAEL OVER EDOM (17-21)
 1. Deliverance and holiness will be found on Mt. Zion
not Mt. 
 Seir (the prominent mountain in Edom)! (17a)
 2. The house of Jacob shall consume the house of Esau (17b-18)
 3. The children of Israel will possess Edom and surrounding
 nations (19-20)
  4. The ultimate rule will be that of the Lord's (21)
 
[With this brief perusal of Obadiah's "vision" concerning Edom (1)

here are some thoughts regarding...]
 
III. THE FULFILLMENT OF THE PROPHECY
 
 A. ITS IMMEDIATE FULFILLMENT...
 1. Edom's destruction began with the Babylonian invasion under
 Nebuchadnezzar (ca. 600 B.C.)
 2. It continued into the fourth century B.C. with the invasion of
 the Arabs known as the Nabataeans
forcing them to a region 
 south of Judah
  3. In the second century B.C.
the Maccabees brought them under
 subjection when Judas Maccabeus slew twenty thousand of them
 4. John Hyrcanus (134-104 B.C.) forced the remnant to accept
 circumcision and the Law
 
 B. ITS ULTIMATE FULFILLMENT...
 1. May likely have been with the coming of the Messiah (Jesus 
 Christ)!
 2. For with His coming
and the establishment of the spiritual
 kingdom beginning in Jerusalem...
 a. Deliverance and holiness did come from Mt. Zion (i.e. 
 Jerusalem)! - Lk 24:47
 b. The kingdom (rule) is the Lord's! - cf. Lk 1:31-34; Mt 28:
 18; 1 Pe 3:22; Re 1:5
 c. The house of Jacob (i.e.
the true spiritual Israel) did 
 possess Edom as the Gentiles among them became Christians!
 - cf. Ro 11:13-18 (where faithful Gentiles are spoken as 
 being grafted into the stock of Israel)
 3. As support for this interpretation
consider:
 a. The prophecy of Balaam - Num 24:15-19
 1) Which foretells how "A Star shall come out of Jacob
A
 Scepter shall rise out of Israel" (the Messiah?)
 2) And how Edom will be come a possession
 b. The prophecy of Amos - Amo 9:11-12
 c. The application by James at the council in Jerusalem - Ac
 15:13-17
 1) Who understood the conversion of the Gentiles to be a
 fulfillment of Amos
 2) Therefore the fulfillment is figurative
not literal
as
 Gentiles become Christians
 
[Finally
a few thoughts about some...]
 
IV. LESSONS FROM THE BOOK OF OBADIAH
 
 A. "PRIDE GOES BEFORE DESTRUCTION..." - Pro 16:18
 1. Pride leads to vanity and a sense of independence from God
 2. Just as Edom took pride in their geographical location

 allies
wisdom and might
 3. Such arrogance God will punish - cf. Isa 13:9-11
 -- Are we on guard against such pride?
 
 B. DO NOT MISTREAT YOUR BRETHREN...
 1. This was Edom's guilt also (10)
 2. How we treat our brethren affects our relationship with the 
 Lord - cf. 1 Co 8:12
 -- Are we careful about our dealings with our brethren?
 
 C. "DO NOT REJOICE WHEN YOUR ENEMY FALLS..." - Pro 24:17-18
  1. This Edom did when Judah was plundered (12)
 2. This sort of gloating is displeasing to God!
 -- Do we rejoice when our enemy falls?
 
 D. IN TIME OF DIVINE JUDGMENT
GOD PROVIDES A MEANS AND PLACE OF
 ESCAPE FOR THOSE WHO TURN TO HIM...
 1. Note again verse 17
where Mount Zion would become a place of
 deliverance
 2. Today
spiritual Mount Zion is a place to which we can turn 
 - cf. He 12:22-24
 3. It is a place where we can find:
 a. "the city of the living God"
 b. "the heavenly Jerusalem"
 c. "an innumerable company of angels"
 d. "the firstborn registered in heaven"
 e. "God the Judge of all"
 f. "the spirits of just men made perfect"
 g. "Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant"
 h. "the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than 
 that of Abel"
 -- Of course
this is what we come to as we obey the gospel of
 Christ!
 
CONCLUSION
 
1. With this brief look at "The Book Of Obadiah"
we have seen that...
 a. The prophets were not limited in their prophecies to just the
 nation of Israel
 b. God held the heathen nations accountable for their actions
 c. While it was written primarily to comfort the Israelites in 
 Obadiah's day
there are lessons to be gleaned for us as well
 d. The message of hope may have had its ultimate fulfillment in what
 we can enjoy ourselves today
in the person and work of Jesus!
 
2. In verse 15
we find the expression "the day of the Lord"...
 a. An expression often used by the prophets referring to God's 
 judgment upon the nations
 b. The particular "day of the Lord" of which Obadiah wrote was 
 "near"
and was fulfilled with the destruction of Edom
 c. But there is another "day of the Lord" yet to come...!
 1) Of which God's judgments upon the nations were only a shadow

 a type
 2) Peter writes of that day
in which the whole world will be 
 judged - 2 Pe 3:7-13
 
Are we ready for that "day of the Lord"? Or do we in our arrogance
take pride in our wisdom
might
or position in life? If so
"the 
pride of your heart has deceived you" (3). How much better to humbly
recognize that...
 
 "...on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance
and there shall be
 holiness;" (Oba 1:17)
 
Have you come to Mount Zion
and to Jesus the Mediator of the New 
Covenant?

－－《Executable Outlines》

01 Chapter 1

Verses 1-21

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Verse 1

Obadiah 1:1

The vision of Obadiah.

The Divine purpose in relation to humanity

A voice thundering at midnight is the voice of Obadiah. It was the voice of a stranger. His age his country his parents his cradle his grave are all unknown. Yet his was a prophet’s voice --deep as the boom of thunder and penetrating as the lightning it fell upon the fortressed host of Idumea and destruction was in every shivering note. He had been standing on some high pinnacle on which he hoard a “rumour from the Lord ” and with the fidelity of incorruptible righteousness he breathed that fiery rumour across the doomed nation --the sword was bared against Edom and whoso sought to turn it aside was cleft by the gleaming blade. The prophecy is short but terrible in its fulness. It is a single shout but the cry rends the rocks of Edom. The Edomites were famed for sagacity prudence and general mental skill but God here comes forth (Obadiah 1:8) as the monarch of mind and says He will destroy their wisdom and understanding. The high priests of wisdom come together to take counsel against the Lord and the Lord blows upon their brain and their counsels are confounded; the Lord touches their tongue and they babble the jargon of insanity. Looking at this vision as affording a glimpse of Divine purpose in relation to humanity we may take our stand on two distinct facts.

1. Divine superintendence of human history. He is a shallow historian who records only the undulations of the social political and ecclesiastical surface. As a student of the universe I wish to know not only the stupendous palpable existences--the sun moon stars seas mountains --but I wish to know their birth-forces. He who takes me to the earliest germ of national life is to me the true historian; but he who finds that earliest germ in anything short of Divine volition is unfit to guide me through the black ravines or the temple corridors or the mountain grandeurs of the world’s entrancing story. In all Bible history we find God upon the circle.

2. Divine sanctification of human history. This vision of Obadiah is summed up in words which might well form the concluding sentence of the history of the whole world. These words are: “And the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.” As we look at this as the ultimate object of Divine government we see that a great sanctifying process is in reality continually operating in human history. God is working in the midst of her moral gloom and He will work until the last shadow has for ever departed. We see but a scattered and struggling light; we hear but a voice here and there; we wonder how the heavens can become flooded with splendour and how the air can be filled with one glad and undying song; and we should despair could we not lay our trembling hand upon the recorded oath of Omnipotence and see in the van the “dyed garments ” and hear at midnight the war-shout of Immanuel. This leads us to the inspiring truth that all our hopes are founded in Jesus and all our energies sustained by the mighty power of the Holy Spirit. (Joseph Parker D. D.)

The tragedy of Edom

In later times Edom came to he the supreme antipathy and the typical enemy of Jewry. So when the actual Edomites ceased to be the name was transferred first to tyrant Rome and then to persecuting Christendom and the impassioned words of Obadiah became a favourite vehicle for the expression of the national and religious hatred. That is a misunderstanding and a misuse of the book. The prophecy is indeed instigated by indignation against Edom and the retributive destruction of that people is its theme. But the subject is worked out in a large fashion that precludes the suspicion of petty vengefulness and justifies the book’s place in the record of revelation. The motive is not the gratification of national spite nor is the aim to either warn or edify the Edomites. The seer speaks out of the need of his own heart and to the hearts of the people. What creates his vision and compels his utterance is an indestructible sense of the eternal justice and fidelity and of the Divine destiny of Israel in building up the kingdom of God on earth. The tragedy of Edom is but a part in the great drama. It is therefore presented on a vast stage and has the world’s history for its background. Very real and concrete to the prophet no doubt are the antagonisms of Israel and his enemies but none the less really and consciously even if in a fashion grand beyond his conceptions it is the collision of universal forces and everlasting principles that is embodied in them. Limited and material the presentment of those issues may be but they carry in their bosom the consummation of the ages. Within the rivalry of Edom and Israel there was wrapped the eternal anithesis of truth and falsehood good and evil; and the vision of an earthly kingdom on Mount Zion is finding its fulfilment in the silent slow but sure advent of the kingdom of God and of our Christ. (W. S. Elmslie D. D.)

God and bad men

I. That God makes a revelation concerning bad men. Here is a revelation concerning Edom the enemy of God and His people. Isaac had two sons by Rebecca Esau and Jacob; Esau was called Edom because he robbed his brother of his birthright (Genesis 25:1-34.).

1. The forms of the revelation.

2. The character of this revelation a message. “An ambassador is sent among the heathen.” God sends His messages to the nations in many ways and by many agents.

3. The subject of the revelation. “Arise ye and let us rise up against her in battle.” The object of the message was to stir up the Assyrians and afterwards the Chaldeans against Edom. But our proposition is that God makes a revelation concerning bad men; and the subject of that revelation embraces at least two things.

II. That God punishes bad men by bad men. He now sent a messenger amongst the nations --what for? To stir up the Assyrians and Chaldeans--both bad people--to wreak vengeance on corrupt Edom. Why does He employ bad men for this awful work of retribution?

1. He reveals in the most powerful way to the victim the enormity of his sin.

2. He reveals His own absolute power over the workings of the human heart. Thus “He maketh the wrath of men to praise Him ” etc. (Homilist.)

Call to the battle against Edom

The stream of prophecy may be compared to the stream of a river. At its fountain it is inconsiderable and reveals none of its future greatness. There is nothing in Scripture more clearly revealed than the ultimate triumph of the religion we profess.

1. What persons were originally represented by “Edom ” and the cause of the Lord’s enmity against this people. The Edomites were the descendants of Esau who sold his birthright for a momentary gratification. The Edomites seem to have assisted the Chaldeans in their work of devastating Jerusalem and to have instigated their utmost fury against Israel the chosen of God.

2. What is to be understood by “the heathen”--showing that we are called upon to rise up against Edom and that we have nationally responded to that call.

3. To adduce some reasons that we should continue to propagate the Gospel notwithstanding the objections which are urged against that duty.

4. Make the inquiry of each individual-To which of the two parties will you join yourself? Shall it be Edom or Israel? Shall it be Baal or Christ? (G. G. Tomlinson.)

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Verses 3-5

Obadiah 1:3-5

The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee.

Pride

I. That the most despicable people are often the most disposed to pride. Edom is described as “greatly despised.” Small and disdainable as they were they were nevertheless proud. Men of great intellect and lofty genius are characteristically humble. An old writer has observed that “where the river is the deepest the water glides the smoothest. Empty casks sound most; whereas well-fraught vessel silences its own sound. As the shadow of the sun is largest when its beams are lowest; so we are always least when we make ourselves the greatest.”

II. That pride evermore disposes to self-deception and presumption.

1. To self-deception. “The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee.” Pride is a wonderful artist: it magnifies the small it beautifies the ugly it honours the ignoble it makes the truly little ugly contemptible man appear large handsome dignified in his own eyes.

2. To presumption. “Thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart Who shall bring me down to the ground?” The Edomites are here taunted with the confidence that they placed in their lofty and precipitous mountain and the insolence with which they scouted any attempt to subdue them. A proud man always presumes on strength reputation and resources which he has not. Ah! self-deception and presumption are the twin offspring of pride.

III. That the most strenuous efforts to avoid punishment due to pride will prove futile. Two things are taught here concerning its punishment--

1. Its certainty. “Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle ” etc. If like the eagle they towered high up into the air far up among the clouds nestled among the stars and made the clouds their footstool the fowler of retribution would bring them down. All attempts on behalf of the impenitent sinner to avoid punishment must fail when the day for justice to do its work has come.

2. Its completeness. “If thieves came to thee if robbers by night (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grape-gatherers came to thee would they not leave some grapes? “The spoliation which thou shalt suffer shall not be such as that which thieves cause bad as that is; for these when they have seized enough or all they can get in a hurry leave the rest; but it shall be utter so as to leave thee nothing. Beware then of pride. (Homilist.)

Pride of heart

The prophet having predicted in the former verses that God would accomplish the destruction of Edom by hostile nations now intimates that their natural situation of strength shall afford them no protection. God is never at a loss for troops whereby to subdue those whose dwelling is in the high rocks.

I. Pride of heart is deceptive. The inhabitants of Edom imagined that they were perfectly secure in their elevated habitation of rocks. In this they were deceived.

1. Pride of heart deceives men in the commercial sphere of life. There are godless merchants in the world who are deceived by the pride of their heart.

2. Pride of heart deceives men in reference to their intellectual thinkings.

3. In reference to their moral safety. Their rocky places are no refuge against the retributive providence of God.

II. Pride of heart is presumptuous.

1. It presumes unduly upon the natural temporal and secondary advantages it may possess.

2. It presumes ignorantly without taking into view the access which God has to men notwithstanding their temporal fortifications.

3. It presumes unwarrantably upon the inability of men to achieve its ruin.

III. Pride of heart is destructive. “I will bring thee down ” saith the Lord. Man may make lawful things the subject of unlawful boasting.

1. Such men are often brought to humiliation by commercial failure.

2. By social slander.

3. By death. Their destruction is certain lamentable humiliating unexpected irreparable. (The Pulpit.)

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Verses 6-9

Obadiah 1:6-9

How are the things of Esau searched out!

Hidden things searched out

All that any test or trial can do is to show what was in us already.
In many places of the East there is the horrible disease called leprosy. When a man is feeling ill they have a curious way of discovering whether he has leprosy or not. They light a candle and put salt on the wick and the face of every one who has not leprosy is white or pale but if leprosy is in any one’s blood crimson spots appear on his face. The same thing can be done by the camera; a photograph will reveal the spots when the natural eye cannot see them. You sometimes do what a moment before you never thought you possibly could have done and mother says she could not have believed it of you; yet it has been done. How’s that? Simply because it was in your heart before and only wanted the opportunity to come out. (J. Reid Howatt.)

God in retribution

Man’s sin is that he puts his confidence on objects unworthy and unsafe. The Edomites trusted to the insecure.

I. Did they trust to their material defences? These are worthless. The cities of Edom consisted of houses mostly cut in the rocks Nations may trust to their material defences their armies navies fortifications; but they are as stubble to the raging fire when justice begins its work. Individuals may trust to their wealth to material science and medical skill to preserve their bodily lives; but when justice sends forth its emissary--death what are these defences? Nothing; less than nothing vanity.

II. Did they trust to their pledged confederates: these were worthless “All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the borders.” etc. Those confederates were probably Moab Ammon Tyre and Sidon with whom the Edomites joined in resisting Nebuchadnezzar; but these failed them probably turned against them: and even their friends who were at peace with them and ate their bread deceived them in their hour of trial. “To no quarter could the Idumeans look for aid. Their allies their neighbours their very dependants so far from assisting them would act treacherously towards them and employ every means both of an open and covert nature to effect their ruin.” How often it happens that when men get into adverse circumstances their old allies professed friends those who have often partaken of their hospitality not only fail them but turn against them. “Cursed is the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm.”

III. Did they trust to the wisdom of their great men; this was worthless. “Shall I not in that day saith the Lord even destroy the wise men out of Edom and understanding out of the mount of Esau?” “The Idumeans confided not only in the natural strength of their country but in the superiority of their intellectual talent. That they excelled in the arts and sciences is abundantly proved by the numerous traces of them in the Book of Job which wins undoubtedly written in their country. They were indeed proverbial for their philosophy for the cultivation of which their intercourse with Babylon and Egypt was exceedingly favourable as were likewise their means of acquiring information from the numerous caravans whose route lay through their country thus forming a chain of communication between Europe and India.”--Henderson. Yet what is the wisdom of man to trust in”? “He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.”

IV. Did they trust to the power of their mighty men: this was worthless. “And thy mighty men O Teman shall be dismayed to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.” Delitzsch renders this “And thy heroes despair O Teman.” Teman was the proper name of the southern portion of Idumea called so after Tema a grandson of Esau. Men trust in their heroes. A false confidence this also! God by a breath of pestilence can wither all the armies of Europe in an instant. Men who trust in anything short of God are like the man who in a thunderstorm takes shelter under a tree whose tall branches attract the lightning which scorches him to ashes. (Homilist.)

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Verse 8

Obadiah 1:8

Shall I not in that day . . . even destroy the wise men out of Edom.

Pride in our wisdom

But we are warned by these words that if we excel in understanding we are not to abuse this singular gift of God as we see the case to be with the ungodly who turn to cunning whatever wisdom the Lord has bestowed on them. There is hardly one in a hundred to be found who does not seek to be crafty and deceitful if he excels in understanding. This is a very wretched thing. What a great treasure is wisdom! Yet we see that the world perverts this excellent gift of God; the more reason there is for us to labour that our wisdom should be found in true simplicity. This is one thing. Then we must also beware of trusting in our own understanding and of despising our enemies and of thinking that we can ward off any evil that may impend over us; but let us ever seek from the Lord that we may be favoured at all times with the spirit of wisdom that it may guide us to the end of life: for He can at any moment take from us whatever He has given us and thus expose us to shame and reproach. (John Calvin.)

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Verses 10-14

Obadiah 1:10-14

For thy violence against thy brother Jacob.

An old sin

In two aspects.

I. Working in the history of posterity. “For thy violence against thy brother Jacob.” The spirit of envy that was kindled in the heart of Esau towards his brother Jacob glowed and flamed with more or less intensity for ages in the soul of Edom towards the descendants of Jacob. It was shown in the unbrotherly refusal of the request of Moses to allow the children of Israel to pass through the land (Numbers 20:14-21). Edom continued to be the inveterate foe of Israel. Neither a man’s sinful passion nor deed stops with himself. Like a spring from the mountain it runs down posterity often gathering volume as it proceeds. No sinner liveth to himself. One man’s sins may vibrate in the soul of another a thousand ages on. This fact should--

1. Impress us with the awfulness of our existence. It is true that in one sense we are little beings occupying but a small space in the universe and soon pass away and are forgotten; still there goes forth from us an influence that shall never end. We throw seed into the mind of the world that will germinate grow and multiply indefinitely and yield harvests of misery or joy. This fact should--

2. Impress us with the duty of every lover of the universe to protest against sin in individuals. A man may say What does it matter to you that I sin? My reply is It does matter to me as a benevolent citizen of the universe. Its pernicious influence on the universe is inconceivably great and calamitous.

II. Here is an old sin reprobated by God in the history of posterity. God’s eye traced it from Esau down. How does He treat it? He reprobates it. Delitzsch renders the words “Look not at the day of thy brother ” and regards verses 12 to 14 as a prohibition; but we see not the authority for that. These Edomites it would seem from the words did stand on the other side without rendering help in the day when the stranger entered Jerusalem; they did “rejoice” over the children of Judah at that period; they did “speak proudly” in the day of distress; they did “enter into the gate” of God’s people in the “day of calamity”; they did lay “hands on their substance” on that day; they did stand on the “crossway” and “cut” those off “that did escape.” The Omniscient eye saw all this. The Jews appeal to Him for an account of the cruelty of these Edomites. “Remember O Lord the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said Raze it raze it even to the foundation thereof” (Psalms 137:7). For all this God says shame should come on them and shame did come. It may be asked if it were the envy of Esau that thus came down from age to age in his posterity and worked these deeds of crime where is the justice of God in reprobating them? They only inherit the iniquities of their fathers. We answer--

Social cruelty

I. As a sin against the Creator. The truth of this will appear from--

1. The constitution of the human soul.

2. The common relation of all to God. He is the Father of all men.

3. The common interest of Christ in the race.

4. The universal teaching of the Bible. The man who injures his fellow-creature is a rebel against the government of the universe.

II. As perpetuated against a brother (Obadiah 1:10-11). Why specially offensive?

1. Because the obligation to love is stronger.

2. Because the chief human institution is outraged.

3. Because the tenderest human loves are wounded.

III. As working in various forms from generation to generation.

1. Some forms are--

2. Omniscience observes it in all its forms. God’s eye was on the Edomites. Sin in all its operations is evermore under the eye of Omniscience. If we realise it it will--

3. A just and terrible retribution awaits it in all its forms. Retribution is a settled law in the material universe. (Homilist.)

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Verses 12-15

Obadiah 1:12-15

But thou shouldst not have looked on the day of thy brother.

The doom of Edom

The commentary on this prophecy is supplied by every traveller who has explored the recesses of the mountain of Esau. Every people that has the privileges of Edom and like Edom abuses them is without right to expect a more favourable issue from the hand of God. The general sentiment implied in this prophecy is that a nation in prosperity abusing its advantages to the injury of less fortunate peoples or even neglecting them in their distress incurs by its conduct the displeasure of God. Apply the subject--

1. To the religious character and improvement of England. It is not easy to form an adequate conception of the diffusive and pervading influence of British power. That extraordinary influence is steadily continually increasing; England is rising to be the great leader of public opinion among the nations. On all great political commercial moral social and religious questions the world is now looking to Britain. Then we plead with you on behalf of your country. You are the light of your country and by making it luminous you become in it the light of the world.

2. To the conduct of England towards such people as have a peculiar claim upon its regard. The Edomites ought to have assisted and not oppressed the Jews. To us the sister island is surely as intimately related as Israel could have been to Edom. As to the colonies little need be said. As England sows so shall it reap. (R. Halley M. A.)

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Verses 17-20

Obadiah 1:17-20

But upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance and there shall be holiness.

Holiness on Mount Zion

The imagery of Scripture poetry often presents instructive truths referring to more general subjects than those on which the sacred writer might at the particular time be called to dwell.

I. Regard the text as respects Mount Zion. A grand Scripture type. Not only there God was worshipped but there God Himself as the object of worship dwelt. Conceive of God accepting Christ’s atonement --Christ standing as Mediatorial King on the holy hill --the redeemed from earth actually worshipping there--and in spirit all true worshippers coming to God by Christ. You have thus that state of things of which Mount Zion with its temples its glory its services its worshippers was a type.

II. What shall be there?

1. The text says “deliverance”; marg. reads “They that escape.” Two aspects of the same subject. Where do they come that flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before them? To Christ on this Mount Zion. They escape for their lives --come to Him and He casts them not out. They have “deliverance” therefore. Pardon spiritual freedom and blessedness.

2. Then “there shall be holiness.” An undoubted truth the penitent sinner coming to God in truth by faith for pardon is made holy becomes a new creature. Justification and sanctification thus connected; the favour and the image of God. Real holiness;--holiness of life as well as of heart;--growing holiness. Nor is it anywhere else. They who will not come to Christ may sometimes have human virtue; they cannot have Divine holiness. Look at this mount. Oh the blessedness of dwelling there. Well fortified well supplied. God is there. You live in peace. He is preparing you for the higher blessings. There is the heavenly Zion. Only they pass to it who on earth dwelt on the spiritual Zion. (G. Cubitt.)

The Church delivered purified and privileged

I. The deliverance of the Church of God. Mount Zion signifies the Church the entire mass of those who are given to the Lord Jesus Christ and whom He has ransomed by His blood. It is remarkable that what is exhibited as the liberation of the Church is always conjoined with the destruction of some opposing power. The fact is that the destruction of the opposing power is the means used for the liberating of the Church. Conquest in the world is triumph in the Church. Consolation is combined with liberation. Deliverance is the first and principal object which presented itself to the mind of the Lord Jesus. His death was a necessary step to His resurrection His resurrection to His exaltation His exaltation to the assumption of His mediatorial power. We see that Jesus Christ first fought and conquered and then He became the liberator of the world. In the world He works liberation by instrumentality and the great agency employed in carrying it on is the Holy Spirit. Liberation begins with Christ but it does not end with Him; for as He Himself obtained resurrection by the power of God so there is another resurrection which takes place in the breast of every man who is the subject of His kingdom.

II. The grand effect which the text sets forth. “There shall be holiness.” The mount of deliverance is always the mount of holiness. Another name for holiness is spiritual health. Bring the whole to this one point that the test of state is character; that wherever this holiness is met with there the deliverance that has been effected on Mount Zion by the Lord Jesus is applied and there the liberation that the Spirit of God works in the souls of His people is likewise brought to pass.

III. The privileges to which this effect leads and for which it prepares. “Shall possess their possessions.” Canaan for the earlier saints. For us “the inheritance of the saints.” (John Campbell.)

Mount Zion and its blessings

The coming of the Lord in glorious majesty to judge the earth is the burden of the Church’s message to-day. Throughout the writings of the prophets the choicest and most consoling promises concerning the Christian Church follow close upon God’s terrible threatenings against His enemies. The main scope of Obadiah’s prophecy was to warn the Edomites of the destruction which awaited them. The true Mount Zion is the Christian Church typified by Mount Zion in Jerusalem. The prophet in the text points us to Mount Zion as the place where we may look for deliverance. From what? From a mere local religion with its centre at Jerusalem. The Kingdom of God’s dear Son is for the whole world. From the blackness and condemnation of Sinai and the violated law. With this “deliverance” will be seen its never-failing attendant--“holiness.” It was the great design of our Divine Redeemer to produce the fruits of holiness in His Church. The kingdom of God is not only the manifestation and free offer of Christ’s pardon to penitent sinners but it is holiness of heart and life. When the tree is made good the fruit will be good also. (John N. Norton.)

The true Church or the community o/ the good

I. A beneficient power.

1. It is connected with deliverance.

2. With purity.

3. With enjoyment. Possess here means enjoy their possessions.

II. A consuming power. There is a fire in the true Church (Obadiah 1:18).

1. The characteristics this fire displays. What is the fire? The fire of truth that burns up error; the fire of right that burns up wickedness; the fire of love that burns up selfishness. It is a strong fire; an extending fire; a steady fire; an unquenchable fire.

2. The materials this fire consumes. “Stubble.” What is moral depravity in all its forms theoretical and practical religious social and political? “Stubble.” Error to truth wrong to right malice to love is but stubble to fire.

III. An aggressive power. The Gospel is at once the inspiration the life and the instrument of the true Church.

1. The elements of which the Gospel is composed. “Grace and truth ” or eternal reality and Divine benevolence. To show the aggressiveness of these principles state three facts.

2. The proselytising spirit which the Gospel engenders. Every genuine recipient of the Gospel becomes a missionary.

3. The triumphs which the Gospel has already achieved. Such thoughts as these tend to demonstrate the essential aggressiveness of the true Church. (Homilist.)

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Verse 21

Obadiah 1:21

And saviours shall come up on Mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.

Christ as a Conqueror

This is a vision concerning Edom or the Mount of Esau or Idumea which are different names of one and the same country the mountainous region to the south of Judaea. It is a prophecy of ruin to the Edomites for their treatment of their kindred nation the Jews at the time of their trouble. When the remnant of the Jews were carried into Babylon the Edomites behaved ill to their subjugated and suffering kindred. They “stood on the other side” (Obadiah 1:11-14). Edom came to ruin; but Israel though sorely chastised and brought low was never to be crushed. The text shows how the difference is to be effected and its issue. Esau should have none to help him but shame should cover him and he should be cut off for ever. But saviours should come up on Mount Zion and that for judgment against Esau and the Lord’s inheritance should be preserved and the kingdom should be His. Possibly two or more than two events have been purposely mixed up together in the prophet’s vision.

1. Understand by the “Saviours ” the great Saviour. The Maccabean princes were saviours but the Saviour Simeon and Anna hailed is the great Saviour.

2. The purpose for which He came to Mount Zion. For judgment.

3. Look at the predicted end. The kingdom shall be the Lord’s. That is promised and certain.

The God of our salvation and His instruments

The vision presented to Obadiah is shadowed all over with calamities of various kinds; but still we see God all the way through justifying Himself in the eyes of the heathen lest they should say that the punishment He threatened was more than equal to the offence. There is a tenderness of spirit in what He says to the opposers of Israel in the twelfth verse which while it does not and cannot alter His purpose gives us a delightful view of His heart.

I. Who and what are they whom the prophet calls saviours? The redeeming Saviour of man stands apart from all common saviours because He is exclusively the redeeming Saviour of the Body the Church. We cannot confound Him with deliverers of any secondary kind. He is separate from all others in this that though He is without sin He is in friendship with sinners; though He knows not what it is to commit sin He does know what it is to take the burthen of sin upon His pure and righteous person. The saviours in the text are the messengers of God to the blessed children of Mount Zion to those whom He has begotten in Christ Jesus; and they stand here in strong contrast with the enemies of all holiness who are described as Mount Esau or the carnally minded children of this world. These helpers of our feebleness are only instrumental; God appoints them and employs them; but they are to Him what the axe is to the woodman they would be powerless but for the power of the hand that holds them. What a mercy that God sends these saviours among us to publish His will and to stir us up to our duty! Divine providences are often saviours. The Gospel Word is a Saviour inasmuch as it guides us immediately to Him who is the great mystery of godliness and in whom alone is the life which makes a man alive unto God. The preaching of the Word is one of the saviours that is sent upon an embassy of peace to Mount Zion.

II. In what manner are these saviours to judge Mount Esau? Literally the land of Edom. Typically the world which in its scriptural interpretation is “enmity against God.” These saviours will sit in judgment upon the careless the prayerless and the ungodly

1. Every chastening providence of God that has passed away from a sinner unimproved shall be a sentence of condemnation against him. Not to improve a dispensation is to undervalue it.

2. God’s Word also enters into judgment with the unbelieving. The Word preached but not laid profitably to heart. The Gospel Word has much to testify concerning many sinners in every congregation who are satisfied with having the olive-leaf in their mouths whilst there is no savour of fruit in their lives.

3. The ambassador of Christ has also something to testify in this judgment. He is likewise appointed to assist in judging Mount Esau. Can a condemning judgment possibly accord with the good news that we are commissioned to preach? Yes for it is not the good news simply in itself but the good news not believed in not rejoiced in that makes the judgment.

III. What description of kingdom did the prophet intend? He says The kingdom shall be the Lord s; He meant to say this that however Mount Zion shall be blessed or Mount Esau cursed the new throne which will be set up from this overthrow of the wicked and this gathering together of the righteous shall be Christ’s. It is called a kingdom of righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Of righteousness because every subject of it is righteous; of peace because God is at peace with all who rest in it; of joy in the Holy Ghost because in the Church triumphant there shall be no delight equal to that of calling the glorious God our Father and the Son of God our Redeemer. One remarkable feature in this kingdom is that they who are worthiest in the world’s judgment are not selected to fill it but they who feel themselves to be the unworthiest. This kingdom is also an invisible treasure within the heart of every child of God’s adoption. Inquire concerning two things.

1. Whether the incorruptible seed is within you.

2. Whether you are checking its growth by doing every thing you can to sweeten your journey to the grave and as little as you can to adorn your self for the happy home that lies beyond it. Each of us should connect the kingdom of God with the spirituality and heavenly character of our own souls. (F. G. Crossman.)

The kingdom shall be the Lord’s

But we are Christians as well as Britons. We acknowledge Victoria as Queen; but we acknowledge Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We acknowledge Him as King not of Britain alone but of all the earth. We acknowledge allegiance to Him in a far deeper sense than to Victoria. Great as are her claims upon us His are infinitely greater. Our Christian patriotism then will be proportionately greater. We shall be still more eager about news of His kingdom from foreign lands than we ever have been of news from Pekin or Port Arthur. If we willingly give up millions for the maintenance of the fleet we shall gladly give up tens of millions for the extension of that kingdom which is the Lord’s. The great trouble is that it needs faith to realise the greatness of the kingdom and the certainty of its prospects. The whole realm of the spiritual and eternal is to many of us so shadowy and unreal. The glorious things which are spoken of Zion are difficult to credit. There is a wide door and effectual before us in these days of ours; but there are so many adversaries that faith fails and hope is dim and enthusiasm languishes and dies. But surely surely faith ought to be much easier for us than it was for Obadiah in his dreary hopeless exile. He had no tens of thousands to share his hope and expectation; no thrilling tidings from the seat of war say rather from the seat of desolation; yet see with what confidence he looks forward to the coming time and with what assurance he declares that “saviours shall come up on Mount Zion to judge the Mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.” May his faith inspire ours; may his patriotism awaken ours. (J. Monte Gibson.)

The kingdom of God

What is the kingdom of the sun? It is here on earth and is in everything that lives and moves. It sings in the bird and waits in the egg not yet hatched out; it is in the fragrant blossom and in the bud unopened; it is in the blades of grass upspringing and in the germinant seeds just breaking through their shell in the darkness of the earth. Thus this kingdom of God that is to be is already here. This is the second truth that Jesus Christ taught about the kingdom--it is not something postponed; it has already begun. Here as the day is here when the sun begins to rise; here as the summer is here when spring begins to come; here as manhood is here when the babe lies in the cradle for then the man begins when he is born. The kingdom of God begins when it is first upon the earth and it is first on the earth when the spirit of righteousness and justice and love and peace is in the hearts of men and is working its way into the institutions of men. So Christ said to men “Do not say Lo here lo there: the kingdom of God is among you.” Look for it all about you; look for it in the mother’s love in the hero’s sacrifice in the patriot’s devotion; look for it in the honest labourer the faithful servant the loyal friend. It is here; it is now. (Lyman Abbott D. D.)

──《The Biblical Illustrator》