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

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, or in the day of battle when Jews fought with Chaldeans. That thou stoodest on the other side; tookest up thy stand over-right them, observing with delight how they were worsted, slaughtered. and routed; or didst set thyself in battle-array against thy brother Jacob. The strangers; the Babylonians. and the mixed nations which joined with them. Carried away captive; first mastered the Jews, and then made them captives. and sent them away out of their own land, a sight which should have moved compassions in thee. His forces; his strength, his troops, or multitudes that survived and were taken, and their wealth and riches too. Foreigners entered into his gates; that invaded, slew the inhabitants, and forced the besieged places to open their gates; or took the fortresses by assault. Cast lots; so robbers divided their prey, and conquerors, , which see. Upon Jerusalem; upon the citizens and their goods, which were found in Jerusalem when it was taken by the Chaldeans. Even thou, a neighbour, who wast not molested by Israel when they marched through other nations from Egypt to Canaan, who wast a brother by descent, , wast as one of them, as merciless and insolent as any of those barbarous foreigners.

Obadiah 1:11 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.Ver. 11. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side] Over beside, curiously eyeing and maliciously promoting, by thy virulent tongue and violent hands, the downfal of Israel. Nemo curiosus quin malevolus, saith an ancient. These Edomites fed their eyes with their brethren’ s miseries, as with a pleasant spectacle. At first perhaps they were only onlookers, but afterwards they "stood against them in battle" (when they saw them worsted) and took part with their enemies. See Esther 8:2 Psalms 9:6 Ephesians 6:11. The Samaritans afterwards served them in like sort, as Josephus reporteth; especially when Antiochus tormented the Jews, they wrote to him to excuse themselves as no Jews; and (offering him their service) basely styled him Antiochus, the mighty God. In the day that the strangers carried away captive, &c.] Edom’ s malice is here aggravated by the circumstance of time they took to express it; viz. when God’ s people were at worst, and when their extreme misery should have moved pity. This was a dog-like, devil-like practice, to fall upon those that are down before; "to add affliction to the afflicted," Psalms 69:26; to push the wounded out of the herd, as they say deer do. Of such barbarous and savage usage David often complaineth, and Job, and Jeremiah, and Jesus, Psalms 22:1-31; such shall one day cry out at God’ s bar, as Joseph’ s brethren did, Genesis 42:21, and find no mercy, James 2:21, no more than cruel Haman did, Esther 7:10, it being just with God to set off all hearts from him who had been so unreasonably merciless. This Job well knew, and therefore so studiously purgeth himself of this heinous wickedness, Job 31:29. Ausonius also out of Pittacus Mytilenaeus affirmeth him to be a beast and worse that maketh himself merry in another man’ s misery. The beastliest among brute creatures, even swine, seem to be affected with the outcries of their kind. Men only, more brutish than they, triumph in the calamities of each other, and are not moved with their outcries, albeit as bitter as that of Hezekiah, Isaiah 38:14, "O Lord, I am oppressed, help me." This Solomon calleth oppression of a high nature, Ecclesiastes 4:1; see Psalms 142:4. And foreigners entered into his gates] Having taken the city; then did the Edomites set fire to the temple, 1Esther 4:45.

10-16.—THE DIVINE BY EDOM’S GUILT. This justification takes the form of a warning against a repetition of the crimes which have already called forth the sentence of Divine wrath against Edom. Various acts of hostility and treachery towards Israel are specified by the prophet, in a manner to lead to the feeling that though his tone is prohibitory, he is recalling instances of past malignity on Edom’s part, as types of what might be found in the future. (10) For thy violence . . .—Literally, for injury of thy brother Jacob, &c.; the genitive of the object, as in Joe 3:19. The crime was the more heinous because against the brother tribe. Probably the birth-name, Jacob, of the twin brother of Esau is used purposely to bring out the full wickedness of the descendants of Esau. In spite of all provocations, Israel long maintained the duty of a friendly feeling for the kindred race—maintained it as a religious duty (Deuteronomy 2:5; Deuteronomy 23:7). On the other hand, Edom from the first assumed a jealous and hostile attitude (Numbers 20:14, seqq.), never imitating the generous disposition of their great ancestor (Genesis 33:4). Shame shall cover thee.—Comp. Micah 7:10; Jeremiah 3:25. (11) In the day . . .—Literally, In the day of thy standing over against, as if to particularise some one occasion; but instead of proceeding to state it, the prophet recalls other events of the same time, and sums up Edom’s offence in the charge, “thou, too, as one of them,” acting the part of an enemy instead of that of a friend, though probably in the base character of a neutral (comp. “My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore,” Psalms 38:11), ready to take the winning side. Forces.—It is difficult to choose between this and the marginal reading, substance. Shâvah is usually “to take prisoner,” but there are many instances of its use in the sense of carrying off booty (1 Chronicles 5:21; 2 Chronicles 21:17, where see marg., and 2 Chronicles 14:14). And chayil, whose root-meaning is strength, while often meaning forces, has eleven times the meaning riches (Isaiah 8:4, &c.), and eight times substance (Job 5:5, &c.). The three clauses in this verse form a climax:—(1) The plunder of the open country; (2) entry into the gates of the cities; (3) casting lots for the spoil in the very capital itself. It is natural to regard this latter event as identical with that in Joe 3:3, the final destruction of Jerusalem and dispersion of its inhabitants into captivity. But for the question of the event intended and its connection with the date of the prophecy, see Excursus. (12) Thou shouldest not . . .—Here, and in Obadiah 1:13-14, correctly as in marg., Do not, &c. Al with the apoc. pres. or fut. must be prohibitory. Calasio’s Concordance supplies 207 instances (see Pusey’s note). But the warning against these particular offences undoubtedly springs from the reminiscence of such conduct in former times. The passage is neither definitely historical nor definitely prophetic.

Verse 11. Thou stoodest on the other side] Thou not only didst not help thy brother when thou mightest, but thou didst assist his foes against him. And cast lots] When the Chaldeans cast lots on the spoils of Jerusalem, thou didst come in for a share of the booty; "thou wast as one of them."

11. In the day that thou stoodest] lit. in the day of thy standing. Nothing can certainly be decided from the language of this and the following verses, as to whether the conduct here ascribed to the Edomites was a thing of the past when Obadiah wrote, or was still future. The phrase “in the day of thy standing” obviously determines nothing as to time; nor does the phrase at the end of this verse, “thou, as one of them,” in itself considered. In Obadiah 1:12 the only grammatical rendering is, “do not look,” instead of “thou shouldest not have looked,” and the same is true of all the similar expressions in Obadiah 1:12-14. In this 11th verse two past tenses do indeed occur: “foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem.” And the use of these might be held to favour what is the most natural and obvious impression conveyed by the whole passage, viz. that the prophet is describing a past event. But inasmuch as his description may relate to a prophetic vision which had been vouchsafed to him, and not to an actual scene which he had witnessed, the time indicated remains uncertain, and the question of date must be decided on other grounds. (See Introd. § II.) on the other side] comp. Psalms 38:11 [Hebrews 12]. “My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore,” where the Hebrew expression is the same. It may however be a charge of direct opposition rather than of culpable neutrality. The same expression occurs in this sense in 2 Samuel 18:13, “Thou thyself wouldest have set thyself against me.” Comp. Daniel 10:13, “withstood me,” lit. “stood over against me,” where the Hebrew phrase is similar. strangers, foreigners] This therefore cannot refer to the defeat of Amaziah by Jehoash. (See Introd. § II.) his forces] If this rendering be adopted it will mean, not so much the army which fled with the king and was overtaken and scattered (2 Kings 25:4-5), as the bulk of the people, who formed the strength of the nation and who were carried captive, leaving only the “poor of the land” behind. (2 Kings 25:11-12; Jeremiah 39:9-10.) In this sense the same Hebrew word is rendered “host” in Obadiah 1:20 below. The rendering of the margin, and of R.V., “carried away his substance,” is supported by Obadiah 1:13, where the word evidently means substance or wealth. cast lots upon Jerusalem] i. e. divided its spoil and captives by lot. Comp. Joe 3:3 [Hebrews 4:3]; Nahum 3:10. thou, as one of them] “thou,” the brother, and that too in dark contrast to Samaria the alien. “In the remains of the population of the Samaritan kingdom it is affecting to see that all sense of ancient rivalry was lost in the grief of the common calamity. Pilgrims from the ancient capitals of Ephraim, Samaria, Shechem, and Shiloh came flocking with shorn beards, gashed faces, torn clothes, and loud wailings, to offer incense on the ruined Temple, which was not their own.” Stanley. (Jeremiah 41:5).

In the day that thou stoodest on the other side - The time when they so stood, is not defined in itself, as a past or future. It is literally; “In the day of thy standing over against,” i.