Obadiah 1:4

Though thou exaltest [thyself] as the eagle,.... That soars aloft, flies on high, even out of sight, higher than any other bird does: or, "exaltest thy habitation"; and makest it as high as the

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. Though thou exalt thyself - or supply from the second clause, "thy nest" (Maurer).

Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle: Edom boasted of his strength from the height of the rocks he dwelt on, , but here he is answered, if he could build his nest as the eagles, which build and fly much higher than any other bird, neither the height of the nest should save the young ones, nor the height of his flight save the old one. Though thou set thy nest among the stars; nay yet, in a more lofty strain, suppose you could lodge your brood among the stars for safety, and there fly above the reach of man, yet should you not be out of the reach of danger. Thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord; 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. See ,17.

Obadiah 1:4 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.Ver. 4. Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle] Or, as the Arabic text hath it, ad aquilam, hard by the eagle; couldst thou fly as high a pitch as that bird, which is said to soar out of sight, and build thy nest aloft, as he doth, on the highest mountains and tallest trees, that the serpent may not come at his young. And though thou set thy nest among the stars] i.e. Upon such high hills as reach to the upper region of the air. Of Ithaca (Ulysses’ country) the orator saith, that it was in scopulis quasi nidus affixa, set as a nest upon the rocks. And Paulus Aemilius, the Roman general, pulled down the castles at Athens, saying that they were tyrannorum nidi nests of despots; and our Henry VIII commanded the abbeys here to be demolished, saying that those crows’ nests were to be destroyed, ne iterum ad cohabitandum convolent, that they might never breed again among us. Lucifer and his antitype Nebuchadnezzar spake of ascending into heaven, above the heights of the clouds, and of the setting their thrones above the stars of God, Isaiah 14:13-14. See the like language, or bigger, from the prince of Tyre, Ezekiel 28:2, with the issue, much like this that here followeth. Thence will I bring thee down] Down with a vengeance, as he did Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Herod, Edom, Attilas, Gensericus, Bajazet, &c. The Philistines flouted Jonathan and his armourbearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will show you a thing: that is, we will give you your payment before we part with you. They held it impossible to get up that sharp, steep, craggy rock where they kept garrison. But Jonathan clambered over that rock on his hands and feet, and put them to the rout, 1 Samuel 14:13. An exploit of as great, or rather of greater valour, than that of Alexander the Great, for which he is so crowned and chronicled by Plutarch and Curtius. The story is this. Arimazes having garrisoned a very strong rock (held almost inaccessible, and to which there was but one only passage) in the Sogdian country, with thirty thousand men; and being sent unto by Alexander to yield up his stronghold, derided him, and asked whether Alexander could fly? whereunto Alexander returned this answer, I will make thee know ere thou art a night older that the Macedonians can fly. Hereupon he picked out three hundred of the boldest men he had, and by great promises prevailed with them the next night to climb up the back side of the rock to the top of it, which accordingly they did, and killing the guards, took the garrison, letting in Alexander, who nailed Arimazes to a cross. Saith the Lord] Who will surely do it, how improbable or impossible soever you may judge it.

1-9.—THE DIVINE AGAINST EDOM .(1) The vision of Obadiah.—Properly, vision of Obadiah, without the article. There are three recognised headings to prophetical books—word, burden (i.e., oracle), and vision—and all are used without the article, and in a general way, for the contents of the books, without any intention to distinguish between different kinds or modes of prophecy. Thus Nahum combines burden and vision: “Burden of Nineveh. Book of vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.” Amos speaks of the “words which he saw;” Isaiah (Isaiah 13:1) of the “burden which he did see;’ and Obadiah, after the word vision, instantly proceeds, “Thus saith,” &c. The word vision (Heb., chazτn, from the same verb as “seer”), appears, from 1 Samuel 3:1; 1 Samuel 9:9, to have acquired this general sense at a very early time. It is not necessary from the use of the word to suppose that the future was unfolded to Obadiah “in the form of sights spread out before his mind, . . . a succession of pictures which he may have seen” (Pusey). Vision here = revelation, however supplied. The question of authorship is discussed in the Excursus. Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom.—After these words we should expect the words of the message, not the statement that a message had come. Among the attempts at explanation, the two most plausible are: (1) The two-fold heading is due to a later hand than Obadiah, who only prefixed the first part, “vision,” &c., to his work; (2) These words are merely a mode of stating generally that the seer of the vision was divinely inspired. The view taken of the authorship and composition must decide between these two. If an earlier oracle is incorporated in the book, it is more natural to conclude that the second part of the double title, which in a slightly different form occurs also in Jeremiah 49:7, was introduced in order to bring the prophecy into closer similarity to the circle of oracles against foreign nations which is contained in Jeremiah. Arise ye . . .—Now at length we have the Divine message. Long ago, in the mysterious oracle of Dumah (Isaiah 21:11), the foreboding of a pending chastisement of Seir found a voice, and now, as in consequence of a signal from heaven, or as if brought by an angel, goes forth the summons to the nations to begin the movement against Edom. The cup of iniquity was full. There is a suggestiveness even in the vagueness of the summons. The nations, without distinction of good or bad, must become the instruments of the Divine chastisement of overweening pride. Edom becomes the type of wickedness that has reached a head, and against which all the sounder elements of the world unite with God. For the full picture, here suggested only in a word, see Isaiah 13:1-17, and comp. Joe 2:11; Jeremiah 51:11. (2-9) Edom’s pride and consequent humiliation. A general statement of the reason of the Divine wrath against Edom. Particular offences will be enumerated presently (Obadiah 1:10-14).

Verse 4. Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle] Though like this bird thou get into the highest cliff of the highest rock, it will not avail thee. To defend thee, when Jehovah has determined thy destruction, thy deepest caves and highest rocks will be equally useless. See Jeremiah 49:16.

4. thou exalt thyself] There is no need to supply the word “thyself,” as is done by A.V. and others (“though thou wentest as high as the eagle.” Ewald). “Thy nest” is the subject of both clauses. The words as they stand give a perfectly clear sense in English, as in Hebrew: though thou exaltest as the eagle, and though among the stars thou settest thy nest. Comp. Numbers 24:21, Habakkuk 2:9.

Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle - (or, thy nest) The eagle builds its nest in places nearly inaccessible to man. The Edomites were a race of eagles.

4. No human expedient can prevent the execution of the divine purpose.