Obadiah 1

possess; and that instead of the particle eth, they read othi, me; and, lastly, instead of Edom, they read Adam, these two words differing only in their points, which arc generally acknowledged to be of a much, later date than the original. For the fuller explaining the text, I shall refer the reader to the Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield’s learned Defence of the ancient Prophecies, p. 168. Vcr. 13. Behold, the days come, that the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, &c] As the prophecy in the foregoing verse was to commence from the coming of Christ, but not to receive its utmost completion till the fulness both of Jews and gentiles come in to the church; so this and the following verses ought to be understood of the happy State of the millennium, which may be supposed to begin after the Jews arc restored to their. country. (Compare Joel iii. 18.) “Then the text says, The ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soiveth seed: where the sense would be clearer if the words were translated, The ploughman shall meet the reaper, &c. So the Chaldee and Septuagint understand the place: to the same sense the word niggash is often translated in the Greek: and then the ivords import, that there should be such an increase of the fruits of the earth, that as soon as the harvest is got in, it’will be time to plough for the next year, which was not usual in those hot countries, where the corn was ripe early in the summer, in the month of May or June at farthest. And in the like manner, the vintage should be so plentiful, that whereas it used to begin in August, it should not be over till the seed-time, the earliest season of which was November. And the mountains shall drop with sweet wine, and all the lulls shall melt.] i. e. Shall flow down with wine or milk. (Sec the note on Joel iii. 18.) The Chaldee paraphrase, the Septuagint, and Vulgar Latin, understand the Hebrew verb, translated melt, of being cultivated, the stony ground being made softer by ploughing and manuring. The prophets sometimes describe the days of the Messias in the same terms the poets do the golden age. (See Psal.lxxii. 16. Tsa. xxxv. 1. xli. 19. Iv. 13. Hos. ii. 21, 22.) The prophet, after having denounced utter destruction upon Edom for their unnatural enmity against the Jews, foretells their restoration, and flourishing state in the latter times. Vcr. 1. f V E have heard a rumour from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen [or nations], &c] The prophets sometimes represent Almighty God as summoning armies, and setting them in array of battle, against those people he designs to destroy. (See Jer. Ii. 27, 28.) And here, according to the custom of earthly princes, he is described as sending ambassadors to invite the nations to join in a confederacy against tho Idumeans. (Compare 2 A2 Jcr. xlix. 14.) The words arc the same in both places, only what Jeremiah speaks in the singular number is expressed here in the plural, to intimate that Obadiah had received the same commission from God which was signified to Jeremiah before.

Obadiah 1:2

I have made thee small among the heathen [or nations. , &c] Thou art contemptible in the sight of the Chaldeans and their confederates, who think they can easily subdue thee. This verse and the two following arc almost word for word the same with the fifteenth and sixteenth verses of the forty-ninth chapter of Jeremiah.

Obadiah 1:3

The pride of thy heart hath deceived thee, O thou that dwcllest in the clefts of the rock, &c. Thou valuest thyself too much upon the strength of thy situation, being placed among rocks which thou thinkest inaccessible by the enemy. St. Jerome, who dwelt in that neighbourhood, observes upon the place, that the Idumeans dwelt in caves dug out of the rocks. (See likewise Numb, xxxiv. 3, 4. 2 Kings xiv. 7.)

Obadiah 1:4

Hiough thou exalt thyself as the eagle, [see the note upon Jer. xlix. 16. and though thou set thy nest among the stars, &c] Upon the highest mountains, that seem to reach up to heaven. (Compare Isa. xiv. 14, 15. Jcr. li. 53/ Amos ix. 2. Habak. ii.9.)

Obadiah 1:5

If thieves come to thee, if robbers by night, &c. See Jer. xlix. 9.

Obadiah 1:6

How are his hidden things sought up!. Those treasures and riches which he took all possible care to conceal, that they might not be discovered by the enemy. (See Jcr. xlix. 10.)

Obadiah 1:7

All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to thy borders. The confederates marched out with thee till they came to the borders of thy country, and then they treacherously joined with the enemy’s forces. They that ate thy bread have laid a wound under tltee.] Those that were maintained at thy cost, as thine allies have given thee a secret blow, which thou wast not aware of. Ibid, and

Obadiah 1:8

Thereisno understanding in him. Shall I not in that day — even destroy the wise men out ofEdom, &c. These two sentences contain the same sense; and instruct us, that when God designs a people for destruction, he deprives them of that discretion and foresight which is necessary for the due management of their affairs. (See Isa. xix. 11, 12.)

Obadiah 1:9

And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, &c. A panic fear shall seize those that were remarkable for their courage. (Compare Deut. xxviii. 25. Isa. xix. 16. Jcr. 1. 37. Amos ii. 16. Nahum iii. 13.) Teman was one of the chief provinces or cities of Idumea, called so from Teman, Esau’s grandson. (See Jer. xlix. 7. Amos i. 12.)

Obadiah 1:10

For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee. The prophet uses the expression, Thy brother Jacob, in allusion to Esau’s animosity against his brother, (Gen. xxvii. 41.) Thesame reason is assigned;in other prophets for God’s displeasure against the Edomites. (See the note upon Amos i. 11.) And thou shalt be cut off for ever.] The Naba’theans drove the Edomites out of their ancient habitations, since called Arabia Petroca; which country they could never afterward recover. (See Ezek. xxxv. 9. Mai. i. 3, 4. Dr..Prideaux, par. ii. ad A. C. 165.)

Obadiah 1:11

In the day that strangers carried away captive his forces, &c. When Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, thou didst join with the enemy. (See Psal. exxxvii.) And cast lots upon Jerusalem.] What captives fell to the share of each of tho commanders. (See the note upon Joel iii. 3.)

Obadiah 1:12

But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother. Thou oughtest not to have taken pleasure at tho sight of thy brother’s calamity. So the expression of looking upon an enemy, signifies the beholding his fall with satisfaction, Psal. liv. 7. lix. 10. xcii. 10. cxii. 8. Our translators render it in those places, See my desire upon mine enemies. (Compare Micah iv. 11. vii.10.) The day of thy brother.] The day of his calamity, as it is expressed ver. 13. (Compare Psal.xxxvii.13. exxxvii. 7.) In the day that he became a stranger.] When he was driven from his own inheritance, and went captive into a strange land. •

Obadiah 1:14

And I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel. I will restore them to their own country, and settle them in it. (See the following verse, and the note upon Ezek. xxviii. 25.) And they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them, &Ci] Compare Isa. Ixi. 4. Ezek. xxxvi. 33. 36. This and the following part of the verse contain a promise to them, that they shall enjoy the fruits of their labours, in opposition to that curse denounced against them, v. 11. Dcut xxviii. 30. that they should build houses, and not dwell in them. (Compare Isa. lxv. 22.) Vcr. 15. And I will plant them in their land, and they shall no more be pulled tip out of their land.’] They shall dwell in it secure from any annoyance of enemies. (Compare Jer. xxiii. 6. xxxii. 41. Ezek. xxxiv.28. Joel iii. 20. Micah iv. 4. Zeph. iii. 13.) O B A D I A H. PREFACE. OTllOTIUS, Huetius (in his Demonstrate Evangelica), and Dr. Lightfoot(in his Harmony of the Old Testament), are of opinion, that Obadiah was contemporary w r ith the elder prophets, Hosea, Joel, and Amos: the reason they chiefly allege is, that the compilers of the Old Testament canon had a regard to the order of time in their placing the minor Prophets. But this reason seems to be of little force, since we find that Jonah is placed the fifth in order, nay, the sixth in the Greek copies, who was confessedly ancienter than any of those that arc placed before him. The more probable opinion is, that Obadiah prophesied about the time of the taking of Jerusalem: and thereupon, in foretelling the destruction of Edom, he uses several expressions which Jeremiah had done before him, speaking upon that subject. (Compare Obad. ver. 1. 8. with Jer. xlix. 9. 14—16.) Ezekiel agrees with Jeremiah and Obadiah, in assigning the same reason for the judgments threatened against the Edomites, viz. their insulting over the Jews in the time of their distress. (See Ez6k. xxv.12. xxxv. 5, &c.) Archbishop Usher, in his Annals, ad A. M. 3419. supposes this prophecy to have been fulfilled about five years after the taking of Jerusalem. Neither shouldest thou have delivered up those that did remain.] Or, Shut up those, as the margin reads. The word signifies, to shut up all the ways of escaping to the conquered, in order to take them and deliver them up to the enemy. (See Psal. xxxi. 8.) So the Greek word which answers it is taken, Gal. iii. 23. ^vyKtKkttafxlvoi tl$ tyiv fxiWovcav iri<mv cnroKcikv<pQrivai, which should be translated, not shut zip, but delivered over to the faith, which should afterward be revealed: just as a schoolmaster delivers up his scholar when he comes to age; as the com* parison there follows.

Obadiah 1:15

JFbr the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathens. If judgment begin at the house of God, we may certainly conclude, that they who are more professedly wicked shall not escape. (Compare Jer. xxv. 15. 29. xlix. 12. lPet.iv.17.) As thou hast done it shall be done unto thee.] Others shall rejoice at thy calamities, as thou hast insulted over theirs. As thou hast spoiled and plundered thy neighbours, thou shalt be served thyself, (See Ezek. xxxv. 15. Hab. ii. 8.)

Obadiah 1:16

JFbr as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, &c. Since ye, O my people, have drunk the cup of ray wrath, which has been executed upon you in Mount Zion (see ver. 17.) and at Jerusalem, where my name was placed; there is no reason that those who aTe strangers and foreigners to my name and worship should expect to be excused. (See the note upon ver. 15.) The prophet speaks of the Jews here, as already under a state of captivity; as they actually were, before this prophecy was fulfilled. God’s judgments are commonly represented by a cup of intoxicating liquors. (See the note upon Jer. xxv. 15.) And they shall be as though they had not been.] They shall be utterly destroyed. (Compare Ezek. xxvi. 21.)

Obadiah 1:17

But upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance. This was remarkably verified at the first preaching of the gospel, when God’s law came forth from Zion: (Isa. ii. 3. Joel ii. 32. Psal. ex. 2.) and there shall be another completion of it, at the restoration of the Jewish nation, which is spoken of in this and the following verses. And there shall be holiness.] See Joel iii. 17.

Obadiah 1:18

And the house of Jacob shall be a fire; and the house of Joseph aflame, and the house of Esau for stubble.]