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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.

The vision of Obadiah — The same, say some, that hid the Lord’s prophets, and fed them by fifty in a cave, when sought for to the slaughter by wicked Jezebel, 1 Kings 18:4 , whereupon himself also received a prophet’s reward; that is (saith Lyra), was endued with the spirit of prophecy. Jerome addeth, that he was buried at Samaria (called afterwards Sebaste, by Herod, in honour of Augustus), and that there his sepulchre was yet to be seen. The Rabbis say, that this Obadiah was that widow’s husband whom Elisha relieved by multiplying her oil, 2 Kings 4:6 . Others (with more show of reason) conjecture that this was that Obadiah mentioned 2 Chronicles 34:12 , a faithful Levite, set by Josiah to oversee the artificers, who repaired the temple in the eighteenth year of his reign; and so was contemporary to Ezekiel and Jeremiah, with whom also he consenteth in many passages, Jeremiah 49:1-39 Ezekiel 25:1-17: and besides, he maketh mention of the Babylonish captivity, and the Edomites’ cruelty to the Jews at that time, Psalms 137:7 . But let him be who he will (for where the Scripture hath no tongue we need not find ears; but may well content ourselves with a learned ignorance), his doctrine he entitleth not a burden, because he concludeth it comfortably, but a vision, which is more general; it being his scope to comfort the people of God, that were under great affliction.

Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom — If Obadiah were himself an Edomite, but a proselyte to the Church (as some Rabbis have reported him), his vision should have taken the better with his cruel countrymen, to bring them to repentance. But whether he were or not, they should have observed his authority: and that his doctrine came cum privilegio, and that it was the Lord God, the Tremend Trinunus, that spake by him; and that he was, according to his name, a servant of the most high God, which showed unto them the way of salvation, Acts 16:17 . Sed surdo fabulam: the Edomites were so fleshed in blood, and such inveterate enemies to the Church, that there was little good to be done upon them. Howsoever, to leave them without excuse, and, if possible, to rouse them out of their security, he saith,

We have heard a rumour from the Lord — We, that is, I and my fellow prophets (who are a secretis to the Lord, Amos 3:7 ), have heard for a certainty that the Edomites are devoted to destruction. And that this was no vain rumour, but accordingly accomplished, see Jeremiah 25:9 ; Jeremiah 25:21 Malachi 1:3 .

And an ambassador is sent among the heathen — A herald at arms, sent by Nebuchadnezzar, say some, to stir up his Chaldeans against the Edomites: others make this ambassador to be Christ, or a created angel, or a Divine instinct, or lastly, the prophets. Whosoever he is, he doth his work very vigorously.

Arise ye, saith he, and let us rise up against her in battle — Let us join our forces, and do our utmost against Idumea. After this sort also shall God’s warriors stir up themselves one day and one another against the Romish Edomites, those pseudo-christians, anti-christians, when God shall once put into their hearts to hate that old withered whore of Babylon, to "make her desolate and naked, to eat her flesh, and burn her with fire," Revelation 17:16-17 . The alarm was long since given them (not unlike this in the text) by Francis Petrarch, in these words, Babylon altera, nempe propinquior atque recentior, adhuc star: cito itidem casura; si essetis viri. There yet standeth a nearer and newer Babylon than that of old; but it should not stand long were you but men. "Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle." The Jews at this day call the hierarchy of Rome the wicked kingdom of Edom; and for Dumah, Isaiah 21:11 , they read Roma, by a very easy but willing mistake. See Dr Taylor’s Sermon, called The Romish Edomite.

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Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised.

Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen — That is, vile, despicable, and abject, as Psalms 119:141 , "I am small and despised." Nothing is more ordinary than to "despise the day of small things," Zechariah 4:10 . And whereas God is said to be magnus in magnis, nec parvus in minimis, much in the greater neither little in the least, he had always kept down these profane Edomites, shutting them up in Mount Seir, a craggy barren country (not unlike Ascre, Hesiod’s country, Aσκρη χειμα κακη θερος αργλαεη, ουδεποτ ’ ειλη , or Llandaff in Wales, which is said to be a place neither pleasant, fertile, nor safe), and not suffering them to attain to any fame or almost name among other nations. Were it not that they are mentioned in the Bible (and never there for any goodness either) it would hardly have been known that there ever had been such a people. Wherefore, then, should Edom be so intolerably insolent, as Obadiah 1:3 ? swell to such a height of pride, play such bloody, pranks, as he is here accused of? espesially since God is taking a course to make him yet lesser and lower than yet he is, by those armies of his that are coming upon him, to stain the pride of all his glory, Isaiah 23:9 .

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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 of thine heart hath deceived thee — So as to make thee think thyself some great business when it’s no such matter, and that thou canst secure thyself in thy strongholds from thy strongest enemies: but herein thy pride hath befooled thee, and put the same trick upon thee that the serpent did once upon the first woman, Genesis 3:13 (the same word is there used as here), who complained, when she was in the transgression, 1 Timothy 2:14 , "The serpent hath deceived me." He is still the king of all the children of pride; and thereby cheateth them, ravisheth them of their right reason, and rendereth them the direct objects of God’s hatred and heavy displeasure, James 4:6 ; he setteth himself in battle array against them, αντιτασσεται . "Though his excellency, mount up to the heavens" (saith Zophar concerning the proud person, Job 20:6 ), "and his head reach unto the clouds; yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?" There is a deceitfulness in sin, Hebrews 3:13 , a lie in all these outward vanities, John 2:8: they were never true to those that trusted in them. But the proud person "feedeth upon ashes": he feedeth himself with false hopes; "a deceived heart hath turned him aside," put him into a fool’s paradise, "that he cannot deliver his soul," get out of his golden dreams, "nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?" Isaiah 44:20 . His case is not unlike that man’s who, lying fast asleep upon the edge of a steep rock, dreams merrily of much happiness and safety; but upon the sudden starting for joy breaks his neck, and tumbles headlong into the bottom of the sea.

Thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock — In a rocky, mountainous country, as the Highlander in Scotland, out of the reach of my rod, as thou fondly fanciest; in Arabia Petraea, where thine enemies cannot come at thee, and where thou thinkest thyself no less safe and out of harm’s way than Moses was, when God had put him into the cleft of the rock, and covered him with his hand, Exodus 33:22 ; or Elias, when he stood in the mouth of the cave, 1 Kings 19:13 .

Whose habitation is high — Heb. his habitation is high; by a change of the person out of a holy disdain of Edom’s pride and creature confidence, as if he were extra iactum, out of gunshot, above danger.

That saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down? — (Atreus in Thyeste apud Senec.)

“ Aequalis astris gradior, et cunctos super

Altum superbo vertice attingens polum,

Demitto superos, summa votorum attigi, …

My roof receives me not, ‘tis air I tread:

At every step I feel my advanced head

Knock out a star in heaven.” - (Ben Jonson.)

Such great swelling words of vanity speaks the proud man, 2 Peter 2:18 ; such big bubbles of words, sesquipedalia verba, words a foot and a half long. Who shall bring me down? who is the Lord? who is lord over us? … Such haughty expressions, such lofty language is a forerunner, a presage of imminent destruction, as here. A bulging wall is not far from a downfall. While the word ("Is not this great Babalyon," …) was yet in Nebuchadnezzar’s mouth he was deprived of his kingdom and driven from men, Daniel 4:31 . Megasthenes the Persian (an ancient writer) reporteth that the Chaldeans relate that Nebuchadnezzar, returning home laden with victories, fell mad, and being in a fanatic vein, foretold the destruction of Babalyon. Whether he foretold it or no it is sure he occasioned it, by confiding in it and by robbing both God of his glory, and his ancestors, the first founders, of their honour; for he only enlarged it, and built the palace entirely; and now he saith, "Who shall bring me down?" That will I, saith God, in the next words. Aesop being asked by Chilo (one of the seven wise men of Greece) what God was doing? answered, He bringeth down the proud and lifteth up the lowly. See the like Psalms 147:6 .

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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 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, … 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.

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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 came to thee, if robbers by night — Or, what? have thieves come to thee? have robbers been here? O, sure it is worse than so with thee; they would never have made such clean work as they say, but have left somewhat behind them; they would never have played the harpies A rapacious, plundering, or grasping person; one that preys upon other ŒD in this sort, and taken all before them. Thus the neighbour nations stand wondering at this woeful desolation, and sarcastically insulting. Now to be mocked in misery is no small grief to the party. Thus the prophet pricks them by a rhetorical addubitation, the better to affect their minds with an effectual fear of no ordinary or easy calamity, but such as will be wonderful and incredible; so that they that hear of it will say,

How art thou cut off! — Or, how silent art thou! what, did thine enemies set upon thee per amica silentia lunae? did they take thee napping that they shred thee thus? Have they dealt by thee as Sir Francis Drake in his travels did by the Spaniard, whom he found sleeping on the bank of a river with many wedges of gold lying by him; he never waked the man, but eased him of his charge: or rather as Epaminondas did by the watchman, whom he found fast asleep; he thrust him through with his sword; and being chid for so severe a fact, replied, Talem eum reliqui, qualem inveni, I left him but as I found him.

If the grape gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grates? — Surely they would, Deuteronomy 24:21 ; there would likely be a gleaning of grapes after the vintage is done, Isaiah 24:13 , two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough; four or five in the outmost fruitful branches, Isaiah 17:6 . It is hard but some may escape out of the battle to bring the ill news. Edom’s ruin therefore and desolation was most deplorable and irreparable, since none was left alone; but all, both men and means, raked and racemated. A salt of racemic acid. ŒD

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

How are the things of Esau searched out! — Or, as Drusius reads it, How are the posterity of Esau searched out! the men to the slaughter, the wealth to the spoil! what cunning and daring soldiers were these to pry into every corner for prey, and to pull them out of every lurking hole, where they might have been circumvented and butchered, in those dark and narrow places: this shows surely that they were both armed and animated by God himself. Confer Joel 2:6-9 , but especially Jeremiah 49:10-11 , where you have the full of that which is here but abridged; and therefore this verse hath not so much as an Athnach in it for distinction.

How are his hid things sought out! — i.e. his treasures and jewels, which have their name in Hebrew from hiding, because men used to secret and secure them with utmost care and diligence. See Matthew 13:44 ; hence they are called treasures of darkness, Isaiah 45:3 ; see Job 3:21 . Abundance of this was found at Constantinople, taken by the Turks; so that the soldiers divided it among themselves by hatfuls, wondering at their wealth, and deriding their folly, that possessing so much, they would bestow so little in defence of themselves and their country, lost by their tenacity and niggardice. And the same is reported of Heidelberg. This that is here threatened against Edom was accordingly executed in the fifth year after the destruction of Jerusalem, saith Josephus; Nebuchadnezzar, in the 23rd year of his reign, invading and wasting Idumea. Ill-gotten goods prosper not. Men rake together their riches, and know not who shall gather them, Psalms 39:6 . But, "let no man go beyond and defraud another: for God is the avenger of all such," 1 Thessalonians 4:6 . They do best that renounce, with St Paul, those hidden things of dishonesty, 2 Corinthians 4:2 , not walking in craftiness, nor making haste to be rich; for treasures of wickedness profit not, Proverbs 10:2 ; and when God comes by his judgments to turn the bottom of the bag upwards, as Joseph’s steward once did, all our secret thefts will out. See Ecclesiastes 12:14 .

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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.

All the men of thy confederacy — Which therefore should be true to thee, but prove treacherous; so vain it is to trust to that broken reed of carnal combinations. Many friends are like deep ponds, clear at the top and all muddy at the bottom; the causes they will be, but not the companions of calamity. Like they are, saith one, to crows which flock to a dead carcass, not to defend it, but to devour it; and no sooner have they bared the bones but they are gone. David complaineth of such, Psalms 55:13-15 , and Jeremiah of his unkind countrymen of Anathoth, Jeremiah 11:23 . But for Edom it was no great pity, considering their perfidy both to God (because they had transgressed the laws, moral and municipal, changed the ordinances, that is, the law of nations, and broken the everlasting covenant, that is, the law of nature, which is that light that lighteneth every man that cometh into the world, John 1:9 ), and also to their brethren the Israelites, their extreme inhumanity, as it followeth, Obadiah 1:10-11 . They had therefore but their own measure meted again to them; as they had forgotten the brotherly covenant, Amos 1:9 ; Amos 1:11 , so they met with those that paid them home in their own coin; neither were they any more pitied than Haman, when the king frowned upon him, or Sejanus, when he fell into the displeasure of Tiberius; his friends showing themselves most passionate against him, saying, that if Caesar had clemency he ought to reserve it to men, and not cast it away upon monsters.

All brought thee even to the border — And there left thee at the worst; pretending to help thee, but betraying then indeed to the enemy, and helping to cast thee out of thy country, under a show of courtesy.

The men that were at peace with thee — Heb. the men of thy peace, the Ammonites, Moabites, and other neighbouring nations from whom thou fearedst no hurt; these to ingratiate with the king of the Chaldeans.

Have deceived thee — Tuta frequensque via est per amici fallere nomen (Ovid.). This made a certain heathen cry out, Friends, there is no friend to be found, φιλοι, ουδεις φιλος (Socr.); and another to pray God to deliver him from his friends; for, as for his enemies, he could better beware of them.

They that eat thy bread — Heb. thy bread men, thy fellow commoners, convictores et consalanei, others’ amici, they are seldom either satisfied or sure.

Have laid a wound under thee — The Hebrew word signifieth both a wound and a plaster; they would secretly wound them, lay a wound under them, and yet seem willing to bind up their wounds, and heal them by applying a plaster: such daubing there is in the world, Fide, diffide. Cavebis autem si pavebis.

There is none understanding in him — That is, in Edom, and this seemeth spoken by way of apostrophe to the Israelites, whose comfort is intended in this whole prophecy. It is as if it had been said, Edom holds himself wise, but will show himself a very sot, destitute of common sense; such as taketh not notice that these are the wounds with which he was wounded in the house of his friends: the wittol is either insensible of it or else well content with it, till he hath bought his wit, and begins to open his eyes but not till the pains of death are upon him, as it is said of the mole.

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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?

Shall I not in that day, saith the Lord, … — Edom was famous for wisdom, as appeareth by Eliphaz the Temanite, and other of Job’s friends who were Idumeans; and Rabshakeh could say that counsel and strength are of war, Isaiah 36:5 What a price did Agamemnon set upon Nestor and Darius upon Zophirus? Scipio did nothing without his Polybius, and ascribed most of his victories to his advice. "Every purpose is established by counsel: and with good advice make war," saith Solomon, Proverbs 20:18 . Romani sedendo vincunt passed for a proverb of old. The Romans conquered by sitting in council; and Cyneas got more cities by his wisdom than Pyrebus by his puissance. But "where no counsel is the people fall," Proverbs 11:14 ; and this was Edom’s case in that day, that is, at that time when their confederates betrayed them to their enemy and desolation was at next door by God destroyed their wise men; he either cut them off or infatuated them. Deus, quem destruit, demen tat. When God intends to undo a man (say the Dutch) he first puts out his eyes, and befools him. Pliny saith of the eagle that, setting upon the hart, he lights upon his horns, and there flutters up and down, filling his eyes with dust borne in her feathers; that at last he may cast himself from a rock, and become a prey. God blindeth the understanding and expectorateth the wisdom of those whom he designeth to destruction. "Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the wise counsellors of Pharaoh are become brutish, they have also seduced Egypt. The Lord hath mingled a spirit of perversities in the midst thereof," Isaiah 19:11-14 .

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