Obadiah 1:14

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.

Ver. 14. Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway] To intercept those poor fugitives, who sought to save themselves by flight, since they could not by fight. But alas,

“ Una salus victis, nullam sperare salutem. ”

Seeking to shun the shelves, they ran upon a rock. Mischievous Edomites waylaid them; and either slew them or drew them back to prison, as in the next words.

Neither shouldest thou have delivered up] Or shut up close prisoners the residue, Heb. Serido (the same almost with the English, the letters only transposed), those poor few that were yet undevoured by the sword. This was the greatest cruelty of all. And see the Edomites' progress in it, and what proficients they prove. Nemo repente fit deterrimus. Sin proceeds by degrees; neither is any man at his worst at first. First they looked at the Church's calamity, and then they laughed, and then they insulted and spoke big words, and then they plundered, and lastly they butchered some and imprisoned others. Did not God's enemies do all this among us in our late unnatural commotions? wherein, besides the many massacres made everywhere, it was a like difficult thing, in those parts where they prevailed, to find a wicked man in their prisons or a good man out of them.