_The vision of Obadiah_ The name of this prophet signifies, _a servant_, or a worshipper, _of the Lord._ Such he undoubtedly was, and also a prophet, but what he was in other respects we are not informed. It is not improbable that he had other visions, or revelations, from God, besides this which is... [ Continue Reading ]
_If thieves come unto thee_ See note on Jeremiah 49:9. _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. _All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border_ Thy confederates... [ Continue Reading ]
_For thy violence against thy brother Jacob_ Because of the injury thou hast done to the people of Judea, who are descended from Jacob, the brother of Esau, your progenitor: see note on Amos 1:11. _Shame shall cover thee_ Contempt and reproach shall be cast upon thee by all that hear of thy conduct;... [ Continue Reading ]
_But thou shouldest not have looked upon the day of thy brother _ On his evil day. Thou oughtest not to have taken pleasure at the sight of thy brother's calamity. So the expression of _looking upon an enemy_ signifies, in many passages of Scripture, the beholding his fall with satisfaction: see the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people_, &c. Thou shouldest not have entered into the cities of my people by way of spoiling them, or of feasting thy eyes with the slaughter, when their enemies made themselves masters of them. _Neither shouldest thou have stood in the cross-way_... [ Continue Reading ]
_For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen_ The sacred writers call that _the day_ of any persons, in which they do or suffer any thing very remarkable. Thus, Obadiah 1:13, _the day of thy brother_, signifies that time in which he was remarkably afflicted. So _the day of the Lord_ signifi... [ Continue Reading ]
_But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance_ Literally taken, this refers to the Jews; mystically, to the gospel church. By _deliverance_ here may be first meant an asylum, or place of refuge, to escape the evil; and it may be spoken with a reference to the invasion of Judea by Sennacherib, and his be... [ Continue Reading ]
_And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau_ The Jews that dwell in the southern parts of Judea, next Idumea, shall, after their return and victories over the Edomites, possess the mountainous part of their country, elsewhere called _mount Seir:_ see Malachi 1:3. _And they of the plain_ T... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the captivity of this host_, &c. Those of the ten tribes that were carried away captive by Shalmaneser; _shall possess that of the Canaanites_ That is, all the countries they anciently possessed, with this addition, that what the Canaanites held by force, and the Israelites could not take from... [ Continue Reading ]