Synopsis of the Chapter
He foretells the destruction of the Edomites, because they had always harassed the Jews, and specifically because they exulted in the destruction of Jerusalem, and further afflicted its citizens already afflicted by the Chaldeans, and invaded their land. The same is the subject of the prophecy of Obadiah.
Verse 3: BEHOLD, I AM AGAINST YOU (the Chaldean: Behold, I send ¶
3. BEHOLD, I AM AGAINST YOU (the Chaldean: Behold, I send My fury upon you), MOUNT SEIR — that is, Edom, or Idumea: for Esau, the inhabitant of Idumea, was called Edom because he was red, and Seir because he was hairy (Genesis 36:8-9).
Verse 5: BECAUSE, etc., YOU DELIVERED THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL ¶
5. BECAUSE, etc., YOU DELIVERED THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL — because, as Obadiah says in verse 14, the Edomites were killing the Jews who fled from the Chaldeans to them, and also pursued and captured others: indeed, together with the Chaldeans they besieged and conquered Jerusalem. IN THE TIME OF THEIR ULTIMATE INIQUITY — The Hebrew reads: In the time when iniquity came to an end. So Vatablus and Pagninus, that is, in the time when God put an end to the sins of the Jews through their destruction: for then the Edomites, joining the Chaldeans, afflicted and cut down the Jews. Others explain "iniquity" as punishment and "ultimate" calamity. So Maldonatus. So that it is a metonymy, where iniquity is used for the effect and punishment of iniquity. This meaning agrees very well with the Hebrew and the preceding context. Others say "ultimate iniquity" refers not to the Jews but to the Edomites. For their greatest crime was to join the Chaldeans to overthrow the people of God.
Verse 6: I WILL GIVE YOU OVER TO BLOOD (that is, to ¶
6. I WILL GIVE YOU OVER TO BLOOD (that is, to slaughter, or to slayers and bloodthirsty men). — The Hebrew literally is: I will make you blood, as if to say: I will so wound and make you bleed that you will seem entirely converted into blood, and to be nothing other than blood. AND SINCE YOU HAVE HATED BLOOD (that is, slaughter and killers) — they will nevertheless pursue you. Vatablus translates and explains this verse differently, namely, as if to say: I had made you blood, that is, a blood-relative of the Hebrews, whom you hated when you ought to have loved them: therefore I will cause blood, that is, the vengeance of blood, or bloodthirsty men, to pursue you. For the just vengeance of God pursues murderers as if the blood of the slain, and the slain themselves, or the spectres or furies of the slain, were pursuing them. Hence they often seem to see them, and the phantoms always haunt them: nor do they let them rest, as if they were pursuing them and driving them to death. I have reviewed illustrious examples of this in Genesis 9:5 and Deuteronomy 21:4.
Verse 8: Its Mountains ¶
8. ITS MOUNTAINS — the mountains of Seir, that is, of Idumea, about which he sometimes speaks in the singular, sometimes in the plural, meaning its citizens and inhabitants.
Verse 10: THE TWO NATIONS, etc., SHALL BE MINE (namely Israel and ¶
10. THE TWO NATIONS, etc., SHALL BE MINE (namely Israel and Judah, as if to say: O Idumea! You had in your hopes devoured all of Judea and Samaria, and you said: These two nations, that is, the regions of nations, namely Judea and Israel or Samaria, are mine), THOUGH THE LORD WAS THERE — that is, He was worshipped there and was, as it were, the president, guardian, and king of Judea; as if to say: You did not reverence the presence of God, and as it were, with Him seeing and unwilling, you wished to occupy His land and, as it were, to drive God from His possession. So St. Jerome. See Jeremiah 49:1.
Verse 11: I Will Act According To Your Anger ¶
11. I WILL ACT ACCORDING TO YOUR ANGER — that is, as your anger deserves; and, as the Septuagint says, your enmity and jealousy; that is, as the Chaldean says, your rivalry against your brothers the Jews; as if to say: I will be angry with you just as you were angry with My people, and in My anger I will treat you just as you in anger treated them; and I will display My glory by delivering them and punishing you, says Maldonatus. JUDGED — punished.
Verse 12: THEY ARE DESOLATE (namely the mountains of Judea, since the ¶
12. THEY ARE DESOLATE (namely the mountains of Judea, since the Jews have already been killed or carried away), THEY HAVE BEEN GIVEN TO US TO DEVOUR.
Verse 13: You Rose Up Against Me ¶
13. YOU ROSE UP AGAINST ME — against Me. The Hebrew: You magnified your mouth against Me, that is, you proudly insulted Me. So it is said in Psalm 72, verse 8: "They set their mouth against heaven, and their tongue walked through the earth," as if to say: They spared no man or heavenly being, but were slanderous against all, and against all they sharpened and thrust out their venomous tongue. YOU MULTIPLIED YOUR WORDS AGAINST ME — you detracted from Me by your words, which you hurled against Me: for by them you derogated from My glory. With a similar phrase Seneca said in the preface to Book 1 of the Natural Questions: "To derogate something from the law of the fates:" to derogate, that is, to detract. So we commonly say, "To derogate someone's credibility" or "someone's favour." And Tacitus, Book 1: "In common matters, let them derogate nothing." With a similar catachresis St. Polycarp wrote in his epistle to the Philippians: "If anyone," he says, "has diverted the words of the Lord to his own desires, and says there is neither resurrection nor judgment, this one is the firstborn of Satan." Diverted, that is, twisted, bent, perverted. In Hebrew it is hatartem, that is, you demanded, you expostulated, you multiplied harsh words against Me, that is, proudly and shamelessly you hurled many bitter and insulting things against Me and My glory. The Septuagint: you cried out against Me.
Verse 14: While The Whole Earth Rejoices ¶
14. WHILE THE WHOLE EARTH REJOICES — as if to say: Just as you rejoiced at the devastation of Judea, so I will cause other nations to rejoice, be glad, and exult at your devastation. For it is fair that with the same measure you measured out to others, the same be measured back to you. This destruction of Idumea was accomplished by Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans, as Josephus testifies.