Obadiahchapter 1
21 verses · Obadiah · about 586 BC · The Twelve
Key verse
For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.
It stands in As you have done, it shall be done to you, verses 15 to 18.
The chapter
Chapter summary
Twenty-one verses, the shortest book in the Old Testament, aimed entirely at Edom, the sons of Esau, dwelling in the clefts of the rock and saying in their heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? The answer: 'Though thou mount on high as the eagle, and though thy nest be set among the stars, I will bring thee down from thence.' Thieves leave gleanings; Esau will be ransacked bare, betrayed by his own confederates. The sin is family treachery on the day Jerusalem fell, standing aside, gloating, looting, cutting down the refugees at the crossway. 'As thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee' (v15). Deliverance stands on mount Zion, 'and the kingdom shall be Jehovah's.'
Context
Prophecy · Obadiah · Obadiah overview
The world behind this chapter
Obadiah 1The history
Edom's country was a natural fortress and the book keeps saying so. The highlands south-east of the Dead Sea rise steeply from the rift valley, cut by narrow gorges, with settlements perched on sandstone crags reached by a single defensible path. The line about dwelling in the clefts of the rock and saying who will bring me down is a description of the terrain, not an insult invented for the occasion.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
The wealth came from position. The King's Highway, the main north-south caravan route between Arabia and Damascus, ran through Edomite territory, and controlling it meant taxing spices, incense, and metals. Edom also had copper, the mines and smelting sites in the Wadi Arabah were worked for centuries.
Teman, named for its wisdom, was a district of Edom, and the region's reputation for wise men shows up elsewhere in Scripture; Job's friend Eliphaz is called a Temanite. The taunt that God will destroy the wise men out of Edom is aimed at a genuine local point of pride.
The relationship is the wound. Edom descended from Esau, Jacob's twin brother, which makes every line about your brother Jacob literal family language. Standing aside on the day strangers carried off his wealth, cutting down the fugitives at the crossroads, and handing over survivors were the acts of a relative, not an enemy.
What it meant to them
For the first hearers this was a case brought on their behalf against people they could not touch. The verdict is that the treatment will be returned exactly: as you have done, it shall be done to you, and your deeds shall return on your own head.
History bore it out. Edom was pushed out of its highlands, and by the New Testament era the Nabateans held Petra while the displaced Edomites were living in southern Judea as Idumeans. The book widens at the end to the day of the LORD on all nations, when deliverance comes on Mount Zion and the kingdom shall be the LORD's, a promise the earth has not seen fulfilled yet.
Sources cited
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- Flavius Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews (Whiston translation)
Where the chapter sits
Obadiah 1 falls in Oracle against Edom (chapters 1). Edom's pride (v. 3), violence against Judah (v. 10–14), and coming judgment (v. 15–18). The book closes with the LORD's kingdom in Zion.
The oracle. Pride-fall-violence-judgment; ‘the kingdom shall be the LORD's.’
The whole shape of Obadiah→The structure of this chapter
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. Though you nest among the stars, I will bring you down
1. (vv. 1-2)
Obadiah 1:1
“We--I and my people. heard-- (Isa 21:10). and an ambassador is sent--Yea, an ambassador is already sent, namely, an angel, to stir up the Assyrians (and afterwards the Chaldeans) against Edom. The result of the ambassador's message on the heathen is, they simultaneously exclaim, "Arise ye, and let us (with united strength) rise," &c.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Obadiah 1:1
“The vision of Obadiah,.... Or the prophecy, as the Targum; which was delivered unto him by the Lord in a vision; it was not what he fancied or dreamed of, but what he saw, what he had a clear discovery and revelation of made unto his mind; hence prophets are sometimes called "seers".”
Obadiah 1:1
“The vision of Obadiah - , i. e., of “the worshiper of God.” The prophet would be known only by that which his name imports, that he worshiped God. He tells us in this double title, through whom the prophecy came, and from whom it came. His name authenticated the prophecy to the Jewish Church. Thenceforth, he chose to remain wholly hidden. He entitles it “a vision,” as the prophets were called “seers” 1Sa 9:9, although he relates, not the vision which he saw, but its substance and meaning.”
Obadiah 1:2
“I have made thee small among the heathen - God ever attributes to himself the rise and fall of nations. If they be great and prosperous, it is by God’s providence; if they be tow and depressed, it is by his justice. Compared with the Assyrians, Chaldeans, Egyptians, Syrians, Arabs, and other neighboring nations, the Idumeans were a small people.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Obadiah 1:2
“I have made thee small--Thy reduction to insignificance is as sure as if it were already accomplished; therefore the past tense is used [MAURER]. Edom then extended from Dedan of Arabia to Bozrah in the north (Jer 49:8, 13). CALVIN explains it, "Whereas thou wast made by Me an insignificant people, why art thou so proud" (Ob 3)?”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
The vision of Obadiah: The shortest book in the Old Testament opens as a report from a war council already in motion: a rumour heard from the Lord, an ambassador sent among the nations, and the summons, arise, let us rise up against her in battle. The bench notes that Obadiah's name means servant or worshipper of the Lord and that nothing else is told of him, no father named, no era stated in the text itself, so the case for his date rests entirely on the disaster described in verses 11-14. Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen answers Edom's own self-estimate before the indictment names a single deed.
2. (vv. 3-4)
Obadiah 1:3
“The pride of thy heart hath deceived thee - Not the strength of its mountain-fastnesses, strong though they were, deceived Edom, but “the pride of his heart.” That strength was but the occasion which called forth the “pride.” Yet, it was strong in its abode.”
2 more voices on this verse
Obadiah 1:3
“The pride - The Edomites were, as most mountaineers are, a rough hardy, and daring people. Deceived thee - Magnifying thy strength above what really it is.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Obadiah 1:3
“Many forfeit their privileges, and yet boast of them. Because Edom is high and lifted up, he imagines none can bring him down. Note, Carnal security is a sin that most easily besets men in the day of their pomp, power, and prosperity, and does, as much as any thing, both ripen men for ruin and aggravate it when it comes.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Obadiah 1:4
“Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle - Though like this bird thou get into the highest cliff of the highest rock, it will not avail thee. To defend thee, when Jehovah has determined thy destruction, thy deepest caves and highest rocks will be equally useless. See Jer 49:16.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Obadiah 1:4
“Note, Sinners will certainly be made ashamed of their pride and security of their pride when it has a fall and of their security when their confidences fail their expectation. Do they depend upon their wealth and treasure, the abundance of which is looked upon as the sinews of war? Is their money their defence?”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee: Edom's sin is named before its punishment: pride, housed in a terrain built for it, the clefts of the rock and a habitation set high, widely identified with Sela and the mountain stronghold later called Petra. Who shall bring me down to the ground is the boast the Lord answers directly, though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down. Matthew Henry reads the eagle image as pride's own logic, that height and hiddenness are mistaken for safety, and the oracle's whole point is that no rock outclimbs the God who made it.
B. Thieves leave something behind; Esau will be ransacked bare
1. (vv. 5-7)
Obadiah 1:5
“If thieves came to thee - The prophet describes their future punishment, by contrast with that which, as a marauding people, they well knew. Thieves and robbers spoil only for their petty end. They take what comes to hand; what they can, they carry off shortness of time, difficulty of transport, necessity of providing for a retreat, limit their plunder. When they have gorged themselves, they depart. “Their” plunder is limited. The “grape-gatherer” leaves gleanings.”
1 more voice on this verse
Obadiah 1:5
“How art thou fallen, and how great is thy fall! How art thou stupefied! so the Chaldee words it. How senseless art thou under these desolating judgments, as if they were but common strokes!”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Obadiah 1:6
“How are the things of Esau searched out!--by hostile soldiers seeking booty. Compare with Ob 5, 6 here, Jer 49:9, 10. hidden things--or "places." Edom abounded in such hiding-places, as caves, clefts in the rock, &c.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Obadiah 1:6
“How are the things of Esau searched out! - literally, “How are Esau, out searched!” i. e., Esau, as a whole and in all its parts and in all its belongings, all its people and all its property, one and all. The name “Esau” speaks of them as a whole; the plural verb, “are outsearched,” represents all its parts.”
Obadiah 1:7
“All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border - Destruction is more bitter, when friends aid in it. Edom had all along with unnatural hatred persecuted his brother, Jacob. So, in God’s just judgment, its friends should be among its destroyers. Those confederates were probably Moab and Ammon, Tyre and Zidon, with whom they united to resist Nebuchadnezzar Jer 27:3, and seduced Zedekiah to rebel, although Moab, Ammon, and Edom turned against him Zep 2:8; Ezek.”
if the grapegatherers came to thee: The judgment is measured against ordinary thieves and gleaners, who take only what serves them and leave the rest, so that Edom's coming ruin will be worse than any raid, how art thou cut off is the prophet's own aside mid-verse. The things of Esau searched out, his hidden things sought up, describes a nation stripped to its last hoard, and verse 7 turns from plunder to betrayal, the men of thy confederacy and the men that were at peace with thee driving Edom to the border and laying a wound under thee. Keil and Pusey both take this as Edom judged in its own coin, treachery answered with treachery, allies becoming the hand that cuts it off.
2. (vv. 8-9)
Obadiah 1:8
“Shall I not - destroy the wise men - It appears, from Jer 49:7, that the Edomites were remarkable for wisdom, counsel, and prudence. See on the above place.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Obadiah 1:9
“And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed,.... Teman was one part of the country of Edom, so called from Teman, a son of Eliphaz, and grandson of Esau, Gen 36:11; and which it seems had been famous for men of might and courage: it abounded with brave officers, and courageous soldiers, who should now be quite dispirited, and have no heart to go out against the enemy; and, instead of defending their country, should throw away their arms, and run away in a fright.”
2 more voices on this verse
Obadiah 1:9
“And thy mighty, O Teman, shall be dismayed - The pagan, more religiously than we, ascribed panic to the immediate action of one of their gods, or to Nature deified, Pan, i. e., the Universe: wrong as to the being whom they “ignorantly worshiped;” right, in ascribing it to what they thought a divine agency. Holy Scripture at times discovers the hidden agency, that we may acknowledge God’s Hand in those terrors which we cannot account for.”
Obadiah 1:9
“The Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate connect these words with Ob 10, "for the slaughter, for the violence (of which thou art guilty) against thy brother Jacob." English Version, "cut off by slaughter" (that is, an utter cutting off), answers well to "cut off for ever" (Ob 10). However, the arrangement of the Septuagint gives a better parallelism in Ob 10.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
destroy the wise men out of Edom: Edom carried a reputation for wisdom in the ancient world, reflected at Jeremiah 49:7's own question, is wisdom no more in Teman, and Job's friend Eliphaz is named a Temanite, so the threat to destroy the wise men out of Edom and understanding out of the mount of Esau strikes at the nation's proudest claim. Teman, one of Edom's chief cities, stands for the whole in verse 9, its mighty men dismayed and every one of the mount of Esau cut off by slaughter. The bench reads the pairing of wisdom stripped and might broken as the oracle's answer to verse 3's pride, the two supports Edom trusted both given out.
C. You stood aside the day your brother was carried off
1. (vv. 10-11)
Obadiah 1:10
“Against any of our own people; it is violence against thy brother, thy near relation, to whom thou shouldst be a goël--a redeemer, whom it is thy duty to right if others wronged him; how wicked is it then for thee thyself to wrong him! Thou slanderest and abusest thy own mother's son; this makes the sin exceedingly sinful, Ps. l.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Obadiah 1:11
“In the day that thou stoodest on the other side - The time when they so stood, is not defined in itself, as a past or future. It is literally; “In the day of thy standing over against,” i. e., to gaze on the calamities of God’s people; “in the day of strangers carrying away his strength,” i. e., “the strength of thy brother Jacob,” of whom he had just spoken, “and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots on Jerusalem, thou too as one of them. One of them” they were not.”
thy violence against thy brother Jacob: The charge turns from Edom's pride to Edom's crime, violence against thy brother Jacob, the kinship word the whole book presses since Esau and Jacob were twins at birth, Genesis 25:24-26. Shame shall cover thee and thou shalt be cut off for ever states the sentence before the specific day is described, the strangers carrying away captive his forces and casting lots upon Jerusalem, most naturally read against the Babylonian conquest of Judah and Edom's presence at that hour. Even thou wast as one of them is the verse's sharpest word, a brother indistinguishable from the enemy in the day it mattered.
2. (vv. 12-14)
Obadiah 1:12
“So the antitypes, Messiah's foes (Ps 22:17). MAURER translates, as the Margin, "thou shouldest not look" any more. English Version agrees with the context better. the day of thy brother--his day of calamity. became a stranger--that is, was banished as an alien from his own land.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Obadiah 1:12
“Those have a great deal to answer for that are idle spectators of the troubles and afflictions of their neighbours, when they are capable of being their active helpers. But this was not all; they looked upon it with a scornful eye, with an eye of complacency and satisfaction; they looked and laughed to see Israel in distress, saying, Aha! so we would have it.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Obadiah 1:13
“With the Edomites it was a day of prosperity and peace when with the Israelites it was a day of distress and calamity, for judgment commonly begins at the house of God. Children are corrected when strangers are let alone.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Obadiah 1:14
“Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway - They are represented here as having stood in the passes and defiles to prevent the poor Jews from escaping from the Chaldeans. By stopping these passes, they threw the poor fugitives back into the teeth of their enemies. They had gone so far in this systematic cruelty as to deliver up the few that had taken refuge among them.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
the day of thy brother: Four verses in the negative build the fullest catalogue of a nation's guilt in the Twelve, each clause opening thou shouldest not have, gazing on the day of thy brother, rejoicing over the children of Judah, speaking proudly in the day of distress, entering the gate, looking on their affliction, laying hands on their substance, standing in the crossway to cut off those that fled, delivering up those that remained. Lamentations 4:21-22 stands behind the charge, its own address to the daughter of Edom that rejoices, and the cup that shall pass to her in turn. The bench reads the escalation deliberately, from watching to gloating to plundering to informing, sin compounding at every clause rather than one act repeated four times.
D. As you have done, it shall be done to you
1. (vv. 15-16)
Obadiah 1:15
“For the day of the Lord is near upon all the pagan - The prophet once more enforces his warning by preaching judgment to come. “The day of the Lord” was already known Joe 1:15; Joe 2:1, Joe 2:31, as a day of judgment upon “all nations,” in which God would “judge all the pagan,” especially for their outrages against His people. Edom might hope to escape, were it alone threatened.”
1 more voice on this verse
Obadiah 1:15
“The righteous God will render both to nations and to particular persons according to their works; and the punishment is often made exactly to answer to the sin, and those that have abused others come to be themselves abused in like manner.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Obadiah 1:16
“For as ye have drunk - This address is to the Jews. As ye have been visited and punished upon my holy mountain in Jerusalem, so shall other nations be punished in their respective countries. See Jer 49:12.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Obadiah 1:16
“These words "as you have drunk" indicate, I think, that the victors insolently gloried in victory. They had a festive celebration where they got drunk with their friends, boasting in praise of their part in the victory while they got drunk. And while they were drinking and singing songs and causing all manner of damage at this party, they got drunk and began to insult the other nations. "And they will descend against you," that is, the neighboring regions will attack these parties.”
Cyril of Alexandria· written before 444· COMMENTARY ON OBADIAHpatristic
Obadiah 1:16
“And it is part of the burden of Edom ( Jer. xlix. 12 ), Those whose judgment was not to drink of the cup (who had reason to promise themselves an exemption from it) have assuredly drunken, and shall Edom that is the generation of God's wrath go unpunished?”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: The day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen widens the verdict from Edom alone to every nation, and the measure-for-measure law is stated in the plainest terms the Twelve carry, as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee, thy reward shall return upon thine own head. Verse 16 turns the cup image on its audience, as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, meaning Jerusalem's own suffering already tasted, so shall all the heathen drink continually, and they shall be as though they had not been. The older writers read this as the lex talionis applied at the national scale, Edom's specific crimes becoming the pattern for how every nation that mistreats Israel is finally judged.
2. (vv. 17-18)
Obadiah 1:17
“In mount Zion, there will be salvation, and it will be holy and possess the house of Jacob, those who possess it. And the house of Jacob will be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau straw. They will set them on fire and consume them, and there will be no survivors in the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken. The Septuagint version: In mount Zion there will be salvation, and it will be holy, and possess the house of Jacob, those who possess it.”
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Obadiahpatristic
3 more voices on this verse
Obadiah 1:17
“But (And) upon (in) Mount Zion, shall be deliverance, or, an escaped remnant, and there (and it) shall be holiness - The sifting times of the Church are the triumph of the world; the judgment of the world is the restoration of the Church. In the triumph of the world, the lot was cast on Jerusalem, her sons were carried captive and slain, her holy places were desecrated.”
Obadiah 1:17
“Zion - Literally this refers to the Jews: typically to the gospel- church. Deliverance - A remnant that shall be delivered by Cyrus, a type of Israel's redemption by Christ.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Obadiah 1:17
“THIS is a remarkable passage. Its wording is singular. It begins with a, "but," because the previous verses have been denouncing judgments upon Edom. When God comes forth to punish His enemies He also comes forth to bless His friends. When Pharaoh is overthrown in the Red Sea, it is that Israel may pass onward to Canaan. When Amalek is overcome, it is that Israel may be at peace. There is a black cloud as well as the silvery rain. The acceptable year of the Lord is the day of vengeance of our God.”
Obadiah 1:18
“The house of Jacob shall be a fire - After their return from captivity, the Jews, called here the house of Jacob and the house of Joseph, did break out as a flame upon the Idumeans; they reduced them into slavery; and obliged them to receive circumcision, and practise the rites of the Jewish religion. See 1 Maccabees 5:3, etc.; 2 Maccabees 10:15-23; and Josephus Antiq., lib. 13 c. 17. There shall not be any remaining - As a people and a nation they shall be totally destroyed.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Obadiah 1:18
“Shall kindle - This was fulfilled in part by Hyrcanus and the Maccabees, 1Macc v, 3, but will be more fully accomplished, when the Lord shall make his church as a fire to all its enemies.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Obadiah 1:18
“The word of God in the mouth of his ministers is said to be like fire, and the people as wood to be devoured by it, Jer. v. 14 . And the man of sin is to be consumed by the breath of Christ's mouth, 2 Thess. ii. Those that are not refined as gold by fire of the gospel shall be consumed as dross by it; for it will be a savour either of life or of death.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
mount Zion shall be deliverance: Against Edom's ruin the oracle sets Zion's deliverance and holiness, and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions, the reversal answering verse 11's dispossession directly. The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble names the two surviving houses of Israel, Judah and the Joseph tribes, against Edom's total consumption, for the Lord hath spoken it closing the sentence as final. The bench takes the fire and stubble figure from Isaiah's own vocabulary of judgment and reads it as Edom's end stated without remainder, there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau.
E. Saviors on Mount Zion, and the kingdom shall be the LORD'svv. 19-21
they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau: The book closes with a map of restored possession, the south taking the mount of Esau, the plain taking the Philistines, Ephraim and Samaria's fields possessed, Benjamin taking Gilead, and exiles as far as Zarephath and Sepharad returning to possess the cities of the south, language the anti-supersessionism ruling holds as Israel's own restoration promise rather than a claim transferred elsewhere. Saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau is the book's last human figure, deliverers raised for the very judgment the whole oracle has announced, and the final clause states the theology the entire chapter has been building toward, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's. Keil and Pusey both read the closing line as Obadiah's answer to Edom's opening pride, every high place brought down until only one throne remains.
Obadiah 1:19
“And they of the South shall possess the mount of Esau - The Church was now hemmed in within Judah and Benjamin. They too were to go into captivity. The prophet looks beyond the captivity and the return, and tells how that original promise to Jacob Gen 28:14 should be fulfilled; “Thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt break North to the West, and to the East, and to the North, and to the South; and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”
2 more voices on this verse
Obadiah 1:19
“And if this were the time of fulfilling the one, doubtless it was the time of fulfilling the other also. And all the land which the ten tribes possessed, shall again be possessed by the Jews. Gilead - Here is promised a larger possession than ever they had before the captivity; and it does, no doubt, point out the enlargement of the church of Christ in the times of the gospel.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Obadiah 1:19
“Benjamin shall possess Gilead--that is, the region east of Jordan, occupied formerly by Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh. Benjamin shall possess besides its own territory the adjoining territory eastward, while the two and a half tribes shall in the redistribution occupy the adjoining territory of Moab and Ammon.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Obadiah 1:20
“Zarephath - Sarepta, a city of the Sidonians, 1Ki 17:9. That is, they should possess the whole city of Phoenicia, called here that of the Canaanites. Which is in Sepharad - This is a difficult word. Some think the Bosphorus is meant; others, Spain; others, France; others, the Euphrates; others, some district in Chaldea; for there was a city called Siphora, in Mesopotamia, above the division of the Euphrates. Dr. Lightfoot says it was a part of Edom.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Obadiah 1:21
“And saviors shall ascend on Mount Zion - The body should not be without its head; saviours there should be, and those, successively. The title was familiar to them of old Jdg 3:9, Jdg 3:15. “The children of Israel cried unto the Lord, Who raised them up a savior, and he saved them. And the Lord gave unto Israel a savior” 2Ki 13:5, in the time of Jehoahaz. Nehemiah says to God, Neh 9:27. “According to Thy manifold mercies, Thou gavest them saviours, who should save them from the hands of their enemies.” So there should be thereafter.”
2 more voices on this verse
Obadiah 1:21
“And people will ascend, gathered on top of Zion, which sums up the goal of the prophecy. For the inhabitants of Zion, he says, are saved by God, who will burst through their chains of servitude. At that time he will ascend and take vengeance against Mount Esau. For they will fight, as I have said, against Edom after the time of captivity, and God will rule over all, although God rejected Esau long ago and withdrew from Judah because of apostasy. For they served Baal and the golden calf.”
Cyril of Alexandria· written before 444· COMMENTARY ON OBADIAHpatristic
Obadiah 1:21
“Mystically, Christ and his apostles, and other preachers of the gospel. To judge - To avenge Israel upon Edom. The Lord's - The God of Israel, Jehovah, shall be honoured, obeyed, and worshipped by all.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
This page carries no textual note on Obadiah 1. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
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