COMMENTARY ON THE PROPHET OBADIAH

Book 1

Obadiah again prophesies indeed in times, as it seems, in which also Joel, and he almost shares the vision with him, and the narrative is divided. For the divine Joel, at the very end of his prophecy, "Egypt, he says, will be for destruction, and Idumea for a "plain of destruction because of the injustices of the sons of Judah, for which they poured out righteous blood in their land." And he narrates in detail, in due time, in what manner and how the destruction of Idumea will be. But since it is profitable for those who will encounter the composition of the book to learn accurately and before all else, who Idumea is, what happened to it, and for what reason indeed it has been subjected to calamities from divine wrath, come, let us speak, as is possible, explaining such things clearly in detail to the lovers of learning. The Idumeans, then, are called and are those descended from Esau. For since he was named Edom, that is, earthly, on account of selling his birthright, and of disregarding the honor owed to him from it, and of preferring the serving of one meal, and that a most worthless one, for this reason they also named the ones born from him Idumeans. The land of the Idumeans is called both Seir and Teman; Seir, because its inhabitants were said to be hairy, and Esau was also hairy, for he was covered with hair; and Seir is interpreted as hairiness, or hairy. And there was also a mountain in the land of Seir. Teman, on the other hand, because it is very southerly. For Teman means south in the Hebrew language. But to some it seems that it was called Teman for another reason. For they say that a son, Eliphaz, was born to Esau in due time, and from Eliphaz came Teman, from whom the land is also called Teman. And this is sufficient concerning Idumea and those in it. But they perished for such a reason as this. For when Jerusalem was being besieged by Nebuchadnezzar, and had come to the last extremes of evil—for countless men were falling, consumed by the swords of the nations—some were saved with difficulty, and were carried off to the lands of the neighboring nations; and most of those from Israel went down especially to Idumea, as it was their neighbor, and they thought that they would sympathize with them as brothers, and would remember the kinship of blood, and would grant aid to those who had fared miserably. But they, although they ought to have pitied them as brothers, received them into their own land, but slaughtered them, running around the borders of Idumea in the manner of robbers, seizing them while they were in turmoil and terrified. And they were so inhuman as to surpass even the savagery of the Babylonians. For they went against them, as I said, as they were perishing, mocking and making the calamities of their kinsmen an occasion for a festival. The Judeans, therefore, at that time departed into the land of the Persians and Medes. But when the seventy years had already passed, God had mercy; for they were brought back to Judea; they made haste both to rebuild the city itself and to raise up again the temple in it. But the Idumeans, again, their brothers and neighbors, were consumed with envy, and wished to prevent such undertakings, gathering the like-minded and neighboring barbarians, and indeed they even went to battle. And they fell and perished in the valley of Jehoshaphat, with God defending those of Israel. And since the Idumeans had become more burdensome than the foreigners, those of Israel overran their country, and killed those in it, and searching the holes of the rocks and caves and hiding places of the earth, they slaughtered those who were found. The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord God to Idumea: I have heard a report from the Lord, and he has sent a command to the nations: Arise, and let us rise up against it to war. In these words he interprets for us the whole purpose of his own prophecy, that is, of his vision, and makes clear where it is aimed. For he tries to fully convince that his vision is about the things that are to come upon Idumea. For he confirms the hearers in faith, and tries to persuade them that what is spoken will in every way and entirely come to pass, saying that the words are least of all his own, but rather God's. He said, then, that he heard a report from God against Idumea. And what this might mean, he himself immediately clarified, adding that a command to the nations he sent forth. But what nations? Those of Idu- mea. For he says the surrounding, or siege, that is, the enclosure, was sent against them, with the divine judgment compel- ling them of necessity to suffer desolation. Or also in another way. For he commanded the nations around Idumea to carry out the surrounding, or the siege. And he commanded not altogether clearly, but as it were arousing as God, and sharpening them against them, which things, persuaded by divine nods, they say, having been driven on, almost shouting one to another, "Arise, and let us rise up against her to war." For they invaded along with those from Israel who were ravaging Idumea and the neighboring nations. Behold, I have made you small among the nations, you are greatly dishonored. The pride of your heart has lifted you up, you who dwell in the holes of the rocks, who make your habitation high, saying in your heart, "Who will bring me down to the earth?" Though you soar aloft like the eagle and though you set your nest among the stars, thence I will bring you down, says the Lord. He says he was made small among the nations and dishonored because they had become altogether few in number, if they were compared to the multitude of those attacking; for very many, as I said, were sharpened against them. Or he says they became few, as the war had spent them, and had altogether reduced their race to a few. And from very great foolishness, the prophetic word implies to us that the Idumean used empty boastings. For he thought he would be hard to capture by his enemies, not because of his inherent strength and skill in war, but because the roughness and inaccessibility of the country was going to suffice for their salvation. For there were hills every- where, and dreadful overhanging crags of rocks, and the wildness of mounds, and the heights of mountains. Why then, he says, do you boast in vain against the hand of those who are coming? For even if you have dwelt in a country which has received much inaccessibility, and is lifted on high, and even if you were to become an eagle, having its nest, as it were, in the air—and the word is again hyperbolic—yet from there you will be dashed down, as God drags you down; for absolutely nothing is impossible for him. If thieves had come to you, or robbers by night, where would you have been cast off? Would they not have stolen what was enough for themselves? And if grape-gatherers had come to you, would they not have left some gleanings? How Esau has been searched out, and his hidden things have been seized! We have already said before that even by searching the clefts of the mountains, and the caves and chasms in the rocks, and the thickets, the foreign peoples who invaded and attacked along with those from Israel slaughtered the Idumeans, so that very few, or no one at all, was able to escape. The word therefore mocks them, and in a way speaks ironically and says: If you had experienced a robber's raid, and tribes of thieves had visited you, would they not have been content to take what was likely to be enough for them? And if indeed some were harvesting like a vine, would not the gleaning have escaped notice, even though the eye of those accustomed to harvest is exceedingly curious? But it was necessary for this to happen to them, and not by their own will, because for thieves, fear always commends flight, and to get away unnoticed, and if they snatch any of the things at hand, it seems to be enough for their satisfaction; but for harvesters, the foliage is always an obstacle to their search, taking away and concealing what can be hidden. But to you, he says, O Esau, that is, O Idumean from the blood of Esau, it has happened to suffer worse things; for the hidden things were seized, and no one escaped notice, and flight was useless, and the very inaccessibility of the places. They sent you forth to your borders; all the men of your covenant have stood against you, the men at peace with you have prevailed against you; those who ate with you have set a trap under you, there is no understanding in them. In that day, says the Lord, I will destroy the wise men from Idumea, and understanding from Mount Esau. And your mighty men from Teman shall be dismayed, so that every man may be cut off from Mount Esau, because of the slaughter and the impiety toward your brother Jacob; and shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever; From the day you stood opposed, on the day that foreigners took his power captive, and strangers entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you also were as one of them. When those from Israel wanted to hinder them from building the temple and fortifying the holy city, those of the blood of Esau made covenants of unanimity with the neighboring nations, as we have already said. But when it happened that their country was captured by the campaigning forces of Israel, then those who were once genuine and conspirators and allies of all the others became more burdensome, ravaging and fighting. Therefore, he says, the war has sent you forth to your borders, that is, it has prepared you to disappear; for this is the meaning of "has sent you forth": not by invading parts of your country, but by taking the whole of it by force, and bringing it to desolation up to its very borders. But they stood against you and have made war on you, he says, those whom it was perhaps very likely, according to your hope, to feel pain for you in your suffering. But they have laid snares under you, from whom you expected to be saved. But in the phrase, "There is no understanding in him," some such meaning is conveyed. They called wise and understanding men the false prophets and buffoons, the deceivers and augurs, and those who pour forth the false fables of the stars, who have come to such a point of nonsense as to foolishly suppose that from these things they can grasp the knowledge of future events. Those who were cast into the worship of idols were greatly excited by this. The Idumeans, being sick with this along with the others, when the war was about to be proclaimed, considered the outcome of what was to happen; and gathering the wise men in these matters, they commanded them to report where the affairs of the war would lead for them. And they, as was likely, prophesied victory for them, but they were captured and have fallen, their art having failed them; and the wretched ones were proven to be utterly without understanding, speaking falsely. And that although the men of Teman were formerly bold, these same Idumeans will be unmanly and terrified, he indicated by adding that "your mighty men from Teman shall be dismayed, so that every man from Mount Esau may be cut off," that is, until they perish down to the last one from Idumea. He therefore makes clear the cause of the disaster brought upon them, that it was "because of the slaughter and the impiety toward your brother." For since you have slain, he says, the one near in blood by kinship, that is, Jacob, or those from Jacob, you will be consumed by war, and you will be completely destroyed, full of shame and disgrace. And that they will have an irreversible fate, and will remain in such terrible disasters, he has signified by saying, "And you shall be cut off forever." And in "From the day," he recalls the time when the Babylonians had taken Judea, and were plundering the things in it, and had received by lot the things gathered from Jerusalem, they themselves lay in wait for the fugitives and slaughtered them, and as it were collaborated with the foreigners and with those who were carrying off the descendants of Jacob into captivity. So they were caught exulting in the disasters of their brothers, and yielding little to the Babylonians in savagery. And do not look on the day of your brother in the day of strangers, and do not rejoice over the sons of Judah in the day of their destruction, and do not boast in the day of affliction, nor enter into the gates of the peoples in the day of their troubles; nor should you look upon their assembly in the day of their ruin, nor join in attacking their power in the day of their destruction; do not stand at their crossroads to destroy their survivors, nor shut up their fugitives in the day of affliction. He then enumerates again the charges against the Idumeans, the harsh showing that they have become merciless. The word is fashioned, as if to those already being struck and tortured, with God exclaiming and reproaching the manner of their sin. To look upon is to laugh at and rejoice over suffering brothers, and to make the misfortunes of others an occasion for delight, although the divine scripture says that one must not smile at all at those who suffer. And in 'do not rejoice' and the rest, he again enumerates the crimes of the Idumean, showing that he had become harsh and merciless, and this toward brothers. For he says, do not you yourself hasten inside the gates along with the Assyrians, not extending a helping hand, as to brothers, but rather to plunder. And do not look upon the assembly being miserably destroyed; nor indeed add burdens to those greatly oppressed by you; nor indeed be a snare to those who flee, guarding the exits and setting traps, so that no one, caught in your lack of affection, might be saved, even if he should escape the sword of the enemies. Everywhere the word accuses the inhumanity of the Idumeans, so that again the divine judgment might be seen as truly holy and blameless, with those who have committed those transgressions being justly punished. Because the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations; as you have done, so shall it be to you; your recompense shall be returned upon your own head. Because as you have drunk upon my holy mountain, all the nations shall drink wine, they shall drink and go down, and they shall be as though they had not been; but in mount Zion there shall be salvation, and it shall be holy. He proclaims again the time of war, during which the neighboring nations, gathered together with the Idumeans in the valley of Jehoshaphat, have paid bitter penalties. And he calls it the day of the Lord. For it was God who delivered to those of Israel those who had unrighteously wronged them; and that they will be punished by a holy judgment, he makes clear, saying, As you have done, so shall it be to you. For the divine nature weighs the faults of each, and in every way brings a corresponding punishment, for those things in which each might be found to have transgressed. And in 'because as you have drunk,' he indicates something like this: It is perhaps a custom for those who have conquered their enemies, to boast over the conquered, to hold feasts and drinking parties, and indeed to shout out cries of victory and to fulfill the works of drunkenness. As you therefore mocked, he says, and danced upon those of Israel, drinking and dancing in exultation, and making the misfortunes of your brothers an occasion for a festival, so all the nations shall drink and dance in exultation over you; and they shall come down against you, that is, they will overrun your country. And you yourself shall be counted among those who do not exist. For you shall be so destroyed, as to seem somehow never to have existed. The divinely-inspired scripture calls the Church mount Zion; for it is truly high, and truly a watchtower, and holy in addition to these things, since it is the house and city of the all-holy God. And the house of Jacob shall possess those who possessed them; and the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, but the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall be kindled against them, and shall devour them, and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau, because the Lord has spoken. And they in the Negeb shall possess the mount of Esau, and they in the Shephelah the Philistines; and they shall possess the mount of Ephraim and the plain of Samaria and Benjamin and Gilead. The senseless Idumean thought that he would have the house of Jacob as an inheritance, that is, those from the seed of Jacob, and indeed he divided up the land, having helped to ravage it. But, he says, the matter will be unexpectedly reversed for them. For they shall be an inheritance for those of Jacob. And they will be consumed in such a way, as stubble would be by a flame. For the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph will be in no way inferior to the powers of a flame. Therefore they shall be completely devoured, so that one would not be able to find a single survivor from an entire tribe or nation. And it seems that the the account, following the trope, speaks of them as fire-bearing, for it named the house of Jacob fire, and in turn the house of Joseph a flame. And the house of Jacob would reasonably be understood as those from Judah and Benjamin, while the house of Joseph, those in Samaria, that is, the ten tribes, whose kings from time to time were from the tribe of Ephraim, and Manasseh and Ephraim were from Joseph. But in the phrase, 'those in the Negeb shall inherit,' this is signified. For when the Babylonians, leaving their own land, came against Jerusalem, with Nebuchadnezzar rousing them to battle, it necessarily happened that the entire land of the Jews was ravaged, and was consequently brought to such misery as to be reduced to a complete wilderness and seen stripped of its inhabitants. But when, God having taken pity and having loosed the snares of captivity, they were brought back again to their own land, he says they will be so enlarged, and will increase to such a numerous multitude, that the lands of the neighboring nations will also be allotted, as Judea would likely be too small. And this would be a very clear sign of blessing from God. For 'those in the Negeb,' he says, that is, those in the south; for Negeb is interpreted as south; 'shall make the mountain of Esau their inheritance,' that is, Idumea. For since it is southern, those who inhabited the southern parts of Judea will by all means take possession of it as a neighbor and borderland. And those in the Shephelah, that is, those in the plain—and this part of the land of the Jews is certainly somewhat more northern—'shall inherit the land of the foreigners.' He means the Philistines, or Palestinians. And they shall possess no less the mountain of Ephraim, Samaria, Benjamin, and Gilead. These are allotments that were distributed at various times to the tribes of Israel, when Jesus who came after Moses was general. But since they had been desolated by the hand of the Assyrians even before Nebuchadnezzar arrived, by the kings Pul and Shalmaneser, for this reason he says that these places too will be inhabited and will escape the desolation that had occurred long ago. And this is the dominion of the captivity for the sons of Israel, the land of the Canaanites as far as Sarepta, and the captivity of Jerusalem as far as Ephrathah; and they shall inherit the cities of the Negeb. And men who have been saved shall go up from mount Zion to take vengeance on the mountain of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's. Here he calls 'captivity' those who were transported from Jerusalem, that is, from all of Judea, to Babylon. And he says that their 'dominion' will be the inheritance that will be under their hand and authority; just as one might speak of the 'rule' of so-and-so in the case of a ruler. Therefore, he says, for those formerly transported, the land of the Canaanites will be both a dominion and an inheritance; he means Arabia, and as far as Sarepta, which is of Sidonia, so that by this you may understand the land of the Phoenicians. And he says it will be extended as far as Ephrathah, that is, as has been rendered by the other interpreters, even to the Bosphorus, which is the southernmost parts of the east. And he says they will bring under themselves the cities of the Negeb, that is, of the south. And through these things, the discourse seems to us to signify the nations of India; for the Indians and their lands are very far to the south. It is as if he were saying, for instance: 'All things will be full of them, those to the south, to the north, to the east, to the west, and they will simply possess every city and land.' And in the phrase 'and men shall go up,' the purpose of the prophecy is in a way recapitulated. For the inhabitants of Zion, he says, having been saved by God, and having broken the bonds of captivity, shall in due time go up and execute vengeance upon the mountain of Esau. For they made war, as I said, against the Idumeans after the times of the captivity, and God of all has reigned over them, although formerly He had rejected this, and had departed from Judea on account of their apostasy. For they had served idols, and the golden calves. But when they returned, He received them again and reigned over them; for the Master is philanthropic and benevolent, and easy to be reconciled with those who offend; if only we show some small turning towards him; to him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.