In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away captive his substance, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.
Obadiah's charge against Edom turns on a single day. Invaders broke Jerusalem open and looted it. Edom, her brother nation, stood off to the side and watched. The verdict is startling: God does not treat Edom as a bystander, but counts him among the invaders.
One writer sets the day in its history. He then lists what Edom did once the looting started.
Obadiah mentions yet another instance of Edom's hatred toward his brother. He refers to the day Jerusalem was captured, when the Babylonians carried the people of Judah off into slavery… Then comes a terrible exposure of what the Edomites did. They had rejoiced over the downfall of the people of Judah. They had seized their goods. They had stood at the crossroads to cut off anyone escaping, and had handed those who got away over to the cruel Babylonians.
Obadiah names two groups — strangers and foreigners. The words mark out people who stood outside the nation: "those who were not of the lineage of Israel," as one reference work puts it (Morrish Bible Dictionary). Edom was not an outsider. That is the whole problem.
Israel's law gave the Edomite a standing no other neighbour had. The reason was the family tie.
Remember that Edom, or Esau, was Jacob's brother. For this reason the Israelite was to treat the Edomite with special regard. The Edomite also had certain privileges tied to "the assembly of the LORD" that no other nation had. "You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother… Children born to them in the third generation may enter the assembly of the LORD" (Deut. 23:7-8).
The verse does not accuse Edom of drawing a sword. It accuses him of where he stood — on the other side — and then counts that standing as partnership. One writer draws the same principle from another scene, where some in Israel held back from the fight:
Ephraim had taken the field against the enemy, but the men of Succoth were holding back, and were really on the side of Midian. No one can be neutral in a time when the lines between Christ and the world are drawn. No one can be neutral without being on the side of the enemy.
Edom read the fall of Judah as a chance for profit. Commentators note that this day is not the last word on Edom.
When the tide turned against Judah, they tried to use Judah's enemies for their own profit, and to feed their undying hatred of the fallen. They made friends with the Babylonians, with Nebuchadnezzar and his captains who came up against Judea… when the final scene comes at the end of the age, Edom is one of the targets of God's judgment on earth. So that people must appear again in their land in the last days. What happened under Nebuchadnezzar is a striking preview of what will be acted out again.
Commentators differ on which attack Obadiah has mainly in mind. Some point to an earlier raid on Jerusalem by Philistines and Arabs, and say "what is recorded in verses 12-14 happened repeatedly" (Arno Clemens Gaebelein).
This verse also reaches past history. One writer turns it on how we treat a person God is disciplining.
We deceive ourselves if we think we must be right when we add grief to those God is disciplining. That is often very far from the truth. The Lord said in Zechariah, "I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are at ease; for while I was angry but a little, they furthered the disaster." Isaiah 47:6 says the same, and so does Obadiah 10-14.
This instinct can be refused. One writer wrote about a church he had left long before, as trouble came upon it:
I left that church more than forty years ago, because I did not think it was the church of God. I am still sure of that. But I am not going to throw an Edomite stone at it in the day of its trouble — quite the opposite… An Edomite was glad when Jerusalem fell, because he hated the place and its testimony. The prophet could judge the evil, and mourn the falling away, and mourn God's judgment on the people who had failed.
- Brother. Relationship measures Edom's crime. He was Jacob's brother, and the law gave him special standing for that reason.
- Stood. The charge is not an attack. Edom stood on the other side while strangers walked through his brother's gates.
- Counted. God closes the gap Edom thought he had kept: watching from a distance made him one of the raiders.
- Repeated. The conduct did not stop at one invasion, and commentators see in it a preview of Edom's part at the end of the age.
- Tested. The verse now tests us — whether we cast a stone at those under God's discipline, or judge the evil and mourn it instead.
But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day of his disaster; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; nor have opened wide thy mouth in the day of distress.
Enemies were plundering Jerusalem. Edom — the nation descended from Jacob's own brother — stood watching and enjoyed the sight. This verse is God's charge against that watching. It names three things Edom should never have done to a brother on his worst day.
The whole force of the rebuke rests on family. Edom and Israel came from two brothers.
This short prophetic book has only one subject: the nation of Edom. Their hatred for Israel will in the end lead to their total destruction. Edom is the name of Esau's descendants… Esau was Jacob's twin brother. Before the twins were even born, God said that the older son Esau would serve the younger son Jacob. Esau came to hate Jacob because he despised his birthright.
That relationship carried legal weight in Israel. God's law gave Edomites a place no other outsider had.
Remember that Edom, or Esau, was Jacob's brother. For this reason an Israelite had to treat an Edomite with special regard. The Edomite also had certain privileges connected with "the assembly of the LORD" that other Gentiles did not get. "You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother… Children born to them in the third generation may enter the assembly of the LORD" (Deut. 23:7-8).
Looking, rejoicing and boasting sound like small sins next to killing and looting. One writer weighs them differently, and notes that God is not yet passing final sentence here.
This is not yet the stern, unchangeable sentence of judgment against Edom. There is still a shift of tone in Obadiah. The LORD is slow to anger and full of compassion. So this prophecy still speaks with hurt affection… Nothing shows more malice and wickedness than to take advantage of a man when he is ruined, or when sorrow and God's chastening are wearing his spirit away. Only a completely depraved heart would use another's fall to trample him further while he is in the dust.
Which disaster does the verse look back on? One writer spreads the charge across more than one invasion, because Edom acted the same way each time.
When Jerusalem was in trouble and the Philistines and Arabs plundered the city, Edom stood on the other side and revolted. More than that, they joined in the plundering. It was the same later when the Babylonians came against Jerusalem. Edom rejoiced and spoke proudly. What we read in verses 12-14 may have happened more than once.
The phrase "the day of their calamity" keeps coming back in verses 12-14. That repetition ties Edom's past to what is still ahead.
He repeats the words "in the day of their calamity" like a refrain… "For the day of the LORD is near upon all the nations." This is the strong link, and the proof, that the past and the future are connected. The day of the LORD in its full and proper sense has never yet arrived. In a partial sense it has come on Egypt. It has come on Babylon. It has come on other great powers that fell one after another under God's dealings. But in the full sense the day of the LORD on all the nations has never yet dawned.
The same hatred appears again in the Gospels. One writer reads Obadiah next to Luke 23.
Compare Obadiah with Luke 23, and we have no trouble seeing Christ in the account of His people's sufferings at the hands of the Edomites. Herod was the cruel prince of Edomite blood. His hatred flamed up against the One who had come in grace to His people as their Deliverer. From the hour of His birth the Edomite had sought to kill Him. And when the last scenes came, soon reaching their climax at Calvary, the Edomite was there to add fresh pain to the sufferings of that Holy One.
The same warning reaches into ordinary life. We can think we are right to press hard on someone God is already disciplining.
We deceive ourselves if we think we must be right when we grieve those whom God is disciplining. This is often very far from being the case. The Lord said in Zechariah, "I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are at ease; for while I was angry but a little, they furthered the disaster." Isaiah 47:6 says the same, and so does Obadiah 10-14. More often, perhaps, we are in God's mind and act as living vessels of the Spirit when we comfort such people.
- Brother. Edom's guilt starts with family — the law itself told Israel to treat an Edomite as a brother.
- Look. The sin starts with the eye. Watching a brother's ruin with pleasure marks a completely depraved heart.
- Gloat. Cheering and proud talk on someone's worst day is what God remembers. He repeats the charge: "the day of their calamity".
- Repeat. Edom acted this way in invasion after invasion. The same hatred rose again in Herod against Christ Himself.
- Reckon. The refrain ends in "the day of the LORD is near". That judgment on all the nations, one writer holds, has never yet fully come.
Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity, nor have looked, even thou, on their affliction in the day of their calamity, neither shouldest thou have laid [hands] on their substance in the day of their calamity;
Obadiah's charge against Edom moves from feeling to action. Edom did not just watch Jerusalem fall. He walked in through her gates and took what was left. Older translations read the verse as a rebuke for what Edom had already done — "you should not have entered" — and each of its three clauses ends on the same phrase: the day of his brother's ruin.
The three clauses trace a descent from standing by, to joining in, to profiting from the disaster.
When Jerusalem was in trouble and the Philistines and Arabs plundered the city (2 Chron. 21:16-17), they stood on the other side and revolted (2 Chron. 21:8-10). And more than that, they joined in plundering the city. So it was afterwards when the Babylonians came against Jerusalem — Edom rejoiced; they spoke proudly. Perhaps what verses 12-14 describe happened again and again. They reached out their hands to seize the property of God's people.
One phrase lands three times in this verse, and it points forward to a day that has not yet come.
He repeats the words "in the day of their calamity" like a refrain. … "For the day of the LORD is near upon all the nations." This is the link that ties the future to the past, and the proof of it. The day of the LORD, in its full and proper sense, has never yet arrived. In a partial sense it has come on Egypt, and on Babylon, and on other great powers that fell one after another under God's dealings. But in the full sense, the day of the LORD on all the nations has never yet dawned.
The offence is not simply the plunder. It is the moment Edom chose for it.
Nothing shows more malice and wickedness than taking advantage of someone when he is ruined, or when sorrow drains his spirit under God's discipline. Only a completely depraved heart could use another's fall to trample him further into the dust.
The gate Edom entered belonged to relatives. Israel's law had given the Edomite a standing no other outsider enjoyed.
Remember that Edom, or Esau, was Jacob's brother. Because of this, the Israelite had to treat the Edomite with special regard. The Edomite also had certain privileges connected with "the assembly of the LORD" that no other nation had. "You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother … Children born to them in the third generation may enter the assembly of the LORD" (Deut. 23:7-8).
Even when God Himself is correcting His people, those who add to the blow answer for it.
God's case against the nations is this: in the day when He was angry with His people, they made the affliction worse. We read this in Zech. 1:15. How much more, then, can we expect to find Him angry with Edom, Jacob's brother, for looking on him in the day of his calamity!
The same pattern shows up at the trial of Jesus, in a ruler of Edomite descent.
Edom stood in the gates of Jerusalem on the day of Judah's affliction, to look on their calamity with triumph. In the same way, the Gospel makes a point of telling us that Herod the Edomite, on the day of Christ's affliction, "was himself in Jerusalem at that time." He was there on the scene, to add bitterness to the already full cup of the holy Sufferer.
The comparison reaches its worst point in what each man did next.
Worst of all, Edom "handed over his survivors." And the Gospel writer tells us of Jesus that Herod "sent Him back to Pilate." There you read the malice of the Edomite!
Commentators expect the same scene before the Lord appears.
All this will happen once more, when another great prophecy comes true and hostile nations surround Jerusalem again (Zech. 14:1-5). … Another siege of Jerusalem is coming, before the glorious appearing of the King of Israel, our Lord. … Among those nations Edom will be there once more.
The attitude condemned in Edom is one God weighs in anyone.
How selfish and low it is to rejoice in the fall of an enemy! It may please the crafty enemy, and the flesh too. But do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles. If you do, the LORD will surely see it and be displeased, and He will turn His anger away from him. And towards whom? Let your conscience answer.
- Day of calamity — one phrase rules the verse. The timing, not just the theft, is the crime.
- Day against a brother — the gate Edom entered was his brother's. Israel's law said not to abhor an Edomite, because he was family.
- Day of plunder — Edom moved from standing aside to joining in. He made himself one with Jerusalem's enemies.
- Day of Christ — Herod the Edomite was in Jerusalem on the day of Christ's affliction, and sent Him back to Pilate.
- Day of the LORD — that day on the nations has never yet dawned. It will find Edom, and every heart that is glad at a neighbour's fall.
and thou shouldest not have stood on the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape, nor have delivered up those remaining of him in the day of distress.
Edom's crime against Judah reaches its lowest point in this verse. Its men waited where the escape roads met, caught the people fleeing the ruined city, and handed them to the enemy — so why does God single out this act, and what does it say about turning on your own family?
Edom did not simply look on. The prophet describes a people who moved from watching, to plundering, to blocking the roads out of the ruined city.
They stretched out their hands for the possession of God's people. They placed themselves at the crossroads to cut off the fugitives and delighted to deliver up into the hands of their enemies the remnant which was left.
Those handed over were given to the invading power that had just taken Jerusalem:
They had rejoiced over the downfall of the people of Judah. They had seized their goods. They had stood at the crossroads to cut off anyone escaping. They had even handed over to the cruel Babylonians those who had got away.
The charge rests on family. Israel's law gave the Edomite a standing no other foreign nation had.
Remember that Edom, or Esau, was Jacob's brother. For that reason the Israelite had to treat the Edomite with special regard. The Edomite also had privileges connected with "the assembly of the LORD" that no other Gentile was given. "You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother… Children born to them in the third generation may enter the assembly of the LORD" (Deut. 23:7-8).
Commentators single out the timing of the cruelty — it fell on people already crushed.
Nothing shows more malice and wickedness than taking advantage of a man when he is ruined, when sorrow drains his spirit, and when God is disciplining him. Only a completely corrupt heart could use another's fall to trample him further while he lies in the dust.
God had judged His own people. That gave no one else the right to pile on, and Edom's place as brother made the offence worse.
God's charge against the nations is this: on the day when He was angry with His people, they made the trouble worse. We read this in Zechariah 1:15. How much more, then, should we expect Him to be angry with Edom, Jacob's brother, for looking on him in the day of his disaster!
One writer sets Edom's past crime beside the attack on Jerusalem still to come.
Jerusalem will be attacked again by these nations. Edom plays a sorrowful part on this occasion, and its judgment matches its sin. The nation is entirely cut off. When the rest of the world rejoices, the desolation of Edom will be complete. Edom had planned to take advantage of the attack of the nations upon Jerusalem and to seize the land. It joined the attack by lying in wait — as was natural to a people whose habits were those of the Arab tribes — to cut off the retreat of those trying to escape. The men of Edom did not know that the day of Jehovah was upon all the nations. They did not know that this conduct would only bring down a special curse on their own heads.
One writer traces the same pattern into the Gospels, where Herod, an Edomite, stands near Christ in His suffering.
Edom stood in the gates of Jerusalem in the day of Judah's affliction, to look on their disaster with triumph. In the same way, Scripture makes a point of telling us about Herod the Edomite, in the day of Christ's affliction, that he "was himself in Jerusalem at that time." He was on the scene, to add bitterness to the already full cup of the holy Sufferer. Worst of all, Edom handed over "his survivors." And the Gospel writer tells us that Herod "sent Him back to Pilate." There you read the malice of the Edomite!
This is not only ancient history. The same spirit is easy to slip into whenever God's people fail.
Let us take the lesson to heart, for we can easily fall into the same spirit as the Edomite. Jeremiah saw the failures and sins of God's people, but he wept over them. Daniel and other godly men confessed those sins as their own. The spirit of the Edomite is different: bitter hatred against people who, whatever their failures, are still the people of God. That spirit especially displeases Him.
- Crossroads. Edom's worst act was not attacking, but waiting where the survivors ran, then handing them over.
- Brother. The law told Israel not to hate an Edomite because he was a brother; Edom repaid that standing with betrayal.
- Kicking. The cruelty is at its worst because it fell on people already ruined and already under God's discipline.
- Cut off. God's charge against the nations is that they added to the trouble when He was angry with His people. For Edom that ends in total desolation.
- Mirror. The same spirit can live in anyone today. The other road is Jeremiah's, who wept over the failure, and Daniel's, who confessed it as his own.