Obadiah 1:12

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Obadiah 1:10-16

When we have read Edom's doom, no less than utter ruin, it is natural to ask, Why, what evil has he done? What is the ground of God's controversy with him? Many things, no doubt, were amiss in Edom; they were a sinful people, and a people laden with iniquity. But that one single crime which is laid to their charge, as filling their measure and bringing this ruin upon them, that for which they here stand indicted, of which they are convicted, and for which they are condemned, is the injury they... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Obadiah 1:12

But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother ,.... The day of his calamity, distress, and destruction, as afterwards explained; that is, with delight and satisfaction, as pleased with it, and rejoicing at it; but rather should have grieved and mourned, and as fearing their turn would be next: or, "do not look" F20 אל תרא "ne aspicias", Junius & Tremellius; "ne aspicito", Piscator; "ne spectes", Cocceius. ; so some read it in the imperative, and in like manner... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Obadiah 1:12

Thou shouldest not have looked - It shows a malevolent heart to rejoice in the miseries of those who have acted unkindly or wickedly towards us. The Edomites triumphed when they saw the judgments of God fall upon the Jews. This the Lord severely reprehends in Obadiah 1:12-15 . If a man have acted cruelly towards us, and God punish him for this cruelty, and we rejoice in it, we make his crime our own; and then, as we have done, so shall it be done unto us; see Obadiah 1:15 . All these... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Obadiah 1:12

Verse 12 The Prophet enumerates here the kinds of cruelty which the Idumeans exercised towards the Church of God, the children of Abraham, their own kindred. But he speaks by way of prohibition; it is then a personification, by which the Prophet introduces God as the speaker, as though he taught and admonished them on the duties of human kindness. Engraven, indeed, on their hearts ought all these to have been, on account of which he now reproaches them; for by forgetting humanity they had... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Obadiah 1:1-16

Part I. THE DESTRUCTION OF EDOM, AND THE CAUSE THEREOF. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Obadiah 1:10-14

§ 2. The cause of Edom ' s destruction . This punishment falls upon her as the result of the malice and unfriendliness which she has displayed to wards Israel in the time of calamity, in that she rejoiced at her sister's disaster and took part with her enemies. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Obadiah 1:10-14

A neighbour's cruelty. The prophet deeply feels the injury which Esau has inflicted upon Israel, and the language of this passage gives evidence of a heart deeply aggrieved and wronged and distressed. We have, indeed, in these verses an example of the length to which the cruelty of man can go. I. THE DETAILS OF THIS CRUELTY . 1 . Edom is charged with siding with foreigners against Jerusalem in the day when the city was assaulted and taken. 2 . And with rejoicing over... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Obadiah 1:10-14

Edom's cruelty. Here one of the great sins of Edom is denounced in very forcible language. Notice the succession of pointed sentences. "Thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother." The eyes were in the transgression. Hagar, we read, could not look upon Ishmael in his distress. But Edom could look on afflicted Jacob. "Thou shouldest not have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction." The emotions were in the transgression. "Love rejoiceth not in... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Obadiah 1:10-14

An old sin. "For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off forever. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them," etc. These words present to us an old sin in one or two aspects. I. HERE IS AN OLD SIN WORKING IN THE HISTORY OF POSTERITY . "For thy... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Obadiah 1:10-16

Social cruelty: 1. A sin against the Creator. "For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off forever," etc. Social cruelty is the grand subject of these verses, and the cruelty is that which one brother perpetrates on another—Esau on Jacob. "Wrong or violence is all the more reprehensible when it is committed against a brother. The fraternal relation in which Edom stood towards Judah is still more sharply defined by the name Jacob, since Esau... read more

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