Obadiah 1:12

"But look not thou on the day of thy brother in the day of his disaster, and rejoice not over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither speak proudly in the day of distress. Enter not into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, look not thou on their affliction in the day of their calamity, neither lay ye hands on their substance in the day of their calamity. And stand thou not in the crossway to cut off those of his that escape; and deliver not up those of his that remain in the day of distress."

These three verses have been subject to radically different interpretations. The problem lies in the use of strong, repeated, negative imperatives as follows:

"Look not thou on the day ..." Obadiah 1:1:12

"Rejoice not over the children of Judah ..." Obadiah 1:1:12

"Enter not into the gate ..." Obadiah 1:1:13

"Look not thou on their affliction ..." Obadiah 1:1:13

"Neither lay ye hands on their substance ..." Obadiah 1:1:13

"Stand thou not in the crossway ..." Obadiah 1:1:14

"Deliver not up those of his that remain ..." Obadiah 1:1:14

The most noticeable feature of these statements is their stark contrast with the description of Edom's sin outlined in the two preceding verses where Edom's action was stated simply in the past tense. Many of the present-day scholars violently convert this whole passage to the past tense, referring it to actions already committed by Edom, telling us that, "In highly imaginative fashion, the prophet speaks of events in the past as if they were still present."[11] "This is a rhetorical device, and the RSV is right in seeing that it refers to the past."[12] If such views are true, where is there another example of it in the whole Bible? Whoever heard of a "rhetorical device" by which a prophet of God warned a people against doing what they had already done? Such interpretations, or mistranslations as in the RSV and others, fall far short of credibility. If there had existed any such "rhetorical device" known to grammarians in the last three centuries, there would have been no need whatever to mistranslate the Word of God in order to make it visible. We shall take a look at the translation factor first. What does the Sacred Text declare?

No one can deny that the rendition in the ASV is correct. Even Robinson, as do practically all others who refer the passage to past events, freely admitted, "The ASV represents the actual construction of the Hebrew."[13] Commenting on the KJV text, "Thou shouldest not," Barnes wrote:

"It means, and can only mean, `and look not, on the day of thy brother ... rejoice not ... enter not into the gate ... etc.' Throughout these verses Obadiah uses the future only. It is the voice of earnest exhortation and entreaty not to do what would displease God, and what, if done, would be punished."[14]

That the terrible conduct in view in these verses had indeed already been exhibited by the Edomites is hardly open to question. The attitudes and behaviour appearing here had been characteristic of the Edomites for generations of their long, bitter hatred of their close kinsmen the Jews; and Butler is almost certainly correct in his explanation of the passage thus:

"Obadiah used the perfect tense to indicate that such events had not only taken place but that they would take place again. Starting from particular historical events which had already happened, Obadiah saw in them all subsequent events of a similar kind. What Edom had done to Judah was typical of what would be the future relationship between the elect of God and the forces of evil."[15]

While receiving fully what Butler observed regarding this place, we wish to go beyond it in one particular. Not only did Obadiah foresee a perpetual and continuing hatred of the good by the wicked, he also foresaw a re-play of the whole sordid drama which had already occurred, upon another occasion YET FUTURE from Obadiah's time, when Jerusalem WOULD BE destroyed by the Babylonians and the Israelites carried into captivity. There is therefore a definite and circumstantial prophecy in these verses of the overthrow of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. One can hardly resist the thought that a prior prejudice against any such conception as that of predictive prophecy has entered into the enthusiasm that lies behind the unwillingness of some to accept the future tense which is necessarily and most certainly in these verses.

All misinterpretations have their purpose. Look what is done and accomplished by perverting this passage to the PAST tense! It changes what is most certainly a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. to a reference to that event as ALREADY in the past. This also moves the prophecy of Obadiah out of the mid-9th century into the mid-6th century B.C., thus serving the double purpose of late dating the prophecy and getting rid of his prediction of the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. Something better than an alleged "literary device" will have to be thought of before this prophecy can be negated!

The actual conduct envisioned here hardly needs any comment, being as graphically and clearly stated as possible. That this conduct did not apply to the historical instance already referred to in Obadiah 1:1:10-11, is clear from the fact that in it, there was no mention of the Edomites actually participating in the looting of the city, whereas in the latter, they are warned against actual participation in its destruction. Allen insisted that there was participation evidenced in Obadiah 1:1:11, paraphrasing as follows: "Taking their cue from the Chaldean victors (Obadiah 1:1:11), they looted like any other foreigner."[16] Nevertheless, this appears to be a deduction from very weak premises. But, as regards Obadiah 1:1:12-14, there can be no doubt of reference to the final overthrow by Nebuchadnezzar. Thompson declared that:

"The reference is almost certainly to the catastrophe of 586 B.C. This is the only capture of Jerusalem in which it is recorded that the Edomites had a part. (See Psalms 137:7,1Esdras 4:45.)"[17]

Of course, the filling up of the wrath of God on the part of Edom took place in 586; and, therefore, the vigorous warnings of Obadiah 1:1:12-14 were at the time of Obadiah's writing extremely appropriate. The prophecy here indicated that they would not heed the warning. On the other hand, to suppose that Obadiah here warned them against crimes which they had already committed makes no sense at all.