Obadiah 1:3 - Exposition

Hath deceived; Septuagint, ἐπῆρε , "elated;" Vulgate, extulit . The pointing varies. In Obadiah 1:7 Jerome translates the word by illudere . The clefts; Septuagint, ὀπαῖς : Vulgate, scissuris . The word occurs in the parallel passage, Jeremiah 49:16 , and in So Jeremiah 2:14 , where it has the meaning of "refuge." Of the rook. This may be Sela, or Petra, as 2 Kings 14:7 . The country inhabited by the Edomites lay on the eastern side of the Arabah, and extended from the south end of the Dead Sea to the Elanitic Gulf. It was a region of mountain and valley, difficult, and in many parts inaccessible from the west. Rock-hewn dwellings are found everywhere in those hills, the Edomites, when they expelled the aboriginal Troglodytes ( Deuteronomy 2:12 , Deuteronomy 2:22 ), having adopted their habitations and excavated new ones on the same model throughout the whole district. These were useful, not only as being secure from hostile attack, hut as cool retreats in the summer of that scorching tract, and offering a warm shelter in winter when fuel was scarce. Petra, the capital, lay completely hidden at the end of a rocky defile some two miles long, and could easily be defended against an enemy by a handful of men. (For a description of this remarkable place, see the Introduction, § I.)