Obadiah 1:13 - Exposition

In this verse it is the making common cause with the enemy in the plundering of Jerusalem that is complained of. Thou shouldest not have entered. Do not enter ; so below, "do not look," "lay not hands" (see note on Obadiah 1:12 ). The gate of my people; i.e. Jerusalem, the capital, as Micah 1:9 . In the day of their calamity, repeated thrice with sorrowful emphasis, as making the Edomites' conduct more reproachful. Yea, thou shouldest not have looked. Hebrew, "look not thou also"—thou, as well as the alien enemies. What is natural in them is a crime in thee (comp. Psalms 22:17 ). Their affliction; Septuagint, τὴν συναγωγὴν αὐτῶν , "their gathering"—a different reading from the Masoretic. Substance, as in Micah 1:11 . This was a further aggravation; they helped to plunder Jerusalem. Septuagint, μὴ μεγαλοῤῥημονῇ , "Do not set upon their host;" Vulgate, Et non emitteris adverus exercitum ejus . This implies a warning against being instigated by the enemy to attack the Jewish forces. But the rendering in the text is doubtless correct.