Obadiah 1:7

Obadiah 1:7 takes us back to Obadiah 1:1. There we are told that Edom attempted to instigate a conspiracy against Judah; Obadiah 1:7 states that her attempts will be futile; the allies in which she puts her trust will prove her ruin. The erroneous interpretation of Obadiah 1:1 (see above) is responsible for many wild statements concerning the meaning of Obadiah 1:7; if the interpretation suggested above is accepted the difficulties vanish. There certainly is no reason for separating Obadiah 1:7 from the preceding verses; Obadiah 1:1-9 form one continuous oracle.

All the men of thy confederacy Those who joined or were expected to join the confederacy planned by Edom (Obadiah 1:1); hence identical with “the nations” (Obadiah 1:1).

Have brought thee even to the border R.V., “on thy way, even to the border”; margin, “have driven thee out.” This marginal reading is accepted by several recent writers, and the driving out of the Edomites is interpreted of their expulsion from their borders by Arab tribes during the sixth or fifth century B.C. Others understand the words as signifying that the allies sent “their troops with them as far as the frontier and then ordered them to turn back.” Neither view is correct. The meaning is rather that the ambassadors whom Edom had sent to negotiate the alliance, and who thus represented the nation, were sent back to the frontier with due respect and ceremonies, with fair speeches and pleasing promises. In reality not one of the nations cared to entangle herself in such an alliance.

The men that were at peace with thee The surrounding nations; identical with “men of thy confederacy” and “the nations” (Obadiah 1:1). The Edomites expected to experience no difficulty in persuading their friendly neighbors to join the conspiracy.

Have deceived thee By making fair promises when they had no intention of keeping them.

Prevailed against thee Standing by itself this expression might mean that “these very nations with whom they have hitherto been on terms of amity and peace shall turn their forces against them and prevail.” But this is not the meaning in this passage.

Jeremiah 38:22, offers a good parallel. There R.V. margin reads, “The men of thy peace (the identical expression) have deceived thee, and have prevailed over thee: now that thy feet are sunk in the mire, they are turned away back.” The meaning of this passage is that the false advisers got the king into trouble and then left him to his fate. This is the thought of Obadiah. The nations made fair promises and thus encouraged the scheme of Edom; they overcame any scruples or hesitancy on the part of the latter; but when the real crisis arrives Edom will have to fight her battles alone.

They that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee R.V., “lay a snare under thee”; literally, thy bread they lay a snare under thee. A very difficult and much-discussed expression. Following the rather free renderings of A.V. and R.V., it is commonly interpreted in the sense that those who are bound to the Edomites by sacred ties of hospitality will make a treacherous assault upon them. Keil translates, “They make thy bread a wound under thee,” but his interpretation closely resembles the one just given (see below). Nowack considers the case hopeless, while other recent writers have suggested more or less radical emendations. Thus Marti reads, “they will settle in thy place”; Winckler, “thy flesh they will devour, thy sustenance they will take away.” Cheyne substitutes proper names in accord with his peculiar Yerachmeelite theory. The difference of opinion among scholars is due to uncertainty with regard to two points. In the first place, it is not certain what part of the sentence is “thy bread”; in the next, the meaning of masor cannot be fully determined. Does it mean snare or wound? Evidently “thy bread” is not the subject of the verb, for the former is in the singular while the latter is in the plural. Hence Keil takes it to be the first object of the verb. Then he continues: “And consequently the subject of the previous clause still continues in force: they who befriended thee make thy bread, that is, the bread which they ate from thee or with thee, into a wound under thee, that is, an occasion for destroying thee.” Recognizing the need of a more lucid interpretation, he adds: “We have not to think of common meals of hospitality here,… but the words are to be taken figuratively, after the analogy of Psalms 41:10, which floated before the prophet’s mind,… as denoting conspiracies on the part of those who were allied to Edom, and drew their own sustenance from it, the rich trading nation, to destroy that very nation.” Keil thus understands masor to mean “wound,” and for this he finds support in such passages as Hosea 5:13; Jeremiah 30:13; compare Isaiah 1:6. Others supply from the preceding clause only “men,” and combining this with “thy bread” read. “men of thy bread” that is, men who have eaten bread with thee and thus are bound to thee by the sacred ties of hospitality; or, men who draw their sustenance from thee (so A.V. and R.V.). Hitzig reaches the same result by supplying a participial form, “they that eat thy bread.” Whatever rendering we may give to the Hebrew, the expression remains peculiar. A smoother reading is offered by LXX., which omits the first troublesome word entirely, carries the subject over from the preceding clause, and translates masor “snare,” giving to it a meaning not found elsewhere in the Old Testament. Following the LXX. we may read, “The men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and have prevailed against thee; they have placed a snare under thee.”

Ordinary intelligence should have recognized the deception, but Edom was blind; hence the exclamation,

There is none understanding in him That is, in Edom (masculine throughout, see on Obadiah 1:1). This does not mean, “in consequence of the calamity which thus bursts upon the Edomites they lose their wonted discernment, and know neither what to do nor how to help themselves”; nor is it equivalent to “all this is caused by thy want of understanding”; it is simply an exclamation of amazement that the Edomites should fail to see the evident deception. The change in the same address from the second person to the third is not uncommon in Hebrew prophecy, and in the present case it is quite natural, since the exclamation is not addressed directly to Edom, nor to anyone else in particular.