Obadiah 1:13

Oba 1:13 Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid [hands] on their substance in the day of their calamity;

Ver. 13. Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate, &c.] But have looked upon them as my people, though under a cloud of calamity; which will soon blow over. To enter, therefore, into their gates for prey and spoil is to burden yourselves with that burdensome stone that shall break you; to drink of that poisonous cup that shall bane you; to lay your hands upon that hearth of fire that will burn you, Zec 12:2-3; Zec 12:6. Look to it, hands off, keep you far from so evil a matter, lest it prove as that gold of Toulouse, Aurum Tholosanum, a mischief to all that meddle with it.

Thou shouldest not have looked] See Oba 1:12. The repetition shows the heinousness of the sin. The Holy Ghost doth not open his mouth in vain (whatever Job did, Job 35:16), nor multiply words without reason.

In the day of their calamity] This is thrice mentioned, to show how sensible God was of this savage dealing of theirs with his poor people, who now lay under the strokes and stripes of a displeased mercy. The Hebrew word here rendered calamity signifieth a fog, vapour, or misty cloud, Gen 2:6 Job 36:27; and by a metaphor, it is put for affliction and misery, as it is also in Latin. Tempera si fuerint nubila, solus eris (Ovid.). Nubecula est, cito transibit, said Athanasius.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Oba 1:13-14. Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people, &c. — Thou shouldest not have entered into the cities of my people by way of spoiling them, or of feasting thy eyes with the slaughter, when their enemies made themselves masters of them. Neither shouldest thou have stood in the cross-way — Or, in the goings forth; to cut off those that did escape — Thou shouldest not have posted thyself in the passages that were left unguarded by the enemy, in order to cut off those who endeavoured to escape by such ways. Neither have delivered up those —

Or shut up those, as the margin reads it, that did remain — The word סגר, here used, signifies to shut up all the ways of escaping to the conquered, in order to deliver them up to the enemy.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

substance--translated "forces" in .

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

It follows, Thou shouldest not enter the gates of my people in the day of their destruction, nor shouldest thou look on in their calamity. Probably the Idumeans had made an irruption in company with the Assyrians and Chaldeans, when they ought to have remained at home, and there to lament the slaughter of their brethren. For if I cannot save my friend from death or from a calamity, I shall yet withdraw myself, for I could not bear to look on: but were I constrained to look on my friend, and be not able to succor him in his necessity, I should rather close my eyes; for there is in the eyes, we know, the tenderest sympathy. As then the Idumeans willingly went forth and entered Jerusalem with the enemies, it was hence evident that they were no better than wild beasts. Thou shouldest not then, he says, enter the gates of my people in the day of slaughter, nor shouldest thou especially then, look on. He again repeats גם אתה gam ate, thou also, or, especially thou: “If other neighbors do this, yet thou shouldest abstain, for thou art of the same blood; if thou can’t not bring help, show at least some token of grief and of sympathy: but as thou willingly and gladly lookest on their calamities, it is quite evident that there is not in thee a particle of right feeling.”

He afterwards adds, Thou shouldest not stretch forth thy hand to his substance. Here he accuses the Idumeans of having been implicated in taking the spoils with other enemies, as though he said, “Ye have not only suffered your brethren to be pillaged, but ye became robbers yourselves. Ye ought to have felt sorrow in seeing them distressed by foreign enemies; but ye have plundered with them, and enriched yourselves with spoils; this certainly is by no means to be endured.”

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

13. Thou shouldest not have entered … looked … laid hands] rather, enter not, look not, lay not hands.

The gate of my people] i. e. the city of Jerusalem, comp. “he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.” Mic_1:9. The emphatic “thou also,” thou the brother as well as they the aliens, follows the word “look” in the Hebrew, though it is unnoticed in A.V., “look not thou also on his affliction.” “If other neighbours do it, yet do thou abstain, seeing thou art of one blood. If thou canst not render assistance, at least shew some sign of sorrow and sympathy.” Calvin.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity,.... Or gates, as the Targum; the gates of any of their cities, and particularly those of Jerusalem; into which the Edomites entered along with the Chaldeans, exulting over the Jews, and insulting them, and joining with the enemy in distressing and plundering them:

yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity: which is repeated, as being exceeding cruel and inhuman, and what was highly resented by the Lord; that, instead of looking upon the affliction of his people and their brethren with an eye of pity and compassion, they looked upon it with the utmost pleasure and delight:

nor laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity; or "on their forces" (x); they laid violent hands on their armed men, and either killed or took them captive: and they laid hands on their goods, their wealth and riches, and made a spoil of them. The phrase, "in the day of their calamity", is three times used in this verse, to show the greatness of it; and as an aggravation of the sin of the Edomites, in behaving and doing as they did at such a time.

(x) "is exercitum ejus", Drusius; "in copius eorum", Castalio; "in copiam ejus", Cocceius.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

CHAPTER I.

Army. Hebrew also, "goods." Septuagint, "thou wilt not join their army in the day of ruin." (Haydock) --- Thou wilt have other things to think about.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Thou shouldest not have entered, as an enemy, a conqueror, into the gate; by synecdoche, city is meant by gate. The Edomites warring among the Babylonians, did with them enter the gates of conquered Jerusalem, appeared a proud, insulting enemy of Judah.

My people; thou shouldst have remembered that the Jews thy brethren were my people, my peculiar people.

In the day of their calamity; when their city was broken up, their king imprisoned, and captive with his nobles and other subjects.

Thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction, as before, Oba 1:12.

Nor have laid hands on their substance, or strength, the word notes both: Edom seized the persons of the Jews, and made them prisoners, and they plundered the city, seized the goods of the citizens; this they did with delight, but God will punish for it.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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 ver. 12). The gate of my people; i.e. Jerusalem, the capital, as Mic_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. Psa_22:17) Their affliction; Septuagint, th , "their gathering a different reading from the Masoretic. Substance, as in ver. 11. This was a further aggravation; they helped to plunder Jerusalem. Septuagint, mh megalorrhmonh , "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.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Entered - As an enemy.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

and you should not have stretched out upon their possessions—You should not have stretched out your hand upon their possessions. So did Jonathan render. And this is an ellipsis, to which we must add: “your hands.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.