Obadiah 1:12 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Obadiah 1:12
But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.
to see · verb, qal jussive, 2nd person masculine singular
day
בְיוֹםve.yom-
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
brother
אָחִ֙יךָ֙'a.Chi.kha
H251
a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relation… · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
day
בְּי֣וֹםbe.Yom
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
stranger
נָכְר֔וֹna.khe.Ro
H5235
something strange · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
rejoiced
תִּשְׂמַ֥חtis.Mach
H8055
probably to brighten up · verb, qal jussive, 2nd person masculine singular
children
לִבְנֵֽיliv.nei-
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
Judah
יְהוּדָ֖הye.hu.Dah
H3063
Jehudah (or Judah) · proper noun, a place name
day
בְּי֣וֹםbe.Yom
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
destruction
אָבְדָ֑ם'a.ve.Dam
H6
properly · verb, qal infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
spoken
פִּ֖יךָPi.kha
H6310
the mouth (as the means of blowing) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
proudly
תַּגְדֵּ֥לtag.Del
H1431
to be (causatively make) large (in various senses · verb, hiphil jussive, 2nd person masculine singular
day
בְּי֥וֹםbe.Yom
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
distress
צָרָֽהtza.Rah
H6869
tightness (i.e. figuratively · noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Proverbs 17:5 Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.
Ezekiel 35:15 As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O…
Micah 4:11 Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.
1 Samuel 2:3 Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weig…
Proverbs 24:17-18 Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:
Matthew 27:40-43 And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cros…
Ezekiel 25:6-7 For thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast clapped thine hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in heart with all thy despite ag…
Micah 7:8-10 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Obadiah 1:10-16
When we have read Edom's doom, no less than utter ruin, it is natural to ask, Why, what evil has he done? What is the ground of God's controversy with him? Many things, no doubt, were amiss in Edom; they were a sinful people, and a people laden with iniquity. But that one single crime which is laid to their charge, as filling their measure and bringing this ruin upon them, that for which they here stand indicted, of which they are convicted, and for which they are condemned, is the injury they had done to the people of God (Oba 1:10): "It is for thy violence against thy brother Jacob, that ancient and hereditary grudge which thou hast borne to the people of Israel, that all this shame shall…
looked on--with malignant pleasure, and a brutal stare. So the antitypes, Messiah's foes (). MAURER translates, as the Margin, "thou shouldest not look" any more. English Version agrees with the context better.
the day of thy brother--his day of calamity.
became a stranger--that is, was banished as an alien from his own land. God sends heavy calamities on those who rejoice in the calamities of their enemies (; ). Contrast the opposite conduct of David and of the divine Son of David in a like case ().
spoken proudly--literally, "made great the mouth"; proudly insulting the fallen (, Margin; compare ; ).
Adam Clarke on Obadiah 1:12
Thou shouldest not have looked - It shows a malevolent heart to rejoice in the miseries of those who have acted unkindly or wickedly towards us. The Edomites triumphed when they saw the judgments of God fall upon the Jews. This the Lord severely reprehends in Oba 1:12-15. If a man have acted cruelly towards us, and God punish him for this cruelty, and we rejoice in it, we make his crime our own; and then, as we have done, so shall it be done unto us; see Oba 1:15. All these verses point out the part the Edomites took against the Jews when the Chaldeans besieged and took Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, and divided the spoils.
John Gill on Obadiah 1:12
The Church Fathers
"Do not despise the day of your brother in the day of his alienation." Here the time of punishment is called a "day."
Preserve, O Lord, Thy work, guard the gift which Thou hast given even to him who shrank from it. For I knew that I was not worthy to be called a bishop, because I had devoted myself to this world, but by Thy grace I am what I am. And I am indeed the least of all bishops, and the lowest in merit; yet since I too have undertaken some labour for Thy holy Church, watch over this fruit, and let not him whom when lost Thou didst call to the priesthood, to be lost when a priest. And first grant that I may know how with inmost affection to mourn with those who sin; for this is a very great virtue, since it is written: "And thou shall not rejoice over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction, and speak not proudly in the day of their trouble." Grant that so often as the sin of any one who has fallen is made known to me I may suffer with him, and not chide him proudly, but mourn and weep, so that weeping over another I may mourn for myself, saying, "Tamar hath been more righteous than I."
(Verse 12.) And do not despise the day of your brother in the day of his journey. And do not rejoice over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction, and do not boast in the day of distress; nor enter the gate of my people in the day of their ruin. LXX: And do not despise the day of your brother in the day of strangers. And do not rejoice over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; and do not speak proudly in the day of distress; nor enter the gates of the nations in the day of their labors. The same sentiment as above: When the man from Mount Esau is destroyed, on account of his killing and wickedness towards his brother Jacob, and eternal confusion covers him, he will by no means do what he did before against his brother; for he will not despise or scorn, seeing his brother go into captivity; nor will he rejoice over the sons of Judah. Indeed, two tribes, except for the Levitical, which reigned in Jerusalem and were called Judah, were captured by the Chaldeans. And you will not boast greatly, and thinking yourself to be one of the victors, you will laugh at the distress of your brother. Nor on the day of the devastation and ruin of the people, will you walk through the gate of Jerusalem with glory. And for this reason, you will not do these things, because you will suffer similar. Otherwise, when you see your brother taken captive by different persecutions, and being led away bound from the faith of the Church, not pursuing his own city, but all foreign things, you will not rejoice at all, because you will suffer similar. For you rejoiced when Jacob was captured and when the sons of Judah, whom we understand to be the disciples of Christ, were brought low on the day of their destruction. It is signified, however, that the soul is placed in the midst of vices and virtues, and can be turned in either direction in the space of a moment. 'You shall not magnify your mouth on the day of distress,' he says. This we should understand in two senses: the bodily distress in persecutions and sins, and the spiritual distress when the soul, captured by its enemies and vices, is led into Babylon. Nor shall you enter the gate of my people on the day of their ruin: for when either denial or pleasure oppresses us, and an unfortunate conscience does not preserve the former rigor, then we easily slip into contrary doctrines, flattering our error…
Dictionary and topics
Edom · .Sins of — .Sins of
Edomites · Join Babylon in war against the Israelites — Join Babylon in war against the Israelites
Esau · Hostility of — Hostility of
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother,.... The day of his calamity, distress, and destruction, as afterwards explained; that is, with delight and satisfaction, as pleased with it, and rejoicing at it; but rather should have grieved and mourned, and as fearing their turn would be next: or, "do not look" (t); so some read it in the imperative, and in like manner all the following clauses:
in the day that he became a stranger; were carried into a strange country, and became strangers to their own: or, "in the day of his alienation" (u); from their country, city, houses, and the house and worship of God; and when strange, surprising, and unheard of things were done unto t…
Obadiah 12-14
12. But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.
12. Et non aspicias in die fratris tui, in die alientationis ejus, et ne gaudeas super filiis Jehudah die exitii corum, et ne magnifices os tuum in die afflictionis (hoc est, ne magnifice loquaris.)
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 substanc…
"And look not at the day of thy brother on the day of his misfortune; and rejoice not over the sons of Judah in the day of their perishing, and do not enlarge thy mouth in the day of the distress. Oba 1:13. Come not into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; thou also look not at his misfortune in the day of his calamity, and stretch not out thy hand to his possession in the day of his calamity: Oba 1:14. Nor stand in the cross-road, to destroy his fugitives, nor deliver up his escaped ones in the day of distress." This warning cannot be satisfactorily explained either "on the assumption that the prophet is here foretelling the future destruction of Judah and Jerusalem" (Caspar…
All societies are held accountable for sins such as those of Edom (see, e.g., the oracles against Israel’s neighbors in Amos 1:3–2:3). Among the sins that the Edomites committed against Judah were sharing with the Babylonians in plundering the land (Obad 1:13) and either killing or repatriating Judah’s fugitives (1:14).
1:12 The tribes of Israel were Edom’s relatives (literally brother; cp. Num 20:14). • Edom and other local nations had apparently deceived themselves into thinking that rapprochement with Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC would bring them respite. Their time of judgment would come.
Rashi on Obadiah 1:12
And you should not have looked on the day of your brother—You should not have looked and stood from afar.
on the day of his being delivered Heb. נָכְרוֹ. On the day of his being delivered into the hands of the heathens. And so does Scripture state concerning Saul: (I Sam. 23:7) “נִכַּר אֹתוֹ אֱלֹהִים בְּיָדְי,” “He has delivered him into my hand.”
