Obadiah 1:7 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Obadiah 1:7
All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him.
a man in general (singly or collectively) · noun, common masculine plural construct
confederacy
בְרִיתֶ֔ךָve.ri.Te.kha
H1285
a compact (because made by passing between pieces of fl… · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
brought
שִׁלְּח֗וּךָshi.le.Chu.kha
H7971
to send away · verb, piel perfect, 3rd person common plural + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
border
הַגְּב֣וּלha.ge.Vul
H1366
properly · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
men
אַנְשֵׁ֣י'an.Shei
H582
a man in general (singly or collectively) · noun, common masculine plural construct
peace
שְׁלֹמֶ֑ךָshe.lo.Me.kha
H7965
safe · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
deceived
הִשִּׁיא֛וּךָhi.shi.'U.kha
H5377
to lead astray · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person common plural + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
prevailed
יָכְל֥וּya.khe.Lu
H3201
to be able · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
bread
לַחְמְךָ֗lach.me.Kha
H3899
food (for man or beast) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
laid
יָשִׂ֤ימוּya.Si.mu
H7760
to put (used in a great variety of applications · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
wound
מָזוֹר֙ma.zOr
H4204
treachery · noun, common masculine singular absolute
understanding
תְּבוּנָ֖הte.vu.Nah
H8394
intelligence · 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
Psalms 41:9 Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.
John 13:18 I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his…
Jeremiah 30:14 All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel…
Jeremiah 49:7 Concerning Edom, thus saith the LORD of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished?
Psalms 55:12-13 For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me;…
Isaiah 19:11-14 Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the so…
Isaiah 27:11 When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding…
Jeremiah 4:30 And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, th…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Obadiah 1:7
Men of thy confederacy--that is, thy confederates.
brought thee . . . to the border--that is, when Idumean ambassadors shall go to confederate states seeking aid, these latter shall conduct them with due ceremony to their border, giving them empty compliments, but not the aid required [DRUSIUS]. This view agrees with the context, which speaks of false friends deceiving Edom: that is, failing to give help in need (compare ). CALVIN translates, "have driven," that is, shall drive thee; shall help to drive thee to thy border on thy way into captivity in foreign lands.
the men that were at peace with thee--literally, "the men of thy peace." Compare ; , Margin, where also the same formula occ…
All the men of thy confederacy - The Chaldeans are here intended, to whom the Idumeans were attached, and whose agents they became in exercising cruelties upon the Jews.
Have brought thee even to the border - Have hemmed thee in on every side, and reduced thee to distress. Or, they have driven thee to thy border; cast thee out of thy own land into the hands of thine enemies.
The men that were at peace with thee - The men of thy covenant, with whom thou hadst made a league.
That eat thy bread - That professed to be thy firmest friends, have all joined together to destroy thee.
Have laid a wound - Placed a snare or trap under thee. See Newcome.
There is none understanding in him - Private coun…
All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border,.... Or of "thy covenant" (r); that are in league with thee; thine allies, even all of them, prove treacherous to thee, in whom thou trustedst; when they sent their ambassadors to them, they received them kindly, promised great things to them, dismissed them honourably, accompanied them to the borders of their country, but never stood to their engagements: or those allies came and joined their forces with the Edomites, and went out with them to meet the enemy, as if they would fight with them, and them; but when they came to the border of the land they left them, and departed into their own country; or went over to the enemy…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 7) All the men of your covenant have sent you to the borders, they have mocked you, the men of your peace have prevailed against you, those who eat with you have set a trap under you: there is no wisdom in him. 70: They have sent you to the borders: all the men of your covenant have resisted you, the men of your peace have prevailed against you: they have set a trap under you: there is no wisdom in him. As we explained earlier, when Esau searched and discovered his hidden things, they are distinguished to the borders: so the meaning is that your hidden and secret things have been revealed to the borders. But it seems better to us that he be joined with those who came later. Therefore, when Nebuchadnezzar came (of whom it is said in Jeremiah against Edom: Behold, like a lion he will ascend from the pride of the Jordan to the strong beauty, because I will make him run suddenly to it (Jer. 49:19): And then: Behold, like an eagle he will ascend and fly, and will spread his wings over Bozrah, and the heart of the mighty men of Edom will be like the heart of a woman in labor on that day (ibid. 49:22)), all those who were previously allied with Edom and had been in the garrison of the most proud city, left him and joined the enemies against him, and set traps for him: and they prevailed against him, and then it was made known that there was no wisdom in Edom: while he hoped in those who were shown to be his adversaries. Otherwise: When the hidden things of Esau, and as it were magnificent sacraments, by which previously the people had been ensnared, have been brought forth into the midst, so that the ecclesiastical man is able to say: For we are not ignorant of his cunning (2 Cor. 2), they will leave the borders of Edom, and abandon him, and migrating as far as the borders of the Church, they will bring forth the most wicked doctrines. Then they will mock and resist their former teacher, saying that what they had learned is false: they will prevail against him, and the learned ones in the faith of the Church will refute the false doctrine. Those who once ate with heretics will pose questions about the Scriptures, They will lay snares for the Idumean and the worldly, and they will be carnal in all things before the fleshly teacher (for we read about heresies that are counted among the works of the flesh in Galatians 5), and then it will be shown that there…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Deceit · Use, to themselves — Use, to themselves
Falsehood · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Hypocrisy · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
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).
Obadiah 7-8
7. All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him.
7. Usque ad terminum expulerunt te omnes viri foederis tui; deceperunt te, praevaluerunt tibi, viri pacifici tui (viri pacis tuae;) viri panis tui posuerunt vulnus sub te: nulla est intelligentia in eo.
8. Shall I not in that day, saith the Lord, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?
8. Annon in die illa, dicit Jehova, perdam sapientes ex Edom? Et intelligentiam e monte Esau? (hoc est, e m…
In the midst of this calamity Edom will be forsaken and betrayed by its allies, and will also be unable to procure any deliverance for itself by its own understanding. The allies send Edom even to the border. The meaning of this is not that they will not receive the Edomitish fugitives, but drive them back to the frontier, so that they fall into the hands of the enemy (Hitzig and others); for the suffix ך cannot refer to the small number of fugitives from Edom who have escaped the massacre, but applies to Edom as a nation. The latter seeks for help and support from their allies, - namely, through the medium of ambassadors whom it sends to them. But the ambassadors, and in their persons the E…
allies (literally men of the covenant): Edom should have been the ally of its brother Israel, but instead, Edom had made a covenant with Babylon. • promise you peace (literally men of peace, paralleling men of the covenant): It was poetic justice that Edom’s treachery with Israel was rewarded by Babylon’s treachery against Edom.
Rashi on Obadiah 1:7
Until the border... escorted you—Those who promised to aid you, came with you and escorted you to the border of your land, to the boundary, whence they came upon you in war, and with this they enticed you and succeeded.
they prevailed against you—to entice you to leave, and they deserted you.
your food they lay as a wound under you—Even your food your brother Jacob made for you as a wound, for he gave you bread and a pottage of lentils, and thereby you despised the birthright.
wound Heb. מָזוֹר.
