Albert Barnes Commentary Obadiah 1:6

"How are [the things of] Esau searched! how are his hidden treasures sought out!" — Obadiah 1:6 (ASV)

How are the things of Esau searched out! — literally, “How are Esau, out searched!” That is, Esau, as a whole and in all its parts and belongings, all its people and all its property, one and all. The name “Esau” speaks of them as a whole; the plural verb, “are outsearched,” represents all its parts. The word signifies a diligent search and tracking out, as in Zephaniah 1:12, I will search out Jerusalem with candles, like a man who holds a light in every dark corner, diligently seeking some small thing that has been lost.

The hidden things, that is, his hidden treasures, are sought up. The enemy who would come upon him would make no passing raid, but would remain there, seeking out themselves and their treasures from their holes in the rocks.

Petra, through its rocky ramparts, was well suited, as Nineveh in the huge circuit of its massive walls was well built, to be the receptacle of plunder.

And now it was gathered, as plunder is, sooner or later, for the spoiler. It was safely stored up there, available for the seeking. No exit, no way of escape. Edom, recently so full of malicious energy, so proud, would lie at the proud foot of its conqueror, as passive as sheep in this large slaughterhouse, or as the inanimate hoards they had stored up and which were now “tracked out.”

Soon after Obadiah’s prophecy, Judah, under Ahaz, again lost Elath (2 Kings 14:6) to Syria, which Uzziah had recovered (2 Kings 14:22). The Jews were replaced, though it is uncertain whether by Edomites or by some tribe of Syrians. If they were Syrians, they were then friendly; if Edomites, Elath itself must, with the approaching captivity of Syria, have become the absolute possession of Edom.

Either way, commerce again poured its wealth into Edom. To what end? To be possessed and to aggrandize Edom, thought its wealthy and wise men; to be searched out and plundered, said the word of God. And it was so.