John Calvin Commentary Obadiah 1

Obadiah’s preface is that he brought nothing human, but only declared the vision presented to him from above. We indeed know that it was God alone who was ever to be heard in the Church, as even now He demands to be heard; yet He sent His prophets, as afterwards the apostles, and indeed, as He sent His only begotten Son, whom He has set over us to be our only and sovereign Teacher.

Obadiah, then, by saying that it was a vision, said the same as if he declared that he did not presumptuously bring forward his own dreams, or what he conjectured or discovered by human reason, but that he presented only a celestial oracle. For חזון, chezun, as we have observed in other places, was a vision by which God revealed Himself to His Prophets.

He then adds, Thus saith Jehovah. Here is a fuller expression of the same declaration. We thus see that the Prophet, so that the doctrine he brought forward might not be suspected, made God the author. For what faith can be placed in men, whom we know to be vain and false, except insofar as they are ruled by the Spirit of God and sent by Him? Since the Prophet so carefully teaches us that what he declared was delivered to him by God, from this we can learn what I recently referred to—that the Prophets formerly so spoke that God alone might be heard among the people.

He says afterwards, A rumor have we heard. Some render it as a word or a doctrine. שמועה, shimuoe, is properly a hearing and is derived from the verb the Prophet adds. "A hearing then have we heard"; so it is translated literally. But some think that what was taught is pointed out, as if he said, “The Lord has revealed this to me and to other Prophets,” according to what Isaiah says, Who has believed our hearing? (Isaiah 53:1). It is the same word, and he speaks of God’s word or doctrine.

But it is probable that he refers here to those tumultuous rumors which commonly precede wars and calamities. We have then heard a rumor. The verb in Jeremiah is not in the plural number, שמענו shimonu, but שמועה שמעתו shimoti shimunoe, ‘I have heard,’ says Jeremiah, ‘a hearing.’ But our Prophet uses the plural number, ‘We have heard a hearing.’

The sense, however, is the same, for Jeremiah says that he had heard rumors, and the Prophet here adds others to himself, as if he said, “This rumor is spread abroad, but it is from the Lord; it is certain that this rumor has been heard even by the profane and the despisers of God.”

But the Prophet shows that wars are not stirred up randomly but by the secret influence of God, as if he said, “When a tumult arises, let us not think that its beginning is from the earth, but God Himself is the mover.”

We now then understand the Prophet’s design: though he speaks of the rumor of wars, he yet shows that chance or accident does not rule in such commotions, but the hidden influence of God.

We have heard, he says, from Jehovah, and a messenger, or, an ambassador, to the nations has been sent: Arise you, and we will arise against her to battle. In Jeremiah, it is, ‘Assemble you, come and arise against her to battle.’ The Prophet here shows, I have no doubt, from where the rumor came which he had just mentioned, for they were now indeed stirring up one another to destroy that land.

If anyone had formed a judgment according to human wisdom, he would have said that the Assyrians were the cause why war was brought on the Idumeans: perhaps because they had found them to be either inconstant or even perfidious, or because they had feigned a pretext when there was no just reason for making war.

But the Prophet here raises his mind upward and acknowledges God to be the mover of this war, because He intended to punish the cruelty of that people, which they had exercised toward their own kindred (the Israelites). At the same time, he also encourages others, that they might understand that it was altogether directed by the hidden counsel of God that the Assyrians, from being friends, suddenly became enemies, and that a war was fully ablaze against the Idumeans at a time when they were at ease, without any fear or apprehension of danger.

Jeremiah uses nearly the same words, but the sense of the expression is ambiguous when he says, Lo, little have I set thee. To me, it appears probable that the Prophet reproves the Idumeans because they became arrogant, as it were, against the will of God and in opposition to it, when, at the same time, they were confined to the narrow passes of mountains.

It is said elsewhere (Malachi 1:2), Jacob and Esau, were they not brethren? "But I have given to you the inheritance promised to your father Abraham; I have transferred the Idumeans to Mount Seir." Now it is less bearable if anyone is elated with pride when his condition is not so honorable.

I therefore think that the Idumeans are here condemned because they vaunted so much and arrogated to themselves more than what was right, when they were still contemptible, when their condition was lowly and obscure, for they dwelt on Mount Seir. But others think that the punishment, which was impending over them, is here denounced: Lo, little have I made thee among the nations, and Jeremiah says, and contemptible among men; he omits the two words, "thou" and "exceedingly"; he says only, and contemptible among men. But as to the substance, there is hardly any difference.

If then we understand that that nation was proud without reason, the sense is evident: that is, that they, like the giants, carried on war against God, that they vaunted themselves, though confined to the narrow passes of mountains. Though I leave to others their own free opinion, I am still inclined to the former view, while the latter has been adopted nearly by the consent of all; and that is, that God was resolved to forcibly constrain to order those ferocious men who, for no reason and even in opposition to nature, have become insolent.

But if a different interpretation is more approved, we may say that the Prophet begins with a threatening and then adds a reason why God determined to diminish and even to destroy them. For though they dwelt on mountains, it was still a fertile region; and further, they had gathered much wealth over a long time, when they attained security, when no enemy disturbed them.

This then is the reasoning: Lo, I have made thee small and contemptible in the mountain — and why? Because the pride of thy heart has deceived thee; and Jeremiah adds terror, although some render תפלצתך (taphlatastae), "image"; but this seems not appropriate. Jeremiah then, I doubt not, mentions terror in the first place, for it almost always happens that the proud strike others with fear: such, then, were the Idumeans.

Now if we follow the first meaning I explained, the two verses may be read as connected, Lo, I have made thee small and contemptible among the nations; but the pride of thy heart has deceived thee; some render it, "has raised thee up," deriving it from נשא (nusha); but they read ש (shin) pointed on the left side. For if נשא (nusha) has the point in the branch of the shin on the right hand, it means "to deceive," but if on the left, it signifies "to raise up."

Then they give this translation: “The pride of thine heart has raised thee up.” But we clearly learn from Jeremiah that it ought, as almost all interpreters agree, to be rendered thus: “The pride of thine heart has deceived thee.” For he says not השיאך (eshiac) but השיא אותך (eshia autea), that is, it was to you the cause of error and of madness. Of the sense, then, of this verb there can be no doubt.

The Prophet now derides the Idumeans because they relied on their own fortresses and thought themselves, according to the common saying, to be beyond the reach of darts; and hence they petulantly insulted the Israelites and despised God himself. The Prophet therefore says that the Idumeans in vain congratulated themselves, for he shows that all they promised to themselves were mere delusions. The import of what is said, then, is: “Whence is this your security, that you think that enemies can do you no harm? Yes, you despise God as well as men; whence is this haughtiness? whence also is the great confidence with which you are puffed up? Truly, it comes only from mere delusions. The pride of thine heart has deceived thee.”

And yet a reason was not lacking why the Idumeans were so insolent, as the Prophet also states. But he at the same time shows that they had deceived themselves, for God did not care for their fortresses; indeed, he counted them as nothing.

You dwell, he says (this is to be regarded as a concession), in the clefts of the stone; some read, “between the windings of the rock”; though others think סלע (Salo) is the name of a city, I still do not see how their assertion can stand, for clefts do not fit with a city situated on a plain, though within the ranges of mountains.

I do not then doubt that סלע (Salo) here means Mount Seir. Since, then, the Idumeans had fortresses amidst rocks, they thought that all enemies could easily be kept out.

And hence it follows, The height is his habitation, that is, he dwells in lofty places; and hence he says in his heart, Who shall draw me down to the ground?

He afterwards adds what I have already stated—that though their region was exceedingly well fortified, yet the Idumeans were greatly deceived and indulged themselves in vain delusions: “If you should raise up your seat,” he says, like the eagle, — literally, ‘If you should rise as the eagle,’ — “and if you should among the clouds set and nest, I will from there draw you down, says Jehovah.”

We now see that the Prophet did not deride without reason the confidence with which the Idumeans were inflated, by setting up their fortresses in opposition to God: for it is the greatest madness for men to rely on their own power and to despise God himself. At the same time, he could, as it were, easily dissipate by one blast every idea of defense or of power that is in us; but this subject will be more fully handled by us tomorrow.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as You see us to be on every side today beset by so many enemies, even by those who constantly devise means to destroy us, while we are so very weak and feeble—O grant that we may learn to look up to You, and that our trust may so rest on You, that however exposed we may be to all kinds of danger according to what appears to the flesh, we may not yet doubt that You are ever armed with sufficient power to terrify our enemies, so that we may quietly live even amidst all dangers and never cease to call on Your name, as You have promised to be the sure and faithful defender of our safety in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

We observed in yesterday’s lecture that it avails the ungodly nothing when they set up their fortresses against the judgment of God, as though they could escape safely from his hand. For as God has heaven and earth under his control, he can, whenever it pleases him, draw down all who now despise his power and therefore deride his Prophets or regard their threatening as nothing. This passage, then, ought to be carefully noticed, for God declares that it is in his power to draw down from the very clouds those who so raise themselves up as to think themselves to be elevated above all dangers. The Prophet now says—

The Prophet shows in this verse that the calamity with which God was resolved to afflict the Idumeans would not be slight, for nothing would be left among them. He amplifies what he says by a comparison.

When someone is plundered of his property by thieves, he grieves that what he had acquired by much labor throughout life has been taken from him in one moment. And when anyone has spent labor and expense in cultivating his vineyard, and another takes away its fruit, he complains of his great misfortune: that he has lost his property and his great labor in cultivating his vineyard, while another devours its fruit.

But the Prophet intimates that God would not be content with such a kind of punishment for the Idumeans.

Therefore he says, Have night thieves or robbers come to thee? They would doubtless have stolen and taken away what they thought sufficient for themselves; but now nothing will be left to you.

In short, the Prophet intimates that the Assyrians would not be like thieves or night robbers, who stealthily and privately take away what comes to their hands. Instead, he means that the Idumeans would be so plundered that their houses would be left completely empty.

He declares that the Assyrians would thus spoil them like night thieves or robbers, who are accustomed to proceed with unbridled liberty, for no one dares to resist them or even to say a word against them.

This plundering then, says the Prophet, will not be of an ordinary kind; but the enemies will make you entirely empty.

He has the same purpose when he says, Have vintagers come to thee? To be sure, they commonly leave some clusters; but the Assyrians will leave, no, not one: they will depart so laden with plunder that you will be left empty.

But all this, as we have reminded you, was said to alleviate or mitigate the grief of the faithful, who then considered themselves very miserable, as they alone were plundered by enemies.

For they saw that their neighbors were dwelling in safety and even becoming partakers of the spoil. Their condition, therefore, was very miserable and degraded.

Therefore, so that he might moderate this bitter grief, the Prophet says that the Idumeans would be plundered in no ordinary way, for not even a hair would be left to them. This is the import of the passage.

However, some regard the verb נדמיתה nudamite as signifying, “You are reduced to silence,” because the verb דום dum or דמה dame means “to be silent.”

They offer this interpretation: “How do you not endeavor at least to meet your enemies?” For they take “to be silent” in the sense of “being still,” as דמה dame is often so understood in Scripture: “How then have they been silent?”

But he speaks of the future in the past tense, as though God had already inflicted punishment on the Idumeans, so that faith in the prediction might be made more certain: “You have been reduced to silence,” that is, “How could you remain quiet on seeing your enemies plundering with so much violence — how then have you been reduced to silence?”

Others say, “How have you been consumed?” because דמה dame often means “to destroy.” However, this point is not of great importance.

For the Prophet means that it could not be ascribed to chance that enemies would destroy the whole land of Edom, because the cruel assault would by no means be of an ordinary kind.

And then, since the Idumeans thought that every entrance for their enemies was closed off (as they inhabited the mountain summits, according to what I have already said, and believed themselves most secure in their recesses and lofty rocks), the Prophet here presents it as an astonishing thing that God’s judgment would still reach them.

Let us proceed—

He confirms the former sentence—that the Idumeans trusted in vain that their riches would be safe, because they had hidden and deep recesses. Even when a country is plundered by enemies, the conquerors do not dare to go to dangerous places; when there are narrow passes, they avoid them, because they think that some evil design is there.

Therefore, conquerors, fearing hidden places, plunder only those that are open and always carefully consider whether their advance is safe. But Idumea, as we have said, had hidden recesses, because its rocks were almost inaccessible, and there were many suitable places there for hiding and concealing its riches. The Prophet, however, says that all this would be useless; and so that he might more effectively rouse them, he speaks with astonishment, as if about something incredible.

How have been sought the things of Esau, and his hidden places thoroughly searched! Who could have thought this? For they could have concealed their treasures in rocks and caverns, and from there repelled their enemies. But all their attempts would be in vain: how could this possibly be? Here then he awakens the minds of people, so that they might acknowledge the judgment of God; and at the same time he scorns the vain confidence with which the Idumeans were puffed up; and furthermore, he strengthens the minds of the godly, so that they might not doubt that God would perform what He declares, for He can indeed penetrate even to the lowest depths.

In short, the Prophet implies that the faithful would not be acting wisely if they measured God’s vengeance, which was impending over the Idumeans, by their own understanding or by what usually happens. This is because the Lord would make a thorough search, so that no hiding places would escape His sight, and then all their treasures would be exposed as prey to their enemies.

From this we learn that just as people in vain seek hiding places for themselves to be safe from dangers, so too they conceal their riches in vain, because the hand of God can penetrate beyond the sea, land, heaven, and the lowest depths. Nothing then remains for us but to always offer ourselves and all that we have to God.

If He protects us under His wings, we will be safe in the midst of innumerable dangers; but if we think that subterfuges will be of any use to us, we deceive ourselves. The Prophet now adds—

Here the Prophet expresses the way God would punish the Idumeans: trusting in their alliances, they despised God, as we have already observed. The Prophet now shows that God has the power to change the minds of men, so that those who were their friends, suddenly inflamed with rage, would go out to destroy the Idumeans.

Since they regarded the Assyrians not only as a shield to them but also as a defense against God Himself, the Prophet here declares that when God intended to punish them, there would be no need to send far away for agents or instruments to execute His vengeance. For He would arm the Assyrians themselves and the Chaldeans, since He could turn the hearts of men as He pleased.

We now see the Prophet’s meaning, for he here removes and shakes off the vain confidence of the Idumeans, so that they would not harden themselves because they were fortified by alliances and had powerful friends, for the Lord would turn friends into enemies. To your border, he says, have they driven you. שלח shilach is properly to send forth or to throw away; some render it, "they have followed." This is as if the Prophet here spoke of the neighboring nations, and according to their view the meaning is, “However much your neighbors may love you, yet they will show nothing of this love, except that they will follow you with feigned tears, when your enemies shall lead you away captive.” But this is a strained exposition and does not correspond with the context.

The Prophet then describes here, I doubt not, the change that would take place, so that the Idumeans might know that they trusted in vain in their power and defenses. The men of your covenant, he says, have driven you away. This is as if he said, “See what you gain by anxiously seeking the friendship of those who will yet be your enemies. Had you remained quiet in your clefts, it would have been much better for you. But now you run to Assyria and Chaldea, and this will be the cause of your ruin.

Hence the men of your covenant shall banish you to the border. But if you had had no friendship nor commerce with them, you might have lived safely in your recesses, and no one would have driven you out. Just, then, has been the reward of your ambition for having thus resorted to the Assyrians and Chaldeans.”

Continuing the same subject, the Prophet says, Deceived you have the men of your peace—friends and allies; for the Hebrews call those men of peace who are connected together by any kind of alliance. The men then of your peace—that is, those whom you thought you might trust, and on whom you might rely—these have deceived you; even these have prevailed against you and oppressed you through craft and treachery.

The men of your bread have placed under you a wound. The men of bread were those who were guests or friends. Some give this rendering, “Who eat your bread,” and it is an admissible interpretation, for the Assyrians and Chaldeans, as they were insatiable, had taken booty from the Idumeans. For whoever then sought their friendship must have brought them some gifts.

Since they thus sold their friendship, the Prophet rightly calls them the men of bread with regard to those whose substance and wealth they devoured. If then we take the men of bread in this sense, there is probability in the meaning. But we may give another interpretation, as if he had said that they were guests and friends.

These then have fixed under you a wound; that is, they have been your destruction, and that through guile and hidden artifices. When one attacks another openly, the one who is attacked can avoid the stroke. But the Prophet says that the Assyrians and Chaldeans would be perfidious to the Idumeans, so as to conquer them through treachery. Fix then shall they a wound under you, as when one hides a dagger between the bed and the sheet when a person intends to go to sleep. So also he says that a wound is placed underneath when a feigned friend hides himself so that he may more easily hurt the one he assails deceitfully and craftily.

Finally, he thus concludes, There is no intelligence in him. Here the Prophet no doubt indirectly derides the foolish confidence with which the Idumeans were blinded. For they thought themselves to be extremely wary, so that they had no reason to fear, as they could see far off and manage their affairs with the utmost prudence. Since they thought that they excelled in wisdom and could not be surprised by any craft, the Prophet says here that there would be no understanding in them.

But he immediately adds the reason: “Shall I not in that day, says Jehovah, destroy, or extinguish, the wise from Edom?” While the Idumeans were prosperous because they acted wisely, it was incredible that they could be overthrown in a moment. But the Prophet says that even this was in the hand and power of God. “Can I not,” he says, “put an end to whatever wisdom there is in the Idumeans? Cannot I destroy all their prudent men? This I will do.” We now perceive the meaning of the words.

But this passage deserves notice: the Prophet upbraids the Idumeans and says that their allies and friends would prove their ruin because they had conspired among themselves beyond what was just and right. When men thus mutually join together, all of them greedily seek their own advantage; meanwhile, both sides are deceived, for God frustrates their plans and ruins the outcome because they do not aim for the right goal. And when the wicked seek friendships, they always mix in something that is wrong; they either try to injure the innocent, or they seek some advantage. All the compacts, then, that the ungodly and the despisers of God make with one another always have something vicious mixed in; it is therefore no wonder that the Lord disappoints their hope and curses their plans. This is then the reason why the Prophet declares to the Idumeans that those whom they thought to be their best and most faithful friends would be their ruin.

But here it may be objected that the same thing happens to the children of God. For David, though he acted towards all with the utmost faithfulness and the greatest sincerity, yet complains that the man of his peace and a friend had plotted many frauds against him.

‘Raised up his heel against me,’ he says,
‘has the man of my peace;
eat bread together did I with him, and he with me,’
(Psalms 41:9)

This also had to be the case with Christ Himself. Now, if the children of God must be conformed to the image of Christ, what the Prophet says also applies to the whole Church and to every member of it. This may appear strange at first glance, but a solution can easily be given.

For while we strive to maintain peace with all men, though they may perfidiously oppress us through treachery, yet the Lord Himself will help us. Meanwhile, however hard this trial may be, we still know that our patience is tested by God, so that He may at last deliver us, enabling us to flee confidently to Him and testify to our sincerity.

But while the ungodly mutually cheat one another, while with wicked and devious artifices they oppress and circumvent each other, while they cast forth their hidden virulence, while they turn peace into war, they know that their recompense is just and deserved. They cannot flee to God, for their conscience restrains them.

They indeed understand that they have deserved what the Lord has justly repaid them. It is then no wonder that the conspiracy in which the Idumeans trusted, when they made the Chaldeans their friends, was accursed, for the Lord turned to their ruin whatever they thought useful to themselves.

This then is the sum of the whole matter: if we do not wish to be deceived, we must not attempt anything without an upright heart. Provided then we do not exceed the limits of our calling, let us cultivate peace with all men, let us endeavor to do good to all men, that the Lord may bless us. But if it is His purpose to test our patience, He will still be present with us, though false friends test us by their treacheries, though we are led into danger by their malice and are for a time trodden under their feet. If, on the contrary, we act with bad faith and think that we have fortunate alliances obtained by wicked and nefarious artifices, the Lord will turn to our destruction whatever we think to be for our safety.

We must now notice what the Prophet says: Shall I not in that day destroy the wise from Edom? Though men may be blind in many respects, whom God does not guide by His Spirit and on whom He does not shine with His word, yet the worst blindness is when men become intoxicated with the false conceit of wisdom.

When therefore anyone thinks himself endowed with understanding, so that he can perceive whatever is necessary and cannot be circumvented, his wisdom is insanity and extreme madness. It would indeed be better for us to be idiots and fools than to be thus intoxicated. Since then the wise of this world are insane, the Lord declares that they will have no wisdom when the time of trial comes.

God indeed permits the ungodly for a long time to congratulate themselves on their own acumen and plans, as He allowed the Idumeans to go on prosperously. And there are also many today who congratulate themselves on their successes and almost adore their own cunning. Who indeed can persuade the Venetians that there is consummate wisdom anywhere but among themselves, by which, indeed, they surpass all others in deception?

For no other reason do they, amidst many upheavals, retain their own position, except that they seem to see further into what is for their own advantage. Indeed, that kings in general stand and continue safe amidst so many shakings, they ascribe this to their own wisdom: “Unless I had looked well in this respect to my own affairs, unless I had anticipated danger, and unless I had foreseen it, it would have been all over for my condition.”

Thus they think within themselves. But the Lord at length makes fools of them, so that it may be evident that this was not formerly said in vain to the Idumeans, Shall I not in that day, says Jehovah, etc. And it was emphatically added, in that day.

For the Prophet means that it was no wonder that the Idumeans had until now been wary and adopted the best counsel, for it was not the Lord’s purpose to deprive them of wisdom. But when the suitable time of vengeance came, He instantly took away whatever prudence there was in them, for it is indeed in God’s hand to take away whatever understanding or acuteness there is in men.

But we are warned by these words that if we excel in understanding, we are not to abuse this singular gift of God, as we see is the case with the ungodly, who turn to cunning whatever wisdom the Lord has bestowed on them. There is hardly one in a hundred to be found who does not seek to be crafty and deceitful if he excels in understanding.

This is a very wretched thing. What a great treasure wisdom is! Yet we see that the world perverts this excellent gift of God. All the more reason there is for us to labor so that our wisdom may be founded in true simplicity.

This is one thing. Then we must also beware of trusting in our own understanding, despising our enemies, and thinking that we can ward off any evil that may threaten us. But let us always seek from the Lord that we may be favored at all times with the spirit of wisdom, so that it may guide us to the end of life. For He can at any moment take from us whatever He has given us and thus expose us to shame and reproach.

When he says, from mount Esau, he means Mount Seir, as I have already reminded you. But he meant to point out their whole country, for they were almost surrounded by mountains and dwelt, as is well known, in that Arabia which is called Petraea.