John Calvin Commentary Obadiah 1:12-14

"But look not thou on the day of thy brother in the day of his disaster, and rejoice not over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither speak proudly in the day of distress. Enter not into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, look not thou on their affliction in the day of their calamity, neither lay ye [hands] on their substance in the day of their calamity. And stand thou not in the crossway, to cut off those of his that escape; and deliver not up those of his that remain in the day of distress." — Obadiah 1:12-14 (ASV)

The Prophet enumerates here the kinds of cruelty that the Idumeans exercised towards the Church of God, the children of Abraham, their own kindred. But he speaks by way of prohibition; it is then a personification, by which the Prophet introduces God as the speaker, as though He taught and admonished them on the duties of human kindness. All these duties, for which he now reproaches them, ought indeed to have been engraved on their hearts; for by forgetting humanity, they had departed from everything right that nature requires. God indeed did not begin by instructing or teaching the Idumeans what their duties were; but the Prophet reminds them of things that must have been well known to them and were undeniably true.

Therefore he says, You should not look on in the day of your brother, in the day of his alienation. He calls the day of Judah that in which God visited him; similarly, the day of Jerusalem is called the day of calamity. You should not then look on: we know the sense in which this verb, 'to look on,' is usually taken in Scripture. It is applied to people when they lie in wait, very anxiously desire something, or rejoice at what they witness.

The Prophet undoubtedly takes it metaphorically to mean taking delight in the misery of the chosen people; for, shortly afterward, he repeats the same word. You should not then look on in the day of your brother, even in the day of his alienation. Some take another sense, but I approve of the opinion of those who regard this alienation as meaning exile. At the same time, they do not give the reason for this metaphor, which is this: such a change then took place in the people that they took on a new appearance.

It was then alienation when God wholly abolished the glory of the kingdom of Judah, and when He took away all His favors, so that the people's appearance became deformed. In the day then of his alienation, that is, when the Lord stripped him of his ancient dignity.

You should not rejoice, he says, over the children of Judah, in the day of their destruction, that is, of their ruin; you should not make your mouth great in the day of affliction. We now perceive what the Prophet means. Though indeed he seems here to show the Idumeans their duty, he yet reproves them for having neglected all the laws of humanity and for having been carried away by their own pride and cruelty.

Hence it follows that they were worthy of that dreadful vengeance that he has already mentioned. If then the Idumeans complained that God dealt too severely with them, the Prophet here reminds them that they in many ways sought such ruin for themselves. How so? “Were you not delighted with the calamity of your brother?

Did you not laugh when Judah was distressed? And did you not speak loftily in ridicule? Was this outrageousness to be endured? Can the Lord now spare you, since you have been so cruel towards your brother?” And he repeats the name 'brother,' for the crime was the more atrocious, as it has already been said, because they showed no regard for those of their own blood.

But the Prophet often mentions either affliction, or ruin, or calamity, or evils, or adversity; for it is a feeling naturally implanted in us that when someone is distressed, we are touched with pity. Even when we see our enemies lie prostrate on the ground, our hatred and anger are extinguished, or at least are abated. And all who see even their enemies ill-treated become, as it were, changed men; that is, they put off the anger with which they were previously inflamed.

Since this is common to almost all people, it appears that the Idumeans must have been doubly and triply barbarous when they rejoiced at the calamity of their brethren, took pleasure in a spectacle so sad and mournful, and even spoke proudly and jeered the miserable Jews; for this, as we have said, is the meaning of the words, 'to make great the mouth.'

It follows, You should not enter the gates of my people in the day of their destruction, nor should you look on in their calamity. Probably the Idumeans had made an incursion along with the Assyrians and Chaldeans, when they ought to have remained at home and lamented the slaughter of their brethren there.

For if I cannot save my friend from death or from a calamity, I will yet withdraw myself, for I could not bear to look on; but if I were constrained to look on my friend, and not be able to help him in his necessity, I would rather close my eyes; for there is in the eyes, as we know, the tenderest sympathy.

Since the Idumeans willingly went out and entered Jerusalem with the enemies, it was therefore evident that they were no better than wild beasts. You should not then, he says, enter the gates of my people in the day of slaughter, nor should you especially then, look on. He again repeats גם אתה gam ate (you also, or, especially you): “If other neighbors do this, yet you should abstain, for you are of the same blood; if you cannot bring help, show at least some token of grief and of sympathy. But since you willingly and gladly look on their calamities, it is quite evident that there is not in you a particle of right feeling.”

He afterward adds, You should not stretch forth your hand to his substance. Here he accuses the Idumeans of having been implicated in taking the spoils with other enemies, as though he said: “You have not only allowed your brethren to be pillaged, but you became robbers yourselves. You ought to have felt sorrow in seeing them distressed by foreign enemies; but you have plundered with them and enriched yourselves with spoils. This certainly is by no means to be endured.”

It follows, And you should not stand on the going forth. The word פרק perek signifies to break, to dissipate, to rend; hence פרק perek, as a noun, in Hebrew means rending and breaking. Therefore, some take it metaphorically for a place where two ways meet, when one road is cut or divided into two. When the two meet, there is then a going forth by two ways; hence they take פרק, perek, for such a place. But we may simply take it to mean the rending of the people.

Though I am certainly pleased with the first explanation, I do not confine the word to that meaning, and I prefer the idea of 'going forth,' as it harmonizes better with the context: You have stood then on the going forth; and for what purpose? To destroy those who had escaped, and to stop or to deliver up his remaining captives in the day of affliction. In short, the Prophet means that the Idumeans occupied all the routes to intercept the miserable exiles, for whom flight was the only way of safety.

Since the miserable Jews tried by winding outlets to provide for their own safety, the Prophet says that they were intercepted by the Idumeans, so that none of them could escape, and that they were stopped, so that afterward they might be slain by their enemies. Since the Assyrians and the Chaldeans were a people far distant from Judea, it is probable that the roads were unknown to them and that they were afraid of being entrapped. But the Idumeans, who were intimately acquainted with all their roads, could stand at all the outlets.

Some give the following explanation, but it is too lifeless: You should not stand for the rending of your brethren, that is, you should not stand still, but strive to extend a helping hand to the distressed. But this, as I have said, is too lifeless and strained. You should not then stand on the going forth of the roads to destroy. We now see what the Prophet had in view: to destroy, he says. And whom did they destroy?

Even those who had already escaped. The cruelty to which I have referred is then expressly pointed out here: that the Idumeans were not content with the ruin of the city and the great slaughter that had been made; but if any had stealthily escaped, they occupied the outlets of the roads so that they might not flee away. And the same thing is meant when he adds that all who had remained alive in the day of affliction were betrayed or stopped.

We now understand the Prophet’s meaning: the Idumeans could not complain that God was too severe with them when He reduced them to nothing, because they had given examples of extreme cruelty towards their own brethren, and this at a time when their calamities ought to have obliterated all hatred and old enmities, as is usually the case even with people most alienated from one another. Let us proceed.