John Calvin Commentary Obadiah 1:7-8

"All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee on thy way, even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; [they that eat] thy bread lay a snare under thee: there is no understanding in him. Shall I not in that day, saith Jehovah, destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?" — Obadiah 1:7-8 (ASV)

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.