Obadiah 1:15,16 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen The sacred writers call that the day of any persons, in which they do or suffer any thing very remarkable. Thus, Obadiah 1:13, the day of thy brother, signifies that time in which he was remarkably afflicted. So the day of the Lord signifies that time in which he does something extraordinary; and here it means the time in which God would inflict a remarkable vengeance upon the enemies of Judah. By all the heathen, is meant all those nations who, together with the Idumeans, insulted over the calamities of the Jews, or had waged war against them without any just cause. As thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee As thou hast rejoiced at the calamities of others, so shall others rejoice at thine: and as thou hast spoiled and plundered thy neighbours, so shalt thou be served thyself: see the margin. For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, &c. Here is a sudden apostrophe to the Jewish people, who are here addressed. The sense is, As ye, who dwell on the mount which is sacred to me, have drunk of the cup of my indignation, or have suffered grievous calamities from my just displeasure, so also shall the nations among whom I am not known. They shall drink and swallow down Or, they shall drink large draughts of it, even to the very dregs. By this is expressed their suffering calamities in an extraordinary degree. They shall be as though they had not been They shall be utterly destroyed, so that there shall be no remains of them.