CRITICAL NOTES.]
Obadiah 1:15. For] Resumptive from Obadiah 1:10. Righteous retribution in kind.
Obadiah 1:16.] The greatest crime the desecration of the holy mountain by drinking carousals, for which all nations are to drink of God’s wrath till utterly destroyed. Not been] (Job 10:19); not a trace of national existence left (Psalms 37:36; Ezekiel 26:21).
HOMILETICS
THE DAY OF RETRIBUTION.—Obadiah 1:15-16
Another warning of judgment to come. All men are amenable to law. God notices violations of law and duty. He is present in the affairs and will administer justice on the sins of men. “For the day of the Lord is near.”
I. God governs men by a law of requital. Human life appears confused, but God has plan and design. The wicked may triumph and the righteous suffer, but God will rectify matters. Men may disregard and deny the day of retribution, but cannot escape it. They often suffer here in loss of property, thwarted plans, and bad repute. Look not then upon the wrath of man, but the judgment of God.
1. This retribution may be near. “The day of the Lord is near.”
2. It is fixed in time. “The day of the Lord.”
3. It is certain. “They shall drink.” “Vengeance is mine: I will repay, saith the Lord.”
II. This law of retribution will be in equity. “As thou hast done it shall be done unto thee.” It is the lex talionis. God renders exactly to nations and individuals according to their works. Adonibezek confessed, “As I have done so God hath requited me” (Jude 1:7). With the froward God is froward (Psalms 18:26); with the cruel he is strict, as with Agag and Edom. Men are filled with their own ways (Proverbs 14:14), and reap exactly what they sow in quality and quantity. “With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”
1. In personal experience. “Thy reward shall be upon thine own head.”
2. In bitter degree. “They shall drink and swallow down.”
3. In long duration. “Drink continually.” “His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealings shall come down upon his own pate.”
“Heaven is above all, yet there sits a Judge
That no king can corrupt” [Shakespeare].
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Obadiah 1:15. Thy reward, &c.
1. Then take not the law in your own hands.
2. Be encouraged in a good cause.
3. Fear in a bad cause.
Obadiah 1:16. As ye have drunk. A metaphor found in Scripture and heathen writers, in allusion to the cup of poison given to criminals, or to feasts where the governor gave to each guest (John 2:9). As God’s people had drunk the cup of affliction, so must the heathen drink of it. The cup of sorrow.
1. To God’s people—(a) mixed with sweetness; (b) it will soon be over.
2. To the wicked—(a) full of wrath; (b) will last for ever. “When God’s people have drunk the red wine in the cup, the wicked must drink the dregs; the cup passeth from place to place till all be drank off.”
All nations are, in the first instance, all who had been leagued against God’s people; but the wide term comprehends all who, in time, become like them. It is a rule of God’s justice for all times. Each in turn drank continuously, until it became as though it had never been. To swallow up, and be swallowed up in turn, is the world’s history [Pusey].
1. The Hill of Zion God’s holy mount.
2. This mount polluted by the carousals of men.
3. This mount vindicated and purified by God. The Church may be laid waste and made desolate, but God will purify it and revenge its enemies; will make a difference between holy and unholy; punish the spoiler and defend the worshipper. “Here will I dwell, for I have a delight therein.”
ILLUSTRATIONS TO THE CHAPTER
Obadiah 1:15-16. Retribution. To the revengeful God will be robed in vengeance, and to the merciful he will be a God of love. Thus our own characters, whether good or bad, will be thrown back upon ourselves, with the conscious force of Divinity. What is hell but sin’s reflections of the Divine character—the rays of the Eternal falling upon the soul through the combustible medium of the moral corruption, and thus setting all on fire? Let us remember, then, that there is to be a Divine reflection of ourselves, and that exactly with what measure we mete, it will be measured to us again [Dr Thomas].