CRITICAL NOTES.]
Obadiah 1:7.] Edom would be forsaken by those in whom they put confidence. Confederates] Allies would drive back (brought) fugitives to the frontier. Men at peace with them, neighbouring states, would deceive them (Psalms 41:9). They that eat bread, lit. men of bread, their dependents, lay snares to wound. Treachery everywhere. None] of the wisdom and tact for which Edom was famous is left to extricate himself.
Obadiah 1:8. Wise men] shall be bereft of discernment.
Obadiah 1:9. Thy mighty] heroes are dismayed, or fall into despair.
RELIANCE ON BROKEN REEDS.—Obadiah 1:7-9
The destruction threatened could not be warded off by dependence upon allied armies, renowned wisdom, and heroic valour. Every object of confidence is destroyed. Those very projects by which they seek to protect themselves and secure their treasures become the ruin of both.
I. Human alliances disappoint. Those who forsake God often flee in vain confidence to man. But as Edom had deceived and persecuted his brother Jacob, so in turn he is deceived and punished by his friends.
1. Confederates are worthless. When Edom seeks for help and support from them, ambassadors and fugitives are sent back to the frontier or delivered into the hands of the enemy. Allies will not entangle themselves in the fate of Edom.
2. Neighbours are treacherous. They deceive or overpower them. Men hide their malice under a pretence of peace. Their friendship is deceitful as a brook in summer, false and perfidious. Hence cried the heathen, “Friends! there is no friend to be found.” The man of my peace, with whom I had no difference, in whom I trusted, proved treacherous. “For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it” (Psalms 55:12-13).
3. Dependents forsake them. Those who had bread with them; those entertained by them and who lived by them, laid plots for their overthrow. While they professed to aid they secretly desired to wound them. Unkind acts from those in whom we put confidence are most severe. To spurn those from whom we derive our bread and being is the height of ingratitude and malice. “All my friends have forsaken me,” cried a Prime Minister of England. “And thou, O Brutus!” said the dying Cæsar, “yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.” Thus the help of man proves to be vain. When nations are united in fear, they may be severed and turned against one another. “Every experiment by multitudes or by individuals that has a sensual and selfish aim will fail,” says Emerson. The giants in old time succeeded not in confederacy against the gods. The firmest friendship, the strongest armies, are broken reeds. “Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.”
II. Worldly wisdom failed. The prophet makes an appeal to Edom, “Shall I not?” God will turn their knowledge into ignorance, and their wisdom into folly.
1. Wise men will be destroyed. They will not have wit or wisdom enough to preserve themselves. A wise man, though poor, may defend a city (Proverbs 9:14-15). A woman’s wisdom defeated the purpose of Joab (2 Samuel 20:14-22). Archimedes saved Syracuse from Roman plunder. Wisdom is better than strength, and its merits often more brilliant. Sad therefore is the loss of wise men.
2. Wisdom itself shall perish. “And understanding out of the mount of Esau.” “Knowledge is power,” and in “the multitude of counsellors there is safety.” But “there is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord.” Pharaoh’s device, was frustrated. Ahithophel’s counsel was befooled when it was thought to be like “the oracle of God.” Worldly policy is weak, begets suspicion and leads to ruin. “The best-laid schemes” are often overturned by accident, and the wisdom of legislators “made foolish” by the providence of God. Trust not to human wisdom. It can neither prevent the treachery of men, nor ward off the judgment of God. When we seek protection in “the wisdom of men,” from national distress and personal evil, we shall be disappointed. “There is no understanding in them;” they are bereft of all prudence and help. “The wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.”
III. Martial valour availed not. “Thy mighty men, O Teman! shall be dismayed.” Their courage turned pale. Heroes and valiant men were cowards. Their last hope was cut off, brave warriors were dismayed and trembled in despair. If the mighty fall, what becomes of the weak? “Howl, fir-trees, if the cedars be shaken.” When armies and fleets fail, the people are defenceless, and “every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.” The nation is panic-stricken, and the rigour of death strikes them helpless (Psalms 76:5). How terrible was the overthrow of Edom! Its wealth and confederacies, its renown and its valour, availed not in the day of calamity. “Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Obadiah 1:7. Edom is a type of worldly wisdom and secular policy, as well as of unbrotherly enmity to God’s people. In both respects the punishment of Edom is a warning to all Machiavellian politicians in these latter days [Wordsworth].
1. The judgment. I will “destroy the wise men.”
2. The time. “In that day.”
3. The certainty of it. “Saith the Lord.”
Edom’s destruction.
1. Its outward cause.
2. Its moral necessity in God’s purpose. “The prophet sums up briefly God’s end in all this. The immediate means were man’s treachery, man’s violence, the failure of wisdom in the wise, and of courage in the brave. The end of all in God’s will, was their destruction. All things work together to good to those who love God, and to evil to those who hate him” [Pusey].
Understanding out of Mount of Esau. God will justly deny those understanding to keep out of the way of danger, that will not use their understanding to keep out of the way of sin. He that will be foolish, let him be foolish still [Lange].
1. Carnal confidences of men. Good situations, abundant treasures, powerful allies, prudence, and mighty men to deliver in extremity.
2. The destruction of these confidences. Every one is threatened, and the terror is only the forerunner of the judgment of God. “The death or disunity of the mighty often proves the death and destruction of the many; and it is in vain to depend upon mighty men for our protection, if we have not an Almighty God for us, much less if we have an Almighty God against us” [Lange].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO THE CHAPTER
Obadiah 1:7. Fickleness. Clocks will go as they are set; but man, irregular man, is never certain [Massinger].
Obadiah 1:8. Many had proved themselves wise if they had not thought themselves so [Bp Hall]. He that is not wise will not be taught; but there is a wisdom which multiplieth bitterness (Sir. 21:12).
“Heaven is for thee too high; be lowly wise.” [Milton.]
“Wherefore should not strength and might
There fail where virtue fails?” [Milton.]