The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.
Ver. 1. The vision of Obadiah] The same, say some, that hid the Lord's prophets, and fed them by fifty in a cave, when sought for to the slaughter by wicked Jezebel, 1 Kings 18:4, whereupon himself also received a prophet's reward; that is (saith Lyra), was endued with the spirit of prophecy. Jerome addeth, that he was buried at Samaria (called afterwards Sebaste, by Herod, in honour of Augustus), and that there his sepulchre was yet to be seen. The Rabbis say, that this Obadiah was that widow's husband whom Elisha relieved by multiplying her oil, 2 Kings 4:6. Others (with more show of reason) conjecture that this was that Obadiah mentioned 2 Chronicles 34:12, a faithful Levite, set by Josiah to oversee the artificers, who repaired the temple in the eighteenth year of his reign; and so was contemporary to Ezekiel and Jeremiah, with whom also he consenteth in many passages, Jer 49:1-39 Ezekiel 25:1,17 : and besides, he maketh mention of the Babylonish captivity, and the Edomites' cruelty to the Jews at that time, Psalms 137:7. But let him be who he will (for where the Scripture hath no tongue we need not find ears; but may well content ourselves with a learned ignorance), his doctrine he entitleth not a burden, because he concludeth it comfortably, but a vision, which is more general; it being his scope to comfort the people of God, that were under great affliction.
Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom] If Obadiah were himself an Edomite, but a proselyte to the Church (as some Rabbis have reported him), his vision should have taken the better with his cruel countrymen, to bring them to repentance. But whether he were or not, they should have observed his authority: and that his doctrine came cum privilegio, and that it was the Lord God, the Tremend Trinunus, that spake by him; and that he was, according to his name, a servant of the most high God, which showed unto them the way of salvation, Acts 16:17. Sed surdo fabulam: the Edomites were so fleshed in blood, and such inveterate enemies to the Church, that there was little good to be done upon them. Howsoever, to leave them without excuse, and, if possible, to rouse them out of their security, he saith,
We have heard a rumour from the Lord] We, that is, I and my fellow prophets (who are a secretis to the Lord, Amo 3:7), have heard for a certainty that the Edomites are devoted to destruction. And that this was no vain rumour, but accordingly accomplished, see Jeremiah 25:9; Jer 25:21 Malachi 1:3 .
And an ambassador is sent among the heathen] A herald at arms, sent by Nebuchadnezzar, say some, to stir up his Chaldeans against the Edomites: others make this ambassador to be Christ, or a created angel, or a Divine instinct, or lastly, the prophets. Whosoever he is, he doth his work very vigorously.
Arise ye, saith he, and let us rise up against her in battle] Let us join our forces, and do our utmost against Idumea. After this sort also shall God's warriors stir up themselves one day and one another against the Romish Edomites, those pseudo-christians, anti-christians, when God shall once put into their hearts to hate that old withered whore of Babylon, to "make her desolate and naked, to eat her flesh, and burn her with fire," Revelation 17:16,17. The alarm was long since given them (not unlike this in the text) by Francis Petrarch, in these words, Babylon altera, nempe propinquior atque recentior, adhuc star: cito itidem casura; si essetis viri. There yet standeth a nearer and newer Babylon than that of old; but it should not stand long were you but men. "Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle." The Jews at this day call the hierarchy of Rome the wicked kingdom of Edom; and for Dumah, Isaiah 21:11, they read Roma, by a very easy but willing mistake. See Dr Taylor's Sermon, called The Romish Edomite.