All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee [even] to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, [and] prevailed against thee; [they that eat] thy bread have laid a wound under thee: [there is] none understanding in him.
Ver. 7. All the men of thy confederacy] Which therefore should be true to thee, but prove treacherous; so vain it is to trust to that broken reed of carnal combinations. Many friends are like deep ponds, clear at the top and all muddy at the bottom; the causes they will be, but not the companions of calamity. Like they are, saith one, to crows which flock to a dead carcass, not to defend it, but to devour it; and no sooner have they bared the bones but they are gone. David complaineth of such, Psalms 55:13,15, and Jeremiah of his unkind countrymen of Anathoth, Jeremiah 11:23. But for Edom it was no great pity, considering their perfidy both to God (because they had transgressed the laws, moral and municipal, changed the ordinances, that is, the law of nations, and broken the everlasting covenant, that is, the law of nature, which is that light that lighteneth every man that cometh into the world, Joh 1:9), and also to their brethren the Israelites, their extreme inhumanity, as it followeth, Obadiah 1:10,11. They had therefore but their own measure meted again to them; as they had forgotten the brotherly covenant, Amos 1:9; Amos 1:11, so they met with those that paid them home in their own coin; neither were they any more pitied than Haman, when the king frowned upon him, or Sejanus, when he fell into the displeasure of Tiberius; his friends showing themselves most passionate against him, saying, that if Caesar had clemency he ought to reserve it to men, and not cast it away upon monsters.
All brought thee even to the border] And there left thee at the worst; pretending to help thee, but betraying then indeed to the enemy, and helping to cast thee out of thy country, under a show of courtesy.
The men that were at peace with thee] Heb. the men of thy peace, the Ammonites, Moabites, and other neighbouring nations from whom thou fearedst no hurt; these to ingratiate with the king of the Chaldeans.
Have deceived thee] Tuta frequensque via est per amici fallere nomen (Ovid.). This made a certain heathen cry out, Friends, there is no friend to be found, φιλοι, ουδεις φιλος (Socr.); and another to pray God to deliver him from his friends; for, as for his enemies, he could better beware of them.
They that eat thy bread] Heb. thy bread men, thy fellow commoners, convictores et consalanei, others' amici, they are seldom either satisfied or sure.
Have laid a wound under thee] The Hebrew word signifieth both a wound and a plaster; they would secretly wound them, lay a wound under them, and yet seem willing to bind up their wounds, and heal them by applying a plaster: such daubing there is in the world, Fide, diffide. Cavebis autem si pavebis.
There is none understanding in him] That is, in Edom, and this seemeth spoken by way of apostrophe to the Israelites, whose comfort is intended in this whole prophecy. It is as if it had been said, Edom holds himself wise, but will show himself a very sot, destitute of common sense; such as taketh not notice that these are the wounds with which he was wounded in the house of his friends: the wittol is either insensible of it or else well content with it, till he hath bought his wit, and begins to open his eyes but not till the pains of death are upon him, as it is said of the mole.