Show Bible Commentary For A Bible Verse

Click here to show/hide instructions.

Selected Verse: Obadiah 1:11 - King James

Verse	Translation	Text
Ob 1:11	King James	In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

Open All | Close All Open All | Close All

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
thou stoodest on the other side--in an attitude of hostility, rather than the sympathy which became a brother, feasting thine eyes (see ) with the misery of Jacob, and eagerly watching for his destruction. So Messiah, the antitype to Jerusalem, abandoned by His kinsmen (). strangers--the Philistines, Arabians in the reign of Jehoram, &c. (); the Syrians in the reign of Joash of Judah (); the Chaldeans (2Ch. 36:1-23). carried . . . captive his forces--his "host" (): the multitude of Jerusalem's inhabitants. cast lots upon Jerusalem-- (). So Messiah, Jerusalem's antitype, had lots cast for His only earthly possessions ().

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

thou stoodest on the other side--in an attitude of hostility, rather than the sympathy which became a brother, feasting thine eyes (see ) with the misery of Jacob, and eagerly watching for his destruction. So Messiah, the antitype to Jerusalem, abandoned by His kinsmen ().

strangers--the Philistines, Arabians in the reign of Jehoram, &c. (); the Syrians in the reign of Joash of Judah (); the Chaldeans (2Ch. 36:1-23).

carried . . . captive his forces--his "host" (): the multitude of Jerusalem's inhabitants.

cast lots upon Jerusalem-- (). So Messiah, Jerusalem's antitype, had lots cast for His only earthly possessions ().

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
In the day that thou stoodest on the other side - The time when they so stood, is not defined in itself, as a past or future. It is literally; "In the day of thy standing over against," i. e., to gaze on the calamities of God's people; "in the day of strangers carrying away his strength," i. e., "the strength of thy brother Jacob," of whom he had just spoken, "and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots on Jerusalem, thou too as one of them. One of them" they were not. Edom was no stranger, no alien, no part of the invading army; he whose strength they carried away, was, he had just said, his "brother Jacob." Edom burst the bonds of nature, to become what he was not, "as one of them." He purposely does not say, "thou too wast (הית hayı̂tha) as of them;" as he would have said, had he wished to express what was past. Obadiah seeing, in prophetic vision, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the share which the Edomites took there at, describes it as it is before his eyes, as past. We see before us, the enemy carrying off all in which the human strength of Judah lay, his forces and his substance, and casting lots on Jerusalem its people and its possessions. He describes it as past, yet, not more so, than the visitation itself which was to follow, some centuries afterward. Of both, he speaks alike as past; of both, as future. He speaks of them as past, as being so beheld in "His" mind in whose name he speaks. God's certain knowledge does not interfere with our free agency. "God compelleth no one to sin; yet, foreseeth all who shall sin of their own will. How then should He not justly avenge what, foreknowing, He does not compel them to do? For as no one, by his memory, compelleth to be done things which pass, so God, by His foreknowledge, doth not compel to be done things which will be. And as man remembereth some things which he hath done, and yet, hath not done all which he remembereth; so God foreknoweth all things whereof He is Himself the Author, and yet, is not Himself the Author of all which He foreknoweth. Of those things then, of which He is no evil Author, He is the just Avenger.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]

In the day that thou stoodest on the other side - The time when they so stood, is not defined in itself, as a past or future. It is literally; "In the day of thy standing over against," i. e., to gaze on the calamities of God's people; "in the day of strangers carrying away his strength," i. e., "the strength of thy brother Jacob," of whom he had just spoken, "and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots on Jerusalem, thou too as one of them. One of them" they were not. Edom was no stranger, no alien, no part of the invading army; he whose strength they carried away, was, he had just said, his "brother Jacob." Edom burst the bonds of nature, to become what he was not, "as one of them." He purposely does not say, "thou too wast (הית hayı̂tha) as of them;" as he would have said, had he wished to express what was past. Obadiah seeing, in prophetic vision, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the share which the Edomites took there at, describes it as it is before his eyes, as past.

We see before us, the enemy carrying off all in which the human strength of Judah lay, his forces and his substance, and casting lots on Jerusalem its people and its possessions. He describes it as past, yet, not more so, than the visitation itself which was to follow, some centuries afterward. Of both, he speaks alike as past; of both, as future. He speaks of them as past, as being so beheld in "His" mind in whose name he speaks. God's certain knowledge does not interfere with our free agency. "God compelleth no one to sin; yet, foreseeth all who shall sin of their own will. How then should He not justly avenge what, foreknowing, He does not compel them to do? For as no one, by his memory, compelleth to be done things which pass, so God, by His foreknowledge, doth not compel to be done things which will be. And as man remembereth some things which he hath done, and yet, hath not done all which he remembereth; so God foreknoweth all things whereof He is Himself the Author, and yet, is not Himself the Author of all which He foreknoweth. Of those things then, of which He is no evil Author, He is the just Avenger.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
In the day - During the war which the Babylonians made upon Judea. Stoodest - Didst set thyself in battle array against thy brother. Jerusalem - Upon the citizens and their goods. As one of them - As merciless and insolent as any of them.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]

In the day - During the war which the Babylonians made upon Judea. Stoodest - Didst set thyself in battle array against thy brother. Jerusalem - Upon the citizens and their goods. As one of them - As merciless and insolent as any of them.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
Thou stoodest on the other side - Thou not only didst not help thy brother when thou mightest, but thou didst assist his foes against him. And cast lots - When the Chaldeans cast lots on the spoils of Jerusalem, thou didst come in for a share of the booty; "thou wast as one of them."

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826

Thou stoodest on the other side - Thou not only didst not help thy brother when thou mightest, but thou didst assist his foes against him.

And cast lots - When the Chaldeans cast lots on the spoils of Jerusalem, thou didst come in for a share of the booty; "thou wast as one of them."

Top