Commentary on Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah and Nahum John Calvin
MINOR PROPHETS
abide under his protection until we be removed from all dangers into that eternal rest, which has been obtained for us by the blood of thy Son Jesus Christ. Amen.
Lecture Seventy-first.
Obadiah 12-14
12. But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.
12. Et non aspicias in die fratris tui, in die alientationis ejus, et ne gaudeas super filiis Jehudah die exitii corum, et ne magnifices os tuum in die afÒictionis (hoc est, ne magnifice loquaris.)
13. Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their afÒiction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity;
13. Ne intres in portam populi mei die exitii eorum, ne aspicias etiam tu in afÒictione ejus, (in malo ejus,) in die exitii ejus, et ne extendas (manum subaudiendum est) in substantiam ejus in die exitii ejus;
14. Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress.
14. Et ne stes super exitum (vel, lacerationem, confractionem,) ad perdendum eos qui evaserint, et ne tradas (vel, concludas) residuos ejus in dic afÒictionis.
The Prophet enumerates here the kinds of cruelty which the Idumeans exercised towards the Church of God, the children of Abraham, their own kindred. But he speaks by way of prohibition; it is then a personification, by which the Prophet introduces God as the speaker, as though he taught and admonished them on the duties of human kindness. Engraven, indeed, on their hearts ought all these to have been, on account of which he now reproaches them; for by forgetting humanity they had departed from everything right which nature requires. God indeed did not commence by instructing or teaching the Idumeans what were their duties; but the Prophet reminds them of things which must have been well known to them, and were beyond all dispute true.
Hence he says, Thou shouldest not look on in the day of thy brother, in the day of his alienation. The day of Judah he calls that in which God visited him: so the day of Jerusalem is called the day of calamity. Thou shouldest not then look on: we know in what sense this verb, to look on, is usually taken in Scripture; it is applied to men, when they lie in wait, or very anxiously desire anything, or rejoice at what they witness. The Prophet no doubt takes it metaphorically for taking delight in the misery of the chosen people; for, shortly after, he repeats the same word. Thou shouldest not then look on in the day of thy brother, even in the day of his alienation
Some take another sense; but I approve of their opinion, who regard this alienation as meaning exile; at the same time, they give not the reason for this metaphor, which is this, --- that such a change then took place in the people, that they put on a new appearance. It was then alienation, when God wholly abolished the glory of