Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_500.lzh/6_528.TXT

Text File | 1994-09-10 | 7KB | 129 lines

Of my people in the day. of their caiamity, &c.] Or
gates, as the Targum; the gates of any of their cities,
and particularly .those of Jerusalem; into which the
Edomites enteredalong with the Chaldeans, exultlag
over the Jews, and insulting them, and joining wi,th
the enemy in distressing and plundering them: yea,
thou shouldest nothave looked on their affliction in the day
of their calamity: which is repeated, as being exceed-
ing cruel and inhuman, and what was highly resented
by the Lord; that, instead of looking upon the affliction
of his people and their brethren with an eye of pity
and compassion, they looked upon it with the utmost
pleasure and delight: nor laid hands off their substance
in the day of their calamity; or on their forces {x}; they
laid violent hands on their armed men, and either killed
or took them captive: and they laid hands on their
goods, their wealth and .riches, and made a spoil of
them. The phrase, in :the day of their calamity, is
three times used in this verse, to shew the greatness of
it; and as an aggravation of the sin of the Edomites,
in behaving and doing as they did at such a time.
Ver. 14. Neither shouldest thou have stood in the cross-
say, &c.] In a place where two or. more roads met,
to stop the .Jews that fled, let them take which road
they would: or, in the breach {y}; that is, of the walls
of the city; to cut off those of his that did escape; such
of the Jews that escaped the sword of the Chaldeans in
the city, and attempted ,to get away through the
breaches of the walls of it, or that took different roads
to make their escape; these were intercepted and
stopped by the Edomites, who posted themselves at
these breaches, or at places where two or more ways
met, and cut them off; so that those that escaped the
sword of;theeuemv -fell by theirs; which was exceed-
ing barbarous and cruel: neither shouldest thou have de-
livered up those of his that did remain in the day. of their
distress; or shut up {z}; they shut them up m their
houses, or stopped up all the avenues and ways by
which they might escape, even such as remained of
those that were killed or carried captive; these falling
into the hawis of the Edomites, some they cut off, and
others they delivered up into the hands of the Chal-
deans. Of the joy and rejoicing of the mystical Edom-
ires, the Papists, those false brethren and antichristians,
at the destruction of the faithful witnesses and true
Christians, and of their cruelty and inhumanity to
them, see Rev. xi. 7, 8, 9, 10.
Vet. 15. For the day of the Lord is near upon all
the Heathen, &c.] That is, the time was at hand,
fixed and determined by the Lord, and he had spoken
of by his prophets, when he would punish all the
Heathens round about for their sins; as the Egyptians,
Philistines, Tyrians, Ammonites, Moabites, and others;
and so the Edomites among the rest; for this is men-
tioned for their sakes, and to shew that their punish-
naent was inevitable, and that they could not expect to
escape in the general ruin; see Jer. xxv. 17--c2.6. This
destruction of Edom here prophesied of, and of all the
Heathen, was accomplished about five years after the
destruction of Jerusalem, so that it might be truly said
to be near; and some time withiu this space Obadiah
seems to have prophesied; and the day of the Lord is
not far off upon the Pagans, Mahometans, and all the
antichristian states, When mystical Edom or Rome will
be destroyed; see Rev. xvi. 19. and xvii. 14. and xix.
19, 20, c2.1. as thou hast done,. it shall be done unto thee;
thy reward shall return upon thine own head; this is
particularly directed to Edom, upon whom the day of
the Lord's vengeance shall come ; when he punished
the Heathens, then the Edomites should be retaliated
in their own way; and as they had rejoiced at the de-
struction of the Jews, and had insulted them in their
calamtties, and barbarously used them, they should be
treated in like manner; see Ezek. xxxv. 15. and thus
will mystical Babylon, or the mystical Edomites, be
dealt with, even after the same manner as they have
dealt with the truly godly, the faithful professors of
Christ, Rev. xviii. 6.
Ver. 16. For as ye have drunk upon my holy moun-
tain, so shall all the Heathen drinlc continually, &c.]
Which is either spoken to the Edomites; and the
sense be, according to the Targum, "as ye have re-
" jolted at the blow (given unto or at the subversion
"and destruction) of the mountain of my holiness, all
"people shall drink the cup of their vengeance ;" or
punishment; and to the same sense Jarchi and Japhet
interpret it; and so Kimchi, "as ye have made a feast,
"rejoicing at the destruction of my holy mountain, so
"thou and all nations shall drink of the cup of trem-
"bling ;" but Aben Ezra thinks the words are spoken
to the Israelites, "as ye have drank the cup, so shall
"all nations ;" the cup of vengeance began with them,
and so went round the nations, according to the pro-
phecy in Jer. xxv. 17, 18, &c;; for, if judgment begins at
the house and people of God, it may be expected it
will reach to others; wherefore Edom had no reason to
rejoice at the destruction of the Jews, since they might
be assured by that the same would be their case ere
long; and with this difference, that whereas the Jews
only drank tiffs cup for a while, during the seventy-
years' captivity, these nations, and the Edomites among
the rest, should be continually drinking it: yea, they
shall drink, and they shall swallow down; not only
drink of the cup, but drink it up; not only take it into
their mouths, but swallow it down their throats; not
only sip at it, but sup it up {}, as it may be rendered.
The phrase denotes the fulness of their punishment,
and their utter and entire ruin and destruction, which
the next clause confirms: and they shall be as though
they had not been; as now are the Philistines, Moabites,
Ammonites, and so the Edomites; their names are not
heard of in the world, only as they are read in the
Bi.ble; and thus it shall be with mystical Babylon or
Edom, it shall be thrown down, and found no more,
Rev. xviii. 21.
Ver. 17. But upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance,
&c.] Not only' by Cyrus, at the end of the seventy-
years' captivity; and by the Maccabees from the Idu-
means, and other enemies; but by the Messiah; for not
merely temporal deliverance is here intended, unless as

{x} \^wlyxb\^ "in exercitum ejus", Drusius; "in copias eorum", Castalio;
"in copiam ,ejus", Cocceius,
{y} \^qrph le\^ "in diruptione", Junius & Tremellius, Tarnovius,
{z} \^rgot law\^ "neque concludas", Montanus, Mercerus, Tigurine ver-
sion, Tarnovius.
{a] \^welw\^ "& absorbebunt", Vulg. Lat. Junius & Tremellius, Piscator;
"deglutient", Montanus, Mercerus. Gussetius renders it absorbebuntur.