Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Obadiah 1:12
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. Thou shouldest not have looked have rejoiced have spoken ] rather, look not, rejoice not, speak not. In this verse it is the neutrality of Edom, spoken of as “standing on the other side” in the former part of Oba 1:11, that is condemned. In Oba 1:13-14 his active cooperation with the enemy, his being “as one of them,” is denounced. But in both cases there is a climax. In this verse the complacent looking on deepens into malicious joy, and malicious joy finds expression in derisive mockery. In the following verses, he who before had stood afar, draws near, “enters into the gate” with the victorious foe, “looks on the affliction,” as a close spectator of all its horrors, “lays hands on the spoil,” does not scruple to take part in the pillage of his brother, nor even to waylay the fugitives and deliver them up into the hand of the enemy. “He dehorts them from malicious rejoicing at their brother’s fall, first in look, then in word, then in act, in covetous participation of the spoil, and lastly in murder.” Pusey.
looked on the day ] Comp. “the day of Jerusalem.” Psa 137:7. “Malicious gazing on human calamity, forgetful of man’s common origin, and common liability to ill, is the worst form of human hate. It was one of the contumelies of the Cross, They gaze, they look with joy upon Me. Psa 22:17.” Pusey.
became a stranger ] i.e. was treated as a stranger, cruelly and unjustly: or was made a stranger by being carried into captivity. The clause however may mean “in the day of his calamity,” or “disaster,” R.V.
rejoiced ] “He that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.” Pro 17:5.
spoken proudly ] lit. “make thy mouth great” in derision and mockery. This may refer either to proud boastful words, or to mocking grimaces and contortions of the mouth.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But thou shouldest not – , rather it means, and can only mean , And look not (i. e., gaze not with pleasure) on the day of thy brother in the day of his becoming a stranger ; and rejoice not over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; and enlarge not thy mouth in the day of distress. Enter not into the gate of My people in the day of their calamity; look not, thou too, on his affliction in the day of his calamity; and lay not hands on his substance in the day of his calamity; And stand not on the crossway, to cut off his fugitives; and shut not up his remnants in the day of distress.
Throughout these three verses, Obadiah uses the future only. It is the voice of earnest, emphatic, dehortation and entreaty, not to do what would displease God, and what, if done, would be punished. He dehorts them from malicious rejoicing at their brothers fall, first in look, then in word, then in act, in covetous participation of the spoil, and lastly in murder. Malicious gazing on human calamity, forgetful of mans common origin and common liability to ill, is the worst form of human hate. It was one of the contumelies of the Cross, they gaze, they look with joy upon Me. Psa 22:17. The rejoicing over them was doubtless, as among savages, accompanied with grimaces (as in Psa 35:19; Psa 38:16). Then follow words of insult. The enlarging of the mouth is uttering a tide of large words, here against the people of God; in Ezekiel, against Himself Eze 35:13 : Thus with your mouth ye have enlarged against Me and have multiplied your words against Me. I have heard.
Thereon, follows Edoms coming yet closer, entering the gate of Gods people to share the conquerors triumphant gaze on his calamity. Then, the violent, busy, laying the hands on the spoil, while others of them stood in cold blood, taking the fork where the ways parted, in order to intercept the fugitives before they were dispersed, or to shut them up with the enemy, driving them back on their pursuers. The prophet beholds the whole course of sin and persecution, and warns them against it, in the order, in which, if committed, they would commit it. Who would keep clear from the worst, must stop at the beginning. Still Gods warnings accompany him step by step. At each step, some might stop. The warning, although thrown away on the most part, might arrest the few. At the worst, when the guilt had been contracted and the punishment had ensued, it was a warning for their posterity and for all thereafter.
Some of these things Edom certainly did, as the Psalmist prays Psa 137:7, Remember, O Lord, to the children of Edom the day of Jerusalem, who said, Lay bare, lay bare, even to the foundation in her. And Ezekiel Eze 35:5-6 alluding to this language of Obadiah , because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end, therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee; sith thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee. Violence, bloodshed, unrelenting, deadly hatred against the whole people, a longing for their extermination, had been inveterate characteristics of Esau. Joel and Amos had already denounced Gods judgments against them for two forms of this hatred, the murder of settlers in their own land or of those who were sold to them Joe 3:19; Amo 1:6, Amo 1:9, Amo 1:11.
Obadiah warns them against yet a third, intercepting their fugitives in their escape from the more powerful enemy. Stand not in the crossway. Whoso puts himself in the situation to commit an old sin, does, in fact, will to renew it, and will, unless hindered from without, certainly do it. Probably he will, through sins inherent power of growth, do worse. Having anew tasted blood, Ezekiel says, that they sought to displace Gods people and remove God Himself Eze 35:10-11. Because thou hast said, these two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it, whereas the Lord was there, therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will even do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy, which thou hast used out of thy hatred against them.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Oba 1:12-15
But thou shouldst not have looked on the day of thy brother.
The doom of Edom
The commentary on this prophecy is supplied by every traveller who has explored the recesses of the mountain of Esau. Every people that has the privileges of Edom, and like Edom abuses them, is without right to expect a more favourable issue from the hand of God. The general sentiment implied in this prophecy is, that a nation in prosperity abusing its advantages to the injury of less fortunate peoples, or even neglecting them in their distress, incurs by its conduct the displeasure of God. Apply the subject–
1. To the religious character and improvement of England. It is not easy to form an adequate conception of the diffusive and pervading influence of British power. That extraordinary influence is steadily, continually increasing; England is rising to be the great leader of public opinion among the nations. On all great political, commercial, moral, social, and religious questions the world is now looking to Britain. Then we plead with you on behalf of your country. You are the light of your country, and by making it luminous you become, in it, the light of the world.
2. To the conduct of England towards such people as have a peculiar claim upon its regard. The Edomites ought to have assisted, and not oppressed, the Jews. To us the sister island is surely as intimately related as Israel could have been to Edom. As to the colonies, little need be said. As England sows, so shall it reap. (R. Halley, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. Thou shouldest not have looked] It shows a malevolent heart to rejoice in the miseries of those who have acted unkindly or wickedly towards us. The Edomites triumphed when they saw the judgments of God fall upon the Jews. This the Lord severely reprehends in Ob 1:12-15. If a man have acted cruelly towards us, and God punish him for this cruelty, and we rejoice in it, we make his crime our own; and then, as we have done, so shall it be done unto us; see Ob 1:15. All these verses point out the part the Edomites took against the Jews when the Chaldeans besieged and took Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, and divided the spoils.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Thou shouldest not have looked with secret joy and satisfaction to thy eyes and mind; if thou wouldst have looked, it should have been with tears and grief, not with joy and gladness at the sight: so the word, Psa 37; Psa 44:7; Pro 29:16.
On the day; on the affliction and sad misery which fell upon thy brother Jacob; so day in Scripture, thus absolutely put, doth often signify, Psa 37:13; Mic 7:4.
Became a stranger; having by the misery of war been made a captive, and lost his former right and liberty in his own country, was now looked upon as a stranger, i.e. one who had no more right to any thing in the land.
Neither shouldest thou have rejoiced: this explains the former.
Children of Judah: this expounds brother.
The day of their destruction: this tells us what day meant.
Neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly, vaunting over the Jews, insolently upbraiding and reproaching them with virulent words and exulcerated malice,
in the day of distress, when Jerusalem was taken.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. looked onwith malignantpleasure, and a brutal stare. So the antitypes, Messiah’s foes (Ps22:17). MAURERtranslates, as the Margin, “thou shouldest not look”any more. English Version agrees with the context better.
the day of thy brotherhisday of calamity.
became a strangerthatis, was banished as an alien from his own land. God sends heavycalamities on those who rejoice in the calamities of their enemies(Pro 17:5; Pro 24:17;Pro 24:18). Contrast the oppositeconduct of David and of the divine Son of David in a like case (Ps35:13-15).
spoken proudlyliterally,”made great the mouth”; proudly insulting the fallen (Eze35:13, Margin; compare 1Sa 2:8;Rev 13:6).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother,…. The day of his calamity, distress, and destruction, as afterwards explained; that is, with delight and satisfaction, as pleased with it, and rejoicing at it; but rather should have grieved and mourned, and as fearing their turn would be next: or, “do not look” t; so some read it in the imperative, and in like manner all the following clauses:
in the day that he became a stranger; were carried into a strange country, and became strangers to their own: or, “in the day of his alienation” u; from their country, city, houses, and the house and worship of God; and when strange, surprising, and unheard of things were done unto them, and, among them:
neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; the destruction of the Jews, of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, by the Chaldeans: this explains what is meant by the Edomites looking upon the day of the calamity of the Jews, that it was with pleasure and complacency, having had a good will to have destroyed them themselves, but it was not in the power of their hands; and now being done by a foreign enemy, they could not forbear expressing their joy on that occasion, which was very cruel and brutal; and this also shows that Obadiah prophesied after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar:
neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress; or “magnified thy mouth” w; opened it wide in virulent scoffing, and insulting language; saying with the greatest fervour and vehemence, and as loud as it could be said, “rase it, rase it to the foundation thereof”, Ps 137:7.
t “ne aspicias”, Junius Tremellius “ne aspicito”, Piscator; “ne spectes”, Cocceius. u “diem alienationis ejus”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Mercerus “in die alienationis ejus”, Calvin, Cocceius, Burkius. w “et non debebas magnificare os tuum”, Pagninus; “ne magnifices”, Montanus, Junius Tremellius “ne magnificato”, Piscator; “ne magno ore utaris”, Cocceius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“And look not at the day of thy brother on the day of his misfortune; and rejoice not over the sons of Judah in the day of their perishing, and do not enlarge thy mouth in the day of the distress. Oba 1:13. Come not into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; thou also look not at his misfortune in the day of his calamity, and stretch not out thy hand to his possession in the day of his calamity: Oba 1:14. Nor stand in the cross-road, to destroy his fugitives, nor deliver up his escaped ones in the day of distress.” This warning cannot be satisfactorily explained either “on the assumption that the prophet is here foretelling the future destruction of Judah and Jerusalem” (Caspari), or “on the supposition that he is merely depicting an event that has already past” (Hitzig). If the taking and plundering of Jerusalem were an accomplished fact, whether in idea or in reality, as it is shown to be by the perfects and in Oba 1:11, Obadiah could not in that case warn the Edomites against rejoicing over it, or even taking part therein. Hence Drusius, Rosenmller, and others, take the verbs in Oba 1:12-14 as futures of the past: “Thou shouldest not have seen, shouldest not have rejoiced,” etc. But this is opposed to the grammar. followed by the so-called fut. apoc. is jussive, and cannot stand for the pluperf. conjunct. And Maurer’s suggestion is just as untenable, namely, that yom in Oba 1:11 denotes the day of the capture of Jerusalem, and in Oba 1:12, Oba 1:13 the period after this day; since the identity of (the day of thy standing) in Oba 1:11 with in Oba 1:12 strikes the eye at once. The warning in Oba 1:12-14 is only intelligible on the supposition, that Obadiah has not any particular conquest and plundering of Jerusalem in his mind, whether a future one or one that has already occurred, but regards this as an event that not only has already taken place, but will take place again: that is to say, on the assumption that he rises from the particular historical event to the idea which it embodied, and that, starting from this, he sees in the existing case all subsequent cases of a similar kind. From this ideal standpoint he could warn Edom of what it had already done, and designate the disastrous day which had come upon Judah and Jerusalem by different expressions as a day of the greatest calamity; for what Edom had done, and what had befallen Judah, were types of the future development of the fate of Judah and of the attitude of Edom towards it, which go on fulfilling themselves more and more until the day of the Lord upon all nations, upon the near approach of which Obadiah founds his warning in Oba 1:15. The warning proceeds in Oba 1:12-14 from the general to the particular, or from the lower to the higher. Obadiah warns the Edomites, as Hitzig says, “not to rejoice in Judah’s troubles (Oba 1:12), nor to make common cause with the conquerors (Oba 1:13), nor to outdo and complete the work of the enemy (Oba 1:14).” By the cop. Vav, which stands at the head of all the three clauses in Oba 1:12, the warning addressed to the Edomites, against such conduct as this, is linked on to what they had already done.
The three clauses of Oba 1:12 contain a warning in a graduated form against malicious pleasure. with , to look at anything with pleasure, to take delight in it, affirms less than , to rejoice, to proclaim one’s joy without reserve. , to make the mouth large, is stronger still, like , to boast, to do great things with the mouth, equivalent to , to make the mouth broad, to stretch it open, over (against) a person (Psa 35:21; Isa 57:4), a gesture indicating contempt and derision. The object of their malicious pleasure mentioned in the first clause is yom ‘achkha , the day of thy brother, i.e., the day upon which something strange happened to him, namely, what is mentioned in Oba 1:11. Yom does not of itself signify the disastrous day, or day of ruin, either here or anywhere else; but it always receives the more precise definition from the context. If we were to adopt the rendering “disastrous day,” it would give rise to a pure tautology when taken in connection with what follows. The expression ‘achkha ( of thy brother) justifies the warning. is not in apposition to , but, according to the parallelism of the clauses, it is a statement of time. , . . = (Job 31:3), fortuna aliena , a strange, i.e., hostile fate, not “rejection” (Hitzig, Caspari, and others). The expression , the day of their (Judah’s sons) perishing, is stronger still; although the perishing ( ‘abhod ) of the sons of Judah cannot denote the destruction of the whole nation, since the following word tsrh, calamity, is much too weak to admit of this. Even the word , which occurs three times in Oba 1:13, does not signify destruction, but (from the root , to fall heavily, to load) simply pressure, a burden, then weight of suffering, distress, misfortune (see Delitzsch on Job 18:12). In Oba 1:13 Obadiah warns against taking part in the plundering of Jerusalem. The gate of my people: for the city in which the people dwell, the capital (see Mic 1:9). Look not thou also, a brother nation, upon his calamity, as enemies do, i.e., do not delight thyself thereat, nor snatch at his possessions. The form tishlachnah , for which we should expect tishlach , is not yet satisfactorily explained (for the different attempts that have been made to explain it, see Caspari). The passages in which nah is appended to the third pers. fem. sing., to distinguish it from the second person, do not help us to explain it. Ewald and Olshausen would therefore alter the text, and read . But is not absolutely necessary, since it is omitted in 2Sa 6:6; 2Sa 22:17, or Psa 18:17, where shalach occurs in the sense of stretching out the hand. , his possessions. On the fact itself, compare Joe 3:5. The prominence given to the day of misfortune at the end of every sentence is very emphatic; “inasmuch as the selection of the time of a brother’s calamity, as that in which to rage against him with such cunning and malicious pleasure, was doubly culpable” (Ewald). In Oba 1:14 the warning proceeds to the worst crime of all, their seizing upon the Judaean fugitives, for the purpose of murdering them or delivering them up to the enemy. Pereq signifies here the place where the roads break or divide, the cross-road. In Nah 3:1, the only other place in which it occurs, it signifies tearing in pieces, violence. Hisgr , to deliver up (lit., concludendum tradidit ), is generally construed with (Deu 23:16) or (Psa 31:9; 1Sa 23:11). Here it is written absolutely with the same meaning: not “to apprehend, or so overpower that there is no escape left” (Hitzig). This would affirm too little after the preceding , and cannot be demonstrated from Job 11:10, where hisgr means to keep in custody.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
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 the kingdom of Judah, and when he took away all his favors, so that the appearance of the people became deformed. In the day then of his alienation, that is, when the Lord stripped him of his ancient dignity.
Thou shouldest not rejoice, he says, over the children of Judah, in the day of their destruction, that is of their ruin; “thou shouldest not make thy mouth great in the day of affliction”. We now perceive what the Prophet means. Though indeed he seems here to show to the Idumeans their duty, he yet reproves them for having neglected all the laws of humanity, and of having been carried away by their own pride and cruelty. It hence follows that they were worthy of that dreadful vengeance which he has already mentioned. In case then the Idumeans complained that God dealt too severely with them, the Prophet here reminds them, that they in many ways sought such a ruin for themselves, — How so? “Were not thou delighted with the calamity of thy brother? Didst not thou laugh when Judah was distressed? And didst not thou speak loftily in ridicule? Was this outrageousness to be endured? Can the Lord now spare thee, as thou hast been so cruel towards thy brother?” And he repeats the name of brother, for the crime was the more atrocious, as it has been already said, as they showed no regard for those of their own blood. But the Prophet often mentions either affliction, or ruin, or calamity, or evils, or adversity; for it is a feeling naturally implanted in us, that when one is distressed, we are touched with pity; even when we see our enemies lie prostrate on the ground, our hatred and anger are extinguished, or at least are abated: and all who see even their enemies ill-treated, become, as it were, other men, that is, they put off the anger with which they were previously inflamed. As then this is what is common almost to all men, it appears that the Idumeans must have been doubly and treble barbarous, when they rejoiced at the calamity of their brethren, and took pleasure in a spectacle so sad and mournful, and even spoke proudly, and jeered the miserable Jews; for this, as we have said, is the meaning of the words, to make great the mouth.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Oba 1:12-14. But thou shouldest not have looked on Houbigant reads the verbs in these verses in the imperative mood. Look notrejoice not, &c. Instead of, Nor have laid hands on, &c. Oba 1:13. Houbigant reads, Be not thou sent against his army, when the day of his ruin is at hand. We have, under no affliction or calamity, more need of support and assistance from the good Spirit of God how to behave ourselves, than in those seasons, when they who have most maliciously persecuted us, and are in all considerations very bad men, fall under some extraordinary misery, and suffer as much as they desired to see us suffer. Thou shouldest not have rejoiced over the children of Judah, &c. If our joy has a mixture of insolence toward the persons of those who suffer (how justly soever), as men who have done us wrong, and so we are glad of their misery as a revenge for what they have done against us, we exceed our commission, and have no kind of warrant for such rejoicing. No degree of malice, or ill nature, or wickedness in other men, can excuse us for a defect of that charity and meekness and compassion, which ought ever to be inseparable from our religion.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Oba 1:12 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.
Ver. 12. But thou shouldest not have looked on the day ] Unless it were with weeping eyes. Iisdem quibus videmus oculis flemus. Men have the same organ of seeing and of weeping; that when they behold a doleful object, they might weep over it; not as the crocodile doth over the dead body which she had slain before, and afterwards devoureth; but with true tears of compassion, weeping with those that weep. God takes it ill here, that any should once look upon his afflicted people, unless it be to pity and relieve them. He observed Cain’s lowering upon his brother, Gen 4:6 , and the Jews’ wagging their heads, Mat 27:39 , Rabshakeh’s lofty looks, Isa 37:28 , Laban’s change of countenance, Gen 31:2 . Men may not look at liberty, and as they list. Vultu saepe laeditur charitas. It was not for nothing, therefore, that in Queen Elizabeth’s days, at a meeting of the borderers in the marches between England and Scotland, about goods unjustly taken, security was given and confirmed on both sides by oath, according to custom and proclamation made, that no man should harm other by word, deed, or look.
When he became a stranger
Neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children, &c.
Neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly
“ Diripite, ex imis evertite fundamentis. ”( Buchanan.)
Such a Pyrgopolynicas was Nebuchadnezzar, Isa 10:13 , and Alexander the Great, and Antiochus, that little antichrist, Dan 7:8 , and that great antichrist of Rome, bellowing with his bulls, and menacing hell to all that adhere not to him. See Rev 13:5-6 , and a like phrase to this, Eze 35:13 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
thou shouldest not have looked on, &c. All these are Prohibitives in Hebrew: i.e. they are addressed to Edom as from a spectator looking on and saying; “Look not thou, “&c.
children = sons.
spoken proudly. Hebrew enlarged thy mouth [with laughter]. Compare Psa 35:21. Isa 57:4. Eze 35:13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
thou: etc. or, do not behold, etc
looked: Psa 22:17, Psa 37:13, Psa 54:7, Psa 59:10, Psa 92:11, Mic 4:11, Mic 7:8-10, Mat 27:40-43
rejoiced: Job 31:29, Pro 17:5, Pro 24:17, Pro 24:18, Lam 4:21, Eze 25:6, Eze 25:7, Eze 35:15, Mic 7:8, Luk 19:41
thou have: 1Sa 2:3, Psa 31:18
spoken proudly: Heb. magnified thy mouth, Isa 37:24, Jam 3:5, 2Pe 2:18, Jud 1:16, Rev 13:5
Reciprocal: Gen 9:22 – told 1Ki 21:16 – Ahab rose up Pro 27:10 – neither Isa 14:29 – Rejoice Isa 16:3 – hide Jer 48:27 – was not Jer 49:5 – none Jer 50:11 – ye were Lam 1:21 – they are Lam 2:16 – we have seen Eze 36:5 – with the Oba 1:14 – in the day Mat 5:22 – his brother Rev 11:10 – rejoice
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jonah, and the Calvary Message
Jon 1:12-17
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
The message of Calvary is not the message of historical Scriptures alone. Beyond doubt, the final chapters of the Gospels, and the Epistles and the Revelation all speak of the death of Christ, but they never speak of it as of some exigency that came upon Christ Jesus unawares.
The four Gospels do, we grant, show a growing antagonism to the Lord on the part of the leaders of the Jews. This hatred grew rapidly as the Cross approached. The rulers went about to slay Him. However there is not a word of truth in any such a contention as this, which is often made by unbelievers:-they say that Christ saw the increasing antagonism against Himself, and, in a moment of inner despair, cried, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and of scribes, and be killed.”
Christ frequently spoke of His death in His earlier ministry, and long before the wrath of the Jews had been fanned to a white heat.
1. Christ in His baptism plainly and positively set forth His death. When John would have hindered Him, He said, “Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.”
2. Christ when questioned by the disciples of John, foreshadowed His death. John’s disciples asked, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but Thy disciples fast not?” Then Christ said, “Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.” In this Christ again foretold His death, when He should be taken away.
3. Upon the visit of Nicodemus. Christ, to Nicodemus plainly asserted His death, in the words, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.” Not only was His death forecast in the words, “gave His * * Son”; but the substitutionary death was asserted in the words, “that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The same is seen in the words “that the world through Him might be saved.”
4. Christ, in Joh 3:14, reached back into the old Scriptures, even back unto the days of Moses. He said: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” In this statement Christ not only told that He was to be lifted up in order that men should be saved from hell and have eternal life, but He also plainly set forth that His crucifixion had been foretold far back in the Old Testament days.
This Scripture not only asserts that the Old Testament foreshadowed the death of Christ, but it asserts that Christ foreknew His own death in the days of Moses.
5. The Lord Jesus in Joh 10:1-42 spoke very definitely about His death. He said: “I am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.” He also said: “I lay down My life for the sheep.” Again He said: “Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again.” In all of this, Christ not only told His death, but He told that He willingly laid down His life, and that He laid it down in order that His sheep might have life.
6. The Cross in Jonah. We have said all of the above in order that we may not be surprised, as we study the Book of Jonah, to find the death and the resurrection of Christ foretold in that marvelous Book. It will be the purpose of this study to demonstrate this remarkable truth.
I. THE DOCTRINE OF SUBSTITUTION (Jon 1:11)
Here is the exact reading of our key verse: “What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us?” The very words are meaningful.
1. Where is he who does not wish to be shielded from the tempest? The tempest which bore down upon the ship, wrought with great fury. There is, however, another tempest of wrath. It is sent from God upon the sinner. Let no one think for a moment that he can escape the judgment of God, and its wrath. God could not be just if He did not punish the unjust.
The darkest picture of the judgment of God, of which we know, is that when the billows of God’s wrath fell upon Jesus Christ as He hung upon the Cross. When Christ became the Substitute for our sins, how terrible was the wrath of God! As Jesus suffered upon the Cross, the pangs of hell got hold upon Him.
It was not merely the physical pain but it was the pangs which fell upon Him as God made His soul an offering for sin. It was not alone the physical suffering, nor was it alone the mental suffering, that fell upon Him as the wicked enclosed Him, and cried out against Him. It was His being made sin for us.
If you want to get the real agony of Calvary, you must hear the voice of our Lord Jesus as He cried, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” If you want to fathom the depth of His anguish, you must dig to the depth of the words, He suffered, the Just for the unjust. Thus we have seen somewhat of the fierceness of the storm of Divine wrath, as God made Christ’s soul an offering for sin.
2. We may be shielded from the tempest of God’s wrath only by the sacrifice of another, even the Son of God. The mariners said: “What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us?” We say: “Is there any way by which God can be just and the Justifier of the ungodly? Is there any method by which God can turn His wrath from us upon another?” Yes, when it falls on Christ, it can no longer fall on us.
II. THE DOCTRINE OF SUBSTITUTION CONCLUDED (Jon 1:12)
Jonah said unto them: “Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you.” This was the Prophet’s answer to the query, “What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us?”
1. The casting forth of Jonah was the only safety of the mariners. Wherein is our safety? How shall the wrath of God be swerved from us? There is but one answer. “With His stripes we are healed.” When Christ steps in as a sacrifice for us, we are free. He died that we may live. He suffered that we might sing. He bore the punishment for our transgression. He was made a sacrifice for our sins. Yea, God cast upon Him the iniquity of us all.
We remember how Paul wrote to Philemon and said: “If he * * oweth thee ought, put that on mine account.” We remember how Peter recorded these words: “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.”
In all of this the words of Isaiah were fulfilled: “Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.” “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities.” He bore the sin of many.
2. Our only safety is in the Christ whom we crucified. They themselves, the mariners, cast Jonah overboard. We, ourselves, crucified the Lord.
We know that Christ was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, so also was Jonah cast overboard. We know, however, that men, with wicked hands, took the Lord and slew Him, So did our hands of sin nail Him to the Cross.
As Christ died upon the Cross. He cried: “Father, forgive them.” Upon what basis could He utter such a cry? It was on the basis that He Himself was bearing the sins of the very men who hald given Him to death. What a wonderful Covert is ours! It is a Covert from the storm, and yet, while we, all securely, take up our abode in the Rock of Ages, we must never forget that the storm beat upon the Rock which sheltered us, and that Rock is Christ.
III. SEEKING SAFETY BY THEIR OWN POWER (Jon 1:13)
1. The key verse tells a story of everyday enactment. The mariners had been told definitely that through sacrificing Jonah the sea would be calm to them. “Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring [their ship] to the land.”
We cannot but see in all of this the vain efforts of the unsaved to escape the judgments of God by their own power. They think that they can appease judgment and wrath by the works of their own hands. There are many, many thousands who acclaim themselves their saviour. Such men and women are doomed to disappointment and despair. God hath said: “By the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight.” He has said: “To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
2. The key verse plainly admits that the mariners could not bring the ship to land inasmuch as the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them. How foolish is the effort of man to save himself. How can he who is accustomed to do evil, do good? How can a bitter fountain bring forth sweet water, or an evil tree bring forth good fruit?
Let us remember that what the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God could do by sending His own Son to die for us.
They who are building their hope of Heaven upon the works of their own hands will sometime wake up to the fact that they cannot save themselves.
“Could our tears forever flow,
Could our zeal no respite know:
All for sin could not atone,
Christ must save, and Christ alone.”
“There is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Pulling at the oars and trying to reach the land apart from a “sacrifice” cannot be done. The sooner we learn that all have sinned, and that all are helpless in their sins, the better it will be for us.
“By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.”
IV. A BESEECHING PRAYER (Jon 1:14)
When the mariners discovered that they could not save themselves and that Jonah must be sacrificed, they cried unto the Lord (Jon 1:14).
1. We can almost hear the words of Caiaphas as he said:” It is expedient for us, that one Man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.” This was the motive that led the mariners to cry, “Let us not perish for this man’s life.” In other words, they said, “Let this man die that we may live.”
This is also the faith of every believer-He died that we might live. Christ, Himself, said that He was the Good Shepherd, and He died that the sheep might live.
2. We can almost hear the words of Pilate. Here is the scene as it was enacted when Christ stood before Pilate. Pilate had sought diligently to deliver Him. He had, so to speak, pulled at the oars to bring the ship to land. As the mariners in Jonah’s day could not land their ship because the sea wrought and was tempestuous, so Pilate could not save the Lord because the people were set against Him. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but rather that a tumult was made, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, like Jonah’s mariners, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person: see ye to it.”
3. Finally we hear the words of the mariners as they concluded. “For Thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased Thee.” Yes, God had done as it pleased Him in the casting of Jonah overboard, and He had done as it pleased Him in giving Christ to die. We must remember the words spoken at Pentecost, “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and with wicked hands have crucified and slain.”
V. JONAH CAST INTO THE SEA (Jon 1:15)
How graphic are the words of our verse, “So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea.” Then what? “And the sea ceased from her raging.”
1. Our Lord’s memorable words: “As Jonas * * so shall the Son of Man”; now begin their direct fulfillment. What we have already seen was the prelude to this final act. The prelude, as we have discovered, held very striking analogies to Calvary events. Now we come to the events which take the dignity of types, inasmuch as Christ said of them, “As Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
2. Jonah cast out of the ship and into the sea seems to be saying to us, “Even so Christ was cut off from earth.” Despised and rejected of men. When Isaiah wrote the words, “He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of My people was He stricken”; it was then that he cried, “And who shall declare His generation?”
Even so when Jonah was cut off, he saw in his rejection, the hope not only of the mariners, in the about-to-be wrecked ship, but also saw the hope of Nineveh itself.
3. “And the sea ceased from her raging.” What is the hope of the wicked who are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest? What is the hope of the sea, itself, yea, of all the physical creation of God? Everything under the curse, finds its hope of calm in the Cross of Christ.
When Christ spoke words to the troubled waters of Galilee and said: “Peace, be still,” He spoke as the Son of Man, the Seed of the woman, who was destined to be made a curse for us.
When Christ speaks peace to the troubled heart, rent and torn by sin, He speaks by virtue of the fact that He Himself suffered for us.
The whole creation is groaning and travailing in pain together until now, waiting for deliverance. We would that all men were waiting for the day of their complete deliverance.
When Jesus Christ approached the Cross, three different times,-once in Joh 11:1-57, once in Joh 12:1-50, and once in Joh 13:1-38,-He was troubled. His troubles were climaxed after He had reached the Cross itself, and when He cried: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me.” It was by virtue of the fact that He was troubled, bearing our troubles, that He could say in Joh 14:1-31, “Let not your heart be troubled.”
VI. THE EFFECT OF THE QUIETED SEA UPON THE MARINERS (Jon 1:16)
“Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows.” There is a verse which says: “Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men.”
1. We have a call to the fear of the Lord. When we think of Calvary, its sorrows and sufferings, its cries and its conquests, its climax of peace, we too should fear the Lord. We should fear the Lord because we see His wrath poured out on One made sin for us. We should fear the Lord because we see the calm and peace which befall those who trust Him.
2. We have a call to Divine service. The mariners offered a sacrifice unto the Lord. In view of what God has done for us, we should offer our bodies as a living sacrifice wholly acceptable unto Him.
3. We have a call to consecration. When the mariners saw that through Jonah’s being cast overboard, God had given them calm, they made vows. When we see that through the death of the Son of God upon the Cross we have peace, we should make our vows, our pledges unto Him who loved us. No man has ever yet been able to repay God for His wonderful Calvary work, and its far-reaching results; but we can on bended knee yield ourselves to God.
We thus judge that if one died for all, all were dead and that He died for them that they should live for Him.
Let every young person at this moment make their vows of service and of fidelity and devotion unto the Lord, who loved them and gave Himself for them.
VII. HOW GOD PRESERVED JONAH (Jon 1:17)
1. God had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. Evidently God had everything prearranged. He knew that Jonah would take ship to Tarshish. He knew the effect of the storm. He knew the circumstances that would cause Jonah to be cast overboard; therefore He prepared the fish, and had him on the spot ready to swallow up Jonah.
Even thus was everything concerning the Cross prearranged. Before the foundation of the world, Christ was given to die. Even the fact that He was to be crucified was foretold a thousand years before the Cross, when the Psalmist said: “They pierced My hands and My feet.”
“Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world.” Let us ever remember that the fish was prepared of God, and was, therefore, not as other fish. A young college student said to me, “How could Jonah be housed in the belly of a fish, with the gastric juices, etc.?” I said, “You failed to note that this was a ‘prepared’ fish, therefore you do not know what it had in its belly, save that God said that the weeds were wrapped around Jonah’s neck.”
2. The three days and the three nights. This is the remarkable feature of the whole Book of Jonah. The Lord Jesus Himself stressed the words (Mat 12:40).
If Christ, therefore, was raised from the dead some time before daylight on Sunday morning, we must figure back three days and three nights to find when He was crucified.
3. The minuteness of prophecy. Let us marvel that God should thus enact, in the experience of a runaway Prophet, in that which befell him, the very things which should befall our Lord. Thus it was that the death, burial and resurrection of Christ were written in the Book of Jonah, several hundred years before Christ was made of the woman.
We bow the head and we worship the Lord our God, who so graphically forecast the death of His Son our Lord and Saviour.
AN ILLUSTRATION
“The vicarious atonement for sin accomplished by the Cross of Jesus Christ is everywhere taught in the Scriptures by symbol, by direct teaching, by event and by the expression of believers. The symbols of the Old Testament persistently tell of a Sin-bearer who carries the load of sin for men. Old Testament Poet and Prophet teach the covering up of sin, and in most exalted language tell of Him who was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, upon whom was the chastisement of our peace, and by whose stripes we are healed.
John the Baptist pointed to Christ as the “Lamb * * which taketh away the sin of the world.” Our Lord declares He gave His life “a ransom for many,” and He teaches unmistakably that His death was not a defeat, but a voluntary sacrifice for the life of His people. “I lay down My life for the sheep.” “Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father” (Joh 10:15-18). * * *
This great truth of Scripture has ever been an offense to sinful men, although for them it is the most precious truth ever given. “Christ crucified, unto the Jews” (the ritualists) “a stumblingblock,” and “unto the Greeks” (the rationalises) “foolishness,” “but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.-The Presbyterian.
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
Oba 1:12. The date referred to in this verse is evidently the time recorded in 2 Kings 25. for then it was that the kingdom of Judah was destroyed. Became a stranger means the inhabitants of Judah were carried away into a strange land (Babylonia). Looked is from eaaii and among the many words with which it is rendered in the King James version are approve, enjoy, gaze, regard, respect and think. These translations together with the preceding verse, suggest that Edom looked with detight upon the miseries of his brother. That alone would have him the object of God’s wrath, but we shall see that, he did not stop with the pleasure of his eyes at gazing at the misfortune of Israel.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Oba 1:12. But thou shouldest not have looked upon the day of thy brother On his evil day. Thou oughtest not to have taken pleasure at the sight of thy brothers calamity. So the expression of looking upon an enemy signifies, in many passages of Scripture, the beholding his fall with satisfaction: see the margin. In the day that he became a stranger When he was driven from his own inheritance, and went captive into a strange land. Neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah, &c. In the day when many of them were slain; nor have spoken proudly in the day of distress Neither shouldest thou have insulted over them when they were in calamity, boasting of thy own felicity, while they were groaning under misery.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1:12 But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became {i} 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.
(i) When the Lord deprived them of their former dignity, and delivered them to be carried into captivity.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
God reinforced the seriousness of the Edomites’ sin by condemning it in parallel terminology eight times (Oba 1:12-14). Compare the same parallel structure in Oba 1:7 where there is a threefold positive reiteration. There is also a pun in the Hebrew text since the word for "disaster" (’edam) is similar to the word "Edom" (’edom). Hostile attitudes more than physical violence were Edom’s sins against the Israelites on this occasion. Blood ties should have transcended even covenant ties. Edom’s allies would break covenant ties with her (Oba 1:7), but she had betrayed blood ties.