A paraphrasticall explication of the twelve minor prophets. Viz. Hoseah. Joel. Amos. Obadiah. Jonah. Micah. Nahum. Habakkuk. Zephaniah. Haggai. Zechariah. Malachi. / By Da. Stokes. D.D.

A Paraphrastical EXPLICATION Of the PROPHESIE OF OBADIAH.

1. THe vision of Oba∣diah: Thus saith the Lord God concerning E∣dom; We have heard a rumour from the Lord, and an Ambassadour is sent a∣mong the heathen! Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battell.

2 Behold, I have made thee small among the hea∣then: thou art greatly de∣spised.

3 The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee? thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, that saith in his heart; Who shall bring me down to the ground?

4 Though thou exalt thy self as the Eagle, and though thou set thy nest a∣mong the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord.

5 If theives came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!)

would they not have stolne till they had enough? If the grape gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes?

6 How are the things of Esau searched out? how are his hid things sought up?

7 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.

8 Shall I not in that day, saith the Lord, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?

9 And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismay∣ed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau, may be cut off by slaugh∣ter.

10 For thy violence a∣gainst thy brother Iacob, shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for∣ever.

11 In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and forreiners en∣tered into his gates, and cast lots upon Ierusalem, even thou wast as one of them.

12 But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger, nei∣ther shouldest thou have re∣joyced over the children of Iudah in the day of their destruction: neither shouldst thou have spoken proudly in the day of distresse.

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 affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their sub∣stance in the day of their calamity.

14 Neither shouldst thou have stood in the crosse way to cut off those of his that did escape, neither shouldst thou have delivered up those

of his that did remain in the day of distresse.

15 For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee, thy reward shall return upon thine own head.

16 For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually: yea, they shall drink, and they shall swal∣low down, and they shall be as though they had not been.

17 But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holinesse, and the house of Iacob shall possesse their possessions.

18 And the house of Ia∣cob shall be a fire, and the house of Ioseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them, and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau, for the Lord hath spoken it.

19 And they of the south shall possesse the mount of Esau, and they of the plain, the Philistines: and they shall possesse the fields of E∣phraim, and the fields of Samaria, and Benjamin shall possesse Gilead.

20 And the captivity of this hoste of the children of Israel shall possesse that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath, and the capti∣vity of Ierusalem which is in Sepharad, shall possesse the cities of the South.

21 And Saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lords.

1. THe vision, or Prophesie of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord Iehovah (and we his Prophets from him) concerning Edom.

2. We have heard that, which you may take for a sentence as absolutely determined, and (a) 1.1 pronounced by God himself, against the Countrey of Edom? as if you had seen an earthly King confirm the like by his Embassa∣dours sent to the severall nations (of the Assyrians and Chaldaeans) with commission to raise up an army, and come in battle against her.

3. And this I have to say in his name to Edom. See and wonder at thy self, what a weak and (b) 1.2 silly thing, I will make thee appear to be in the account of these nations: and how miserably despicable in their eies.

4. For (though I know thee in thy high thoughts to be otherwise perswaded, yet) that pride of thy heart shall at last deceive thee, (which promises to thy self great matters, but ever falls short in the performance) or ra∣ther,

(c) 1.3 thy idoll, (whereof thou art so proud and confident) shall faile thee in the event. I speak it to thee, that art roosted in the clefts of those high rockes of Arabia Petraea, and think∣est in thy heart, that no power on earth can pull thee out of thy strong inaccessible places in mount S••ir.

4. Thou that mountest up thy self, like an Eagle, as if thou wouldst set thy nest among the stars: (d) 1.4 I have many waies (among which that of famine alone were sufficient) to bring thee down from thence, and lay thee low e∣nough, saith the Lord.

5. If theives and robbers had come upon thee by night (and how do I see thee more than miserably undone by the sudden surpriz all of such notable shavers, (e) 1.5 and cutters.) But had they so stolne upon thee, they would have been content with the filching of so much as would have served their turn. And if the grape-gatherers had come upon thee, they would have left thee some gleanings (But thou shalt have to do with them, that will cut and sweep all away: root and branch.)

6. (Nay, and thy close hoording up will be

to no purpose for.) How narrowly will those riches, that belong to Esau be searched after? and what hath he so carefully hidden in the closest corners, which shall not be sought out, and discovered?

7. (When all is gone and thy self art ready to be packing into a strange land) At the borders of thy countrey will thy own Confede∣rates fairly take their leaves of thee: (f) 1.6 they that be in league with thee will cheat, and de∣ceive thee: they that come to thee with preten∣ses of peace, and concord, will be as ready as any other to prevaile against thee: and thy entirest acquaintance, (g) 1.7 that have been of∣ten entertained as friends as thy table will (h) 1.8 lay a stumbling-block in thy way (to hinder all the good proceedings and proposals, that may tend to thy advantage) So that, all that judge by the event must needs say, there is no foresight, or understanding in this people of Edom.

8. And shall I not then make it good, by de∣stroying those of Edom, (i) 1.9 that have been so famous for wisedome? And those especially of mount Seir (of the posterity of Esau) that have been thought to exceed all the rest in

matter of deep policie and understanding (shall not I turn their wisdom into foolishness, and catch the wiliest of them, in their own craft?)

9. (k) 1.10 Yes, and, amongst them, thine O Te∣man, the (l) 1.11 stoutest of all, that use to build most upon the strength and reach of their own knowledge, they shall be (m) 1.12 strangely brought under, to their own amazement: so that not a (n) 1.13 man of any account, but shall be (more then brought under,) they shall be (o) 1.14 utter∣ly ruined and destroyed, from their high moun∣tains of Esau (p) 1.15 Because of that slaughter (O Edom.)

10. And because of that apparent injury, which thou wast not ashamed to offer unto thy Brethren, the Sons of Iacob, (q) 1.16 (when "you said of Jerusalem, Down with it, even to the ground) therefore shalt thou be covered with shame, and cut off for ever, (from being a nation, as they shall be.)

11. I speak of the time, when thou stoodest like one of another side, while strangers carryed away all thy Brother Iacob's forces into capti∣vity, and forreigners entred the gates of most

of his Cities, and cast lots upon Ierusalem, (which of them should make the first assault against that their mother-City) when all this was done, thou (that shouldst have been one of her best friends) didst openly show thy self, to be one of her greatest enemies, i. one of them that had a hand in all those severall passages of cruelty.

12. But thou, of all other, shouldst not have endured so much as to look (r) 1.17 upon the strange usage of thy brother, in that heavy time: much more shouldst thou have absteined from tri∣umphing over the children of Iudah, in the day of their destruction: and most of all shouldst thou have feared, to make thy own mouth a witnesse of thy proud and insolent insulting over their affliction, in the very day, when it fell upon them.

13. Thou shouldst not have been so forward, as others, to rush into the gates of my Peoples forts, and cities, in that time of their calamity: and then specially have made thy self a specta∣tor of those (s) 1.18 evils, that came so thick upon him, like a fearfull storm in a sad and gloomy day: and (which is yet worse) to have ap∣peared as a party, which those that laid violent

hands upon his substance, in that day.

14. Nor shouldst thou have stood in the crosse wayes, where many paths meet: upon that advantage to cut off such of thy Brethren, as had escaped the enemy: (t) 1.19 nor shut up such as otherwise had remained free, and at li∣berty, in those distressed times.

15. For, after all these daies of yours, the Lord will have his day too, a day of vengeance: And it is not long before that day will come upon all those nations about Judaea, that have been so cruell to them. And then, as thou hast alone to others, it shall be done to thee: thy re∣ward shall return upon thy own pate.

16. And as you of Edom shall drink (of the cup of my anger) (v) 1.20 because of my holy mountain (and the holy land of Judaea which you have persecuted) So shall all those nati∣ons that joyned with you, ever taste of the same cup, till they have drunk it up, and be as if they had never been.

17. But in mount Sion there shall be a great deliverance (from the scourge that shall then be brought upon others by Sennacherib) and it shall continue a place sanctified, and set apart for divine service: and then shall they of the house of Iacob (that secured themselves

for that time in Jerusalem) return to a quiet possession of (x) 1.21 their severall tenures in the land of their inheritance.

18. Then you that helped to encrease the flames of those wars, that set Judaea into a combustion, shall find, that the house of Iacob will prove a fire, and the house of Ioseph a flame, and the house of Esau like stubble before them. And they shall kindle them, and devour them, till there be none remaining of the house of Esau (that shall be able to do any great harm to the house of Israel) For, the Lord hath spoken it.

19. And they (of Israel) shall possesse the South (of Edom) (y) 1.22 with mount Seir, and the plain with the land of the Philistims. And with them, shall they possess the Countrey of Ephraim, and of Samaria, and Benjamin shall have Gilead for his possession.

20. And those few forces of the children of Israel, that return after their captivity, shall possesse whatsoever belonged to the Cananites, as far as Sareptah (of the Sidonians) And they of Ierusalem, which shall return from their captivity, shall possesse the parts about Sepha∣rad (or the (z) 1.23 furthest bounds) (a) 1.24 with the Cities of the South.

21. And they (b) 1.25 that have delivered them∣selves out of the captivity, shall not onely come again to their antient right in mount Sion but (in their posterity) they shall go as Iudges and Governours, into the mountaines of Esau. And then the kingdom of Israel shall be under God alone (and under the power of no for∣reign Kings.)

Notes

• (a) 1.1

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• (b) 1.2

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• (c) 1.3

  Sic Jer. 49. 16. exprimitur•• per idolum, quod ibi & 1. Reg. 15, 13. terriculamentum vocatu••.
• (d) 1.4

  Jer. 49. 16.
• (e) 1.5

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ex∣••i••us es.
• (f) 1.6

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 dimittent.
• (g) 1.7

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• (h) 1.8

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 offendicu∣lum sic supponent, non pulvinos, ut solent in conviviis.
• (i) 1.9

  Jer. 49,7
• (k) 1.10

  Jer. 49,7.
• (l) 1.11

  fortes tui.
• (m) 1.12

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• (n) 1.13

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• (o) 1.14

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• (p) 1.15

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 propter interfectionem & iniquit. in Ia••obum. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• (q) 1.16

  Psal. 137, 7. Amos. 1, 11.
• (r) 1.17

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• (s) 1.18

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• (t) 1.19

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• (v) 1.20

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 propter.
• (x) 1.21

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉
• (y) 1.22

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 cum monte impletum per Hyrcanum Joseph. 13,17. 1. Macc. 5,17.
• (z) 1.23

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 sinem dominatus.
• (a) 1.24

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 cum ut v. 19.
• (b) 1.25

  Sept. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.