The Prophet Obadiah, expounded by Charles Paul Caspari [pp. 226-240]

by Charles Paul Caspari.
spurious or a gloss, which in addition to the gratuitousness of
the assumption, is here peculiarly unfortunate, for if this clause
did not belong to the prophecy in its original form, there would
be nothing to show against whom war was to be prepared, v. 1,
nor who is addressed, vs. 2-5. There would be nothing to
indicate the object of the prophecy until it was learned from
v. 6.
This message, which the prophet received, came to him not
as an isolated individual, but as a member and organ of Israel,
for the sake of the whole. Accordingly, he does not say, I
have heard, but "We," i. e. Israel, in the prophet as their
representative, or through him as their oracle, "have heard a
rumour," not an uncertain one, resting on the authority of man,
but "from the Lord." Or the prophet may have intended to
associate with himself those who had previously received communications of similar import, "We," i. e. not I alone, but otler
prophets also, "have heard," &c. Either of these is preferable
to regarding the plural as unmeaning. a mere enallage for the
singular. It is evidently not correct to refer it, as some do, to
the heathen, so that this would be coincident in meaning with
the following clause, nor can it be designed to put Israel in
opposition to the heathen mentioned immediately after as equally summoned with them to the war against Edom.
The rumour or news heard from the Lord, is of the sending
of an ambassador among the nations, not that one is to be, but
he has been already sent. The ambassador is sent not from
Israel, nor from one nation to another, but from Jehovah.
This figure drawn from the custom of nations soliciting the aid
of others on engaging in a war, is designed simply to express
the idea, that the Lord would, whether by some direct impulse,
or by the orderings of his providence, certainly bring it about,
that the nations should rise to execute his will. It is the same
thought which is elsewhere conveyed under the image of calling
distant nations by a hiss or whistle, or setting up a signal for
them to congregate.
Then follow the words of the ambassador summoning the
nations in the name of God to make common cause with him
against Edom. The apparent strangeness of the expression
by which the Lord stirs up the nations to act in concert with
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