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Shall I not - destroy the wise men - It appears, from Jeremiah 49:7, that the Edomites were remarkable for wisdom, counsel, and prudence. See on the above place.

Shall I not in that day even destroy the wise out of Edom? - It was then no common, no recoverable, loss of wisdom, for God, the Author of wisdom, had destroyed it. The pagan had a proverb, “whom God willeth to destroy, he first dements.” So Isaiah foretells of Judah Isaiah 29:14, “The wisdom of their wise shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent shall be hid.” Edom was celebrated of old for its wisdom. Eliphaz, the chief of Job‘s friends, the representative of human wisdom, was a Temanite Job 4:1. A vestige of the name of the Shuhites, from where came another of his friends, probably still lingers among the mountains of Edom. Edom is doubtless included among the “sons of the East” 1 Kings 4:30 whose wisdom is set as a counterpart to that of Egypt, the highest human wisdom of that period, by which that of Solomon would be measured. “Solomon‘s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the East country and all the wisdom of Egypt.” In Baruch, they are still mentioned among the chief types of human wisdom (Jeremiah 49:7, in using, these words of Obadiah, says: “Is wisdom no more in Teman? Is counsel perished from the prudent? Is their wisdom vanished?” He speaks, as though Edom were a known abode of human wisdom, so that it was strange that it was found there no more. He speaks of the Edomites “as prudent,” discriminating, full of judgment, and wonders that counsel should have “perished” from them. They had it eminently then, before it perished. They thought themselves wise; they were thought so; but God took it away at their utmost need. So He says of Egypt Isaiah 19:3, Isaiah 19:11-12. “I will destroy the counsel thereof. The counsel of the wise counselors of Pharaoh is become brutish. How say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? Where are they? Who are thy wise? And let them tell thee now, and let them know, what the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.” And of Judah Jeremiah 19:7. “I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place.”

The people of the world think that they hold their wisdom and all God‘s natural gifts, independently of the Giver (God). God, by the events of His natural Providence, as here by His word, shows, through some sudden withdrawal of their wisdom, that it is His, not their‘s! People wonder at the sudden failure, the flaw in the well-arranged plan, the one over-confident act which ruins the whole scheme, the over-shrewdness which betrays itself, or the unaccountable oversight. They are amazed that one so shrewd should overlook this or that, and think not that He, in whose hands are our powers of thought, supplied not just that insight, Whereon the whole depended.

This prophecy is against Edom. Its destruction seems to have been typical, as their father Esau's rejection; and to refer to the destruction of the enemies of the gospel church. See the prediction of the success of that war; Edom shall be spoiled, and brought down. All the enemies of God's church shall be disappointed in the things they stay themselves on. God can easily lay those low who magnify and exalt themselves; and will do it. Carnal security ripens men for ruin, and makes the ruin worse when it comes. Treasures on earth cannot be so safely laid up but that thieves may break through and steal; it is therefore our wisdom to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven. Those that make flesh their trust, arm it against themselves. The God of our covenant will never deceive us: but if we trust men with whom we join ourselves, it may prove to us a wound and dishonour. God will justly deny those understanding to keep out of danger, who will not use their understandings to keep out of sin. All violence, all unrighteousness, is sin; but it makes the violence far worse, if it be done against any of God's people. Their barbarous conduct towards Judah and Jerusalem, is charged upon them. In reflecting on ourselves, it is good to consider what we should have done; to compare our practice with the Scripture rule. Sin, thus looked upon in the glass of the commandment, will appear exceedingly sinful. Those have a great deal to answer for, who are idle spectators of the troubles of their neighbours, when able to be active helpers. Those make themselves poor, who think to make themselves rich by the ruin of the people of God; and those deceive themselves, who call all that their own on which they can lay their hands in a day of calamity. Though judgment begins at the house of God, it shall not end there. Let sorrowful believers and insolent oppressors know, that the troubles of the righteous will soon end, but those of the wicked will be eternal.