Obadiah 1:15

King James Version (KJV)

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.

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

The day of the Lord is near - God will not associate thee with him in the judgments which he inflicts. Thou also art guilty and shalt have thy punishment in due course with the other sinful nations.

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Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

For the day of the Lord is near upon all the pagan - The prophet once more enforces his warning by preaching judgment to come. “The day of the Lord” was already known Joel 1:15; Joel 2:1, Joel 2:31, as a day of judgment upon “all nations,” in which God would “judge all the pagan,” especially for their outrages against His people. Edom might hope to escape, were it alone threatened. The prophet announces one great law of God‘s retribution, one rule of His righteous judgment. “As thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee.” Pagan justice owned this to be just, and placed it in the mouth of their ideal of justice. “Blessed he,” says the Psalmist Psalm 137:8, “that recompenses unto thee the deed which thou didst to us.” “Blessed,” because he was the instrument of God. Having laid down the rule of God‘s‘ judgment, he resumes his sentence to Edom, and speaks to all in him. In the day of Judahs calamity Edom made itself as “one of them.” It, Jacob‘s brother, had ranked itself among the enemies of God‘s people. It then too should be swept away in one universal destruction. It takes its place with them, undistinguished in its doom as in its guilt, or it stands out as their representa tive, having the greater guilt, because it had the greater light. Obadiah, in adopting Joel‘s words Joel 3:7, “thy reward shall return upon thine own head,” pronounces therewith on Edom all those terrible judgments contained in the sentence of retribution as they had been expanded by Joel.

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Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary

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.

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Ellen G. White
Selected Messages Book 3, 23.2

The Lord would have all who act a part in his work bear testimony in their lives to the holy character of the truth. The end is near, and now is the time when Satan will make special efforts to distract the interest and separate it from the all-important subjects that should arrest every mind to concentrated action. 3SM 23.2

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Obadiah 1:15