Obadiah 1:21

Here he indicates the prisoners of both the kingdoms of Samaria and Jerusalem, and also those who had gone to very far regions. Therefore he recalls the transmigration to Spain, because this is the name of a province, which is extremely distant from Judea, in order to show that this is the great gathering, which God had promised to bring together again from the four corners of the world. Those who have been saved shall go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau, in order to defeat and destroy the nation of the Edomites. And the kingdom shall be the Lord's. All the nations will be subjugated and subjected to the people of God, that is, to the people that God shall make.

The Jewish interpreters explained this similarly that the Lord sent a Savior who would save the people from captivity and they would ascend and go to Mount Zion in order to judge and decide regarding the Mountain of Esau. And when everything is subjugated, there will be a kingdom to the Lord.

(Verse 20, 21.) And the migration of his army, the sons of Israel: all the Canaanites as far as Zarephath (or Saraptam). And the migration of Jerusalem, which is in the Bosporus, will possess the cities of the South. And the saviors will ascend Mount Zion, to judge the mountain of Esau: and the kingdom will be the Lord's. LXX: And this is the beginning of the migration for the children of Israel: the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, and the migration of Jerusalem as far as the Euphrates, will possess the cities of the Negeb. And those who were saved shall ascend from Mount Zion, to punish the mountain of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's. In this place, our translation differs greatly from the Vulgate Edition, so we must follow the Hebrew truth in the exposition of the story. Those who returned from Babylon according to the volume of Ezra and Nehemiah shall be rightly called the migration. The whole army of the children of Israel shall possess the Edomites, the Philistines, the mountain of Ephraim, and Samaria to the south, west, and north. Benjamin also, because it is adjacent to solitude, will specifically obtain Gilead. However, all the things that are in the land of the Canaanites, will be ruled as far as Zaraphath of the Sidonians, where the widow once fed Elijah (4 Kings 7). Moreover, those who were transferred from the very city of Jerusalem to Sapharad, which we translate as the Bosporus, will possess the cities of the South, which are in the tribe of Judah: for they have returned to their city, they will obtain those things that are near to the city. And when these things have been accomplished, just as in the book of Judges, the Lord sent saviors who would save the people from captivity: so they will ascend and come to Mount Zion, to judge and discern, like a subject and obedient mountain to themselves, the mountain of Esau, that is, the Edomites. And once all are subjugated, there will be a kingdom for the Lord. Where we have placed Bosphorus, in Hebrew it has Sapharad (), which I do not know why the Septuagint wanted ((or could)) to translate as Ephratha, since Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion all agree with the Hebrew truth. But we have learned from the Hebrew, who instructed us in the holy Scriptures, that the Bosphorus is called thus: and, like a Jew, he says: this is the region to which Hadrian transferred the captives. Therefore, when our Christ comes, that captivity will also return to Judea. However, we can understand any place of the kingdom of Babylon, although I think it refers to something else. For it is the custom of the prophets, when they speak against Babylon, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Philistines, and other nations, to use many words of their language and to preserve the idioms of the provinces. Therefore, since the Assyrian language's term, which is called Gebul in Hebrew, is said to be Sapharad, I guess that this has the following meaning: The migration of Jerusalem, which is divided in all its boundaries and regions, will receive its own cities of the south, that is, its own tribe. But as for what we have interpreted, and the saviors will ascend, and the Septuagint translated, it is written in Hebrew as Mosim (): those who have been saved, not as Aquila, and Septuagint, and Theodotion passively saved, or being saved; but according to Symmachus, they are to be understood as actively saving. Indeed, those who are saved, that is, rescued, are called Phelistines in Hebrew. For according to the story, as we have been able to interpret, we have steered our little ship among rocky cliffs: let us unfurl the sails of spiritual understanding, so that with the Lord blowing and revealing its mysteries, we may joyfully reach the harbor. At the time when Benjamin possessed Gilead, the migration of the army of the sons of Israel, or certainly the beginning of the migration of the former carnal Israel, will occur, so that it may reach the land of the Canaanites, and the prophetic discourse that was at risk of famine in Judea, having dried the skin of Israel, may pass to the dew of the nations: and there it may feed and be fed, while it is received by believers and also feeds believers themselves. Sareptha, or composed of two, and interpreted as the narrowness of bread: or it is one word, and transferred to fire. Canaan, however, is turned into a commotion, that is, motion: or certainly it is called a merchant and a lowly one. Therefore, when the sons of Israel shall have forsaken the letter of the West and shall have come to the enlivening spirit, they shall move all things that are of the Law. He shall trade for many pearls one most precious pearl, and having set aside the pride of the Jews, he shall follow Christian humility, and shall come even there, where previously there was trouble of bread, and a widow woman was barely sustaining her orphan son deserted by his creator, and where all his sins and vices shall accumulate. But the captivity or transmigration of Jerusalem, where once there was a vision of peace, and which is now dispersed throughout the whole world, will possess the cities of the south, that is, the Churches of true and perfect light, and the repentant bride will say: Where do you pasture, where do you lie down at noon? (Cant. II, 6). And when Joseph is received into his ancient brotherhood, he will be intoxicated with the blood of the shepherd and prince. And if we read it according to the Septuagint as Ephratha, there is no doubt that it refers to the faith of Christ. For Ephratha is interpreted as καρποφορία, that is, fertility, and it is called Bethlehem, in which the heavenly bread was born. With these things being done, the saviors, or those who have been saved from the remnants of the Jewish people, will ascend to Mount Zion to judge and avenge the mountain of Esau. Just as the Lord calls his apostles the light of the world and says, 'You are the light of the world' (Matt. 5:14), and the very rock granted to Peter that he might be the rock, so too the good shepherd bestowed names upon his shepherds, and whatever is said of him, he assigned to his servants to be said. Thus, the Savior himself willed his apostles to be the saviors of the world, who ascended the watchtower of the mountain of the Church and, by casting down Jewish arrogance and all the mountains that stood against the knowledge of God, prepared the kingdom for the Lord.


Following these two little exercises, I have relied on the authority of the ancient authors, and especially the Hebrew explanation, and have dictated with haste in my own language, and have opened my mouth: but I do not know if Christ fulfilled it. Therefore, a wise reader should seek the consistency of the meaning more than the elegance of the language. For we do not dictate with that smoothness and arrangement of words with which we write. It is one thing, my dear Pammachus, to often change one's style and to write down what is worthy of memory; it is another thing to dictate, with prepared notes of the scribes, whatever comes to mind in a state of embarrassment. In this, both the prophet and the young men have played, and the old men have presumed. Whoever has spoken truer and better things, follow his opinion.

Obadiah, so far as his writings are concerned the briefest of all the prophets, speaks against Edom, that is, the nation of Esau, that reprobate elder of the twin sons of Isaac and of the grandsons of Abraham. Now by that form of speech in which a part is understood for the whole, we understand Edom as referring to the nations. We may understand what Christ says in the same way: "But upon Mount Zion shall be safety, and there shall be a holy one." And a little further, at the end of the same prophecy, he says concerning Paul, "And the redeemed shall come up out of Mount Zion, that they may defend Mount Esau, and it shall be a kingdom to the Lord." It is quite evident that this was fulfilled when the redeemed out of Mount Zion (that is, the believers in Christ from Judea, of whom the apostles are chiefly to be acknowledged) went up to defend Mount Esau. How could they defend it except by making safe through the preaching of the gospel those who believed that they might be "delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of God." Consequently he expressed this by adding, "And it shall be to the Lord a kingdom." For Mount Zion signifies Judea, where it is predicted there shall be safety and a holy one, that is, Jesus Christ. But Mount Esau is Edom. It signifies the church of the Gentiles, which is defended by the redeemed from Mount Zion, so that it should become a kingdom to the Lord. This was obscure before it took place, but what believer does not understand it now that it has happened?

And people will ascend, gathered on top of Zion, which sums up the goal of the prophecy. For the inhabitants of Zion, he says, are saved by God, who will burst through their chains of servitude. At that time he will ascend and take vengeance against Mount Esau. For they will fight, as I have said, against Edom after the time of captivity, and God will rule over all, although God rejected Esau long ago and withdrew from Judah because of apostasy. For they served Baal and the golden calf. But now in mercy and reconciliation he will reign again over them.

Ezekiel also predicts something similar at the end of his prophecy when he describes the division of the land. He too predicts the return of the people, and after they return we learn they will receive power and obtain strength from God. O that we also would obtain this from our most generous God. And we will receive this from the Lord if we do not imitate the model of Esau and his posterity [who rejoiced in Israel's destruction]. Rather, following the apostolic tradition, we should rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep, and we ought to think the same for others [as we would have them think of us]. For this reason we possess the gifts of the Lord of all life, which is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit now and forever, world without end. Amen.