Obadiah — Chapter 1
Synopsis Capitis
Obadiah, the shortest book of the Old Testament, delivers a single oracle against Edom for its treachery against Judah at the fall of Jerusalem. À Lapide dates the prophecy to shortly after 586 BC. He reads Edom typologically throughout: as the figure of the flesh opposing the spirit (Esau/Jacob), of the synagogue persecuting the Church, and of heretics who rejoice at the Church's suffering.
Verse 1
Visio Abdiae haec dicit Dominus Deus ad Edom
À Lapide discusses whether Obadiah is the same as Ahab's steward or Elijah's disciple, concluding with Jerome that the identity cannot be determined. The ambassador sent among the nations (v.1) who summons armies against Edom is interpreted as the Holy Spirit stirring up divine justice. The vision (visio) is distinguished from mere human foresight: it is infused prophetic light.
Verse 3
Superbia cordis tui extulit te
'The pride of thy heart hath lifted thee up.' À Lapide makes pride the root cause of Edom's sin and the ground of her destruction. He develops this into a full treatise on superbia using Thomas Aquinas's analysis in Summa Theologiae II-II. The eagle's height and the stars (v.4) figure the heights of ambition that pride seeks; the depth of the pit figures the punishment that inevitably follows.
Verse 4
Si exaltatus fueris ut aquila
'Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle and set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord.' À Lapide cites Isaiah 14:13-15 (the fall of Lucifer) as the archetype of all pride brought low. Edom's mountain fastnesses (Petra) are the historical referent; the devil's expulsion from heaven is the ultimate antitype. The parallel between Satan's fall and Edom's is developed at length from Origen and Gregory the Great.
Verse 10
Propter interfectionem propter iniquitatem
The indictment of Edom centres on its violence against Jacob and its spectating, even rejoicing, at Judah's fall. À Lapide makes the sin of Schadenfreude—joy at a brother's calamity—a distinct moral category, citing Proverbs 24:17 and the Desert Father warnings against it. Edom's cutting off of fugitives and delivering them to the enemy is compared to the sin of apostates who betray the faithful to persecutors.
Verse 15
Quia iuxta est dies Domini super omnes gentes
'For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations.' À Lapide here shifts from the particular judgment of Edom to the universal eschatological perspective: as God judged Edom, so He will judge all who oppose His people. The lex talionis principle—'as thou hast done, so shall it be done to thee' (v.15)—is not mere retribution but the divine order of justice restoring moral equilibrium.
Verse 17
Et in monte Sion erit salvatio
'And in mount Sion there shall be salvation and it shall be holy.' À Lapide identifies mount Sion as the Church, established on the Jerusalem of the New Covenant. Holiness is the mark of the true Church against Edom's profanation. The house of Jacob inheriting those who dispossessed them is read as the Gentile Church's inheritance of the promises originally given to Israel.
Verse 21
Et ascendent salvatores in montem Sion
'And saviours shall come up into mount Sion to judge the mount of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's.' À Lapide identifies the 'saviours' (salvatores) as the apostles and their successors—bishops and priests—who judge and govern the Church. He cites Augustine's City of God: the kingdom of the Lord is established not by earthly conquest but by the preaching of the Gospel. The final verse is the book's eschatological climax: all temporal kingdoms yield to the Kingdom of God.