John Trapp on Obadiah 1:12

Verſe 12. But thou ſhouldeſt not have looked on the day,] Unleſſe it were with weeping eyes. Ijſdem quibus videmus oculis flemus. Men have the ſame organ of ſeeing and of weeping: that when they behold a dolefull object, they might weep over it: not as the Crocodile doth over the dead body which ſhe had ſlain before, and afterward devoureth: but with true tears of compaſſion,Gen. 4.6. weeping with thoſe that weep. God takes it ill here, that any ſhould once look upon his afflicted people, unleſſe it be to pity and relieve them. He obſerved Cains lowring upon his brother: and the Jewes wagging their heads, Mat. 27.39. Rabſhakehs lofty looks,Gen. 31.2. Eſay 37.23. Labans change of countenance, &c. Men may not look at liberty, and as they liſt. Vultu ſaepe laeditur charitas. It was not for nothing therefore, that in Queen Elizabeths dayes, at a meeting of the borderers in the Marches, betwixt England and Scotland, about goods unjuſtly taken,Cam Eliſab. 279. ſecurity was given and confirmed on both ſides by oath, (according to cuſtome) and proclamation made, that no man ſhould harme other, by word, deed, or look.

when he became a ſtranger,] and fell under a ſtrange puniſhment, as Job ſpeaketh, chap. 31.3. that is, a rare and unheard of miſery, monſtroſum exilium, Tremellius rendreth it. This was threatened, 2 Chron. 7.21. and accordingly fulfilled, Lam. 1.9. Iſrael became the worlds wonderment, a famous inſtance of Gods ſeverity againſt a people of his wrath, and of his curſe. Aben-Ezra rendreth it, In his ſtrange day, ſuch as he had never ſeen the like before. Others, when he was baniſhed his own borders, and became a stranger at home: when God ſeemed to look ſtrange upon him, and to ſtand aloof, or as a man aſtonied, that knows not whether he had beſt help or no, as a mighty man that cannot ſave, Jer. 14.8,Acts & Mon, 1423. 9. Iohn Baptist was beheaded in priſon without any law, right, or reaſon, as though God had known nothing at all of him, ſaid that Martyr.

neither ſhouldeſt thou have rejoyced over the children, &c.] For this is to bee ſick of the devils diſeaſe, [non-Latin text not transcribed], and ſuch are aſſured, that they ſhall not go unpuniſhed, Prov. 17.5. God will ſoon ſee it, and be diſpleaſed, and turn the current of his wrath, upon ſuch an offendour, Prov. 24.18. as he did here upon Edom, for looking with liking on the calamity of his brother, for rejoycing at the downfall of his enemy.

Neither ſhouldſt thou have ſpoken proudly.] Heb. Magnified thy mouth, bluſtering and breathing out big threats, ſetting up thine horne on high and ſaying, Raſe it, raſe it, even to the foundation thereof, Pſal. 137.7. Diripite, ex imis evertite fundamentis.Buchanan. Such a Pyrgopolynicas was Nebuchadnezzar, Eſay 10.13. and Alexander the great, and Antiochus, that little Antichriſt, Dan. 7.8. and that great Antichriſt of Rome, bellowing with his bulls, and menacing hell to all that adhere not to him. See Rev. 13.5, 6. and a like phraſe to this, Ezek 35.13.