Abdías 1:8

In Obadiah 1:8 the prophet explains the lack of wisdom. Jehovah will cause the wise men to cease. This thought is expressed by a rhetorical question, equivalent to Surely I will destroy.

In that day The day in which the events recorded in Obadiah 1:7 will take place.

Destroy the wise men This threat is not to be understood as meaning that the wise men will suffer death, but that they will be destroyed as wise men; in other words, their wisdom and understanding will be withdrawn. As a result they will be unable to discover the schemes of “the nations,” or give counsel to their own rulers. For the sake of emphasis the same thought is repeated.

Understanding Or, discernment; the power to see and estimate things correctly.

Mount of Esau Mount Seir. After the occupation of the territory southeast of the Dead Sea by the descendants of Esau the two names came to be used interchangeably. Some commentators seem to think that the parallel passage in Jeremiah 49:0 shows no acquaintance with this verse. It is quite probable, however, that Jeremiah 49:7, reflects the thought of this passage (compare Isaiah 19:3; Isaiah 19:11; Isaiah 29:14). Eliphaz, one of Job’s “wise” friends, was an Edomite (Job 2:11); and later traditions seem to imply that the Edomites boasted in the possession of special wisdom. In presenting a list of nations claiming extraordinary wisdom, Bar 3:22 , says, “The Agarenes that seek wisdom upon earth, the merchants of Meran and Teman, the authors of fables and the seekers out of understanding, none of these have known the way of wisdom, or remember her paths.”