Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Obadiah · About this commentary
Esau Searched Out
Obadiah 1:5-9
5 “If thieves came to you, if robbers by night—oh, what disaster awaits you—wouldn’t they only steal until they had enough? If grape pickers came to you, wouldn’t they leave some gleaning grapes? · WEB
Thieves stop when they have enough and harvesters leave gleanings; what is coming for Esau will leave nothing at all.
Verse 5 measures the coming ruin against ordinary plunder, and ordinary plunder comes out merciful. Thieves steal until they have enough. Grape pickers leave gleanings. Not here: Esau is ransacked, the hidden treasures sought out.
Then the props go, in order. The allies escort Edom to the border and turn; the men who eat Edom's bread set the snare — deceived by pride in verse 3, deceived by friends in verse 7. The wise are destroyed out of Edom — Teman's wisdom was proverbial Jeremiah 49:7, the famous thing goes first. The mighty men are dismayed. Heights, wealth, allies, wisdom, warriors: the book removes each thing Edom leaned on, and nothing it trusted holds.
settled What this mark means