Obadiah 1:5 If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? If the grape gatherers came to thee, would they not leave [some] grapes? As a general rule, when “thieves” or “grape gatherers” work, they do not search out and take everything; they merely take their fill. However, God will so thoroughly judge Esau that He makes it bare (Jer. 49:9-10). “Robbers by night”: Because of the rugged terrain and very narrow access through the gorges, predatory attack could only come at night. In this verse, Obadiah is showing that in a raid, the robbers do not take everything. They just take what they want and run. When grasshoppers come on the crop, it is the same thing. They do not destroy the root of the plant, just the vegetation on top. They would even leave some grapes on the vine, if it were just a plague of grasshoppers. This is given to contrast the greatness of the destruction that will come on Edom, as a judgment of God.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Apr 2014 21:02:59 +0000