Obadiah 1:5 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
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 grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes?
a stealer · noun, common masculine plural absolute
came
בָּאֽוּba.'u-
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
robbers
שׁ֣וֹדְדֵיSho.dei
H7703
properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct
night
לַ֔יְלָהLay.lah
H3915
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
off
נִדְמֵ֔יתָהnid.Mei.tah
H1820
to be dumb or silent · verb, niphal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
stolen
יִגְנְב֖וּyig.ne.Vu
H1589
to thieve (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
enough
דַּיָּ֑םdai.Yam
H1767
enough (as noun or adverb) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
grapegatherers
בֹּֽצְרִים֙bo.tze.Rim
H1219
to gather grapes · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
came
בָּ֣אוּBa.'u
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
leave
יַשְׁאִ֥ירוּyash.'I.ru
H7604
properly · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
grapes
עֹלֵלֽוֹתo.le.Lot
H5955
only in plural gleanings · noun, common feminine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Deuteronomy 24:21 When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for…
Jeremiah 49:9 If grapegatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough.
2 Samuel 1:19 The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen!
Isaiah 17:6 Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or fi…
Lamentations 1:1 How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess am…
Isaiah 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
Isaiah 24:13 When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes…
Jeremiah 50:23 How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Obadiah 1:5
The spoliation which thou shalt suffer shall not be such as that which thieves cause, bad as that is, for these when they have seized enough, or all they can get in a hurry, leave the rest--nor such as grape-gatherers cause in a vineyard, for they, when they have gathered most of the grapes, leave gleanings behind--but it shall be utter, so as to leave thee nothing. The exclamation, "How art thou cut off!" bursting in amidst the words of the image, marks strongly excited feeling. The contrast between Edom where no gleanings shall be left, and Israel where at the worst a gleaning is left (; ), is striking.
Adam Clarke on Obadiah 1:5
If thieves came to thee - That is, if thieves entered thy dwellings, they would not have taken every thing; they would have laid hold on thy wealth; and carried off as much as they could escape with conveniently; if grape-gatherers entered thy vineyards, they would not have taken every bunch; some gleanings would have been left. But the Chaldeans have stripped thee bare; they have searched out all thy hidden things, Oba 1:6, they have left thee nothing. Hour art thou cut off! Thou art totally and irretrievably ruined! The prophet speaks of this desolation as if it had already taken place.
John Gill on Obadiah 1:5
If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night,.... Whether the one came by day, and the other by night, or both by night, the same being meant by different words, whose intent is to plunder and steal, and carry off what they can; thy condition would not be worse, nor so bad as now it is: for
how art thou cut off! from being a nation, wholly destroyed; thy people killed, or carried captive; thy fortresses demolished, towns and cities levelled with the ground, and all thy wealth and substance carried off, and nothing left: these are either the words of God, or of the prophet, setting forth their utter ruin, as if it was already; or of the nations round about, wondering at their sudden destruct…
Obadiah 5
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 grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes?
5. An fures venerunt ad te? An praedones nocturni? Quomodo in silentium redactus es? (vel, quomodo consumptus es?) annon furati essent sufficientiam suam? An vindemiatores ad te venerunt? Annon reliquissent racemos?
The Prophet shows in this verse that the calamity with which God was resolved to afflict the Idumeans would not be slight, for nothing would be left among them; and he amplifies what he says by a comparison. When one is plundered of his property by thieves, he grieves, that what…
The Church Fathers
If thieves came to you, oh, how you would be silenced! Everything would be open for plunder because of the overwhelming fear, until [the plunderers] have stolen enough [riches] for themselves, for they are people of insatiable and consuming greed. If grape gatherers came to you—that is, if plunderers invaded you with open violence—what would you do? Would you not at least strive to have the gleanings of the vineyard remain to you? But you strive in vain against the Chaldeans, the invaders of your dominions. Therefore he refers to them [the Edomites] by adding how Esau has been pillaged, his treasures searched out. He prophesies that the people of Esau had to be pillaged by the Chaldeans with incredible zeal and then even deported to captivity. Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon fulfilled this prediction after he thouroughly destroyed Edom and moved its inhabitants elsewhere.
(Verse 4 onwards) If thieves entered your house, or robbers at night, how would you remain silent? Wouldn't they have stolen enough for themselves? If grape harvesters entered your vineyard, wouldn't they at least leave some grapes for you? How deeply they searched, how thoroughly they investigated his hidden places! Septuagint: If thieves entered your house, or robbers at night, where would you hide? Wouldn't they have stolen enough for themselves? And if grape harvesters came to you, would they not leave some grapes? How Esau has been searched, and his hidden things have been discovered? Similarly Jeremiah, though with the order changed: If grape harvesters had come upon you, would they not leave some grapes? If thieves came at night, they would surely take what is enough for themselves. But I have uncovered Esau, I have revealed his hidden things, and they cannot hide (Jer. XLIX, 9, 10). What he is saying is this: If thieves and robbers who are accustomed to digging up houses during the night and stealing what is in the houses had entered your house, and, hidden in darkness, had searched through the corners of your house, surely they would have taken what they thought could suffice for themselves, and would have left something in your house, either from satiety or from ignorance. If grape gatherers had entered your vineyard, and if they wanted to either destroy it hostilely or harvest it because they were hired by you, even if their grape harvest had been diligent, still they would have left behind grapes hidden among the vines and leaves, among the stems. But all the enemies, who came to you at the command of the Lord (meaning the Babylonians and the army of Nebuchadnezzar), have searched all your secrets, and have explored the caves, and the openings of the caves, where you dwell. And truly, to say something about the nature of the place, the entire southern region of the Edomites, from Eleutheropolis to Petra, and Aila (which is the possession of Esau), has little dwellings in the caves. And because of the excessive heat of the sun, since it is a southern province, it makes use of underground dwellings. 'I have discovered,' he says, 'Esau, that is, what was pressed down on the ground I have brought out into the open, and everything that you were keeping closed up has been revealed, and while I was seeking your substance along with your enemies, no…
Dictionary and topics
Deceit · Use, to themselves — Use, to themselves
Theft And Thieves · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The prophet sees this overthrow of Edom from its lofty height as something that has already happened, and he now depicts the utter devastation of Edom through the medium of the enemies whom Jehovah has summoned against it. Oba 1:5. "If thieves had come to thee, if robbers by night, alas, how art thou destroyed! would they not steal their sufficiency? If vine-dressers had come to thee, would they not leave gleanings? Oba 1:6. How have the things of Esau been explored, his hidden treasures desired! Oba 1:7. Even to the border have all the men of thy covenant sent thee: the men of thy peace have deceived thee, overpowered thee. They make thy bread a wound under thee. There is no understanding i…
The Babylonians completely destroyed Jerusalem. By sharing in the plunder, Edom deserved equal retribution (see 1:15-18).
1:5 Edom’s destroyers would take everything, unlike thieves and harvesters. Thieves would leave anything that would hinder an immediate, successful escape; harvesters would always leave gleanings for the poor (Deut 24:19; cp. Ruth 2; Matt 12:1).
Rashi on Obadiah 1:5
come upon you Heb. בָּאוּ לְךָ, lit., came to you.
How were you silent?—Why were you sleeping soundly and still until they stole all they desired?
would (the vintagers) not leave over some gleaning grapes?—But these will not leave you anything, for they will search and reveal and seek out your hidden things.