HistoricalChristian.Faith

Obadiah 1:5

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?
Commentaries
Ephrem the Syrianon Obadiah 1:5-6AD 373
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.
Source: COMMENTARY ON OBADIAH
Jeromeon Obadiah 1:5-6AD 420
(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 secrets could be hidden.' Otherwise, I think that thieves and robbers, who enter at night, because they are children of the night and of darkness, are heretics, preaching doctrines contrary to the truth, who steal enough for themselves and hasten to snatch away from the flocks of the Church daily. Those who enter the vineyard of our Lord (Psalm 79), which he transferred from Egypt of this age, and from whose offspring he promises to drink wine in the kingdom of the Father, desire everything to be shared, so that hardly any grapes are left on it. But on the contrary, the Lord acts: for all their secrets and hidden mysteries, and the craftiness of the patriarchs Esau (these are indeed the ones who first discovered heresies), he brings forth into the open through his saints and Churchmen and learned teachers, and his first victory is to reveal what was hidden and secret. And when it is said with admiration, 'How did Esau search out and discover his hidden secrets?' Look at Marcion and Valentinus, and all heretics, how in the teachings of demons, having seared consciences, they applaud themselves, and by composing deceptive speeches, they lead astray simple souls as if initiating them into divine mysteries. But when they bring forth in their discourse the thirty aeons, and the square and octad and twelfth and dualistic god, and the monstrous Abraxas, then the wisdom of Esau will be shown to be foolishness, and his secrets will be revealed.