John Calvin Commentary Obadiah 1:5

"If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night (how art thou cut off!), would they not steal [only] till they had enough? if grape-gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes?" — Obadiah 1:5 (ASV)

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. He amplifies what he says by a comparison.

When someone is plundered of his property by thieves, he grieves that what he had acquired by much labor throughout life has been taken from him in one moment. And when anyone has spent labor and expense in cultivating his vineyard, and another takes away its fruit, he complains of his great misfortune: that he has lost his property and his great labor in cultivating his vineyard, while another devours its fruit.

But the Prophet intimates that God would not be content with such a kind of punishment for the Idumeans.

Therefore he says, Have night thieves or robbers come to thee? They would doubtless have stolen and taken away what they thought sufficient for themselves; but now nothing will be left to you.

In short, the Prophet intimates that the Assyrians would not be like thieves or night robbers, who stealthily and privately take away what comes to their hands. Instead, he means that the Idumeans would be so plundered that their houses would be left completely empty.

He declares that the Assyrians would thus spoil them like night thieves or robbers, who are accustomed to proceed with unbridled liberty, for no one dares to resist them or even to say a word against them.

This plundering then, says the Prophet, will not be of an ordinary kind; but the enemies will make you entirely empty.

He has the same purpose when he says, Have vintagers come to thee? To be sure, they commonly leave some clusters; but the Assyrians will leave, no, not one: they will depart so laden with plunder that you will be left empty.

But all this, as we have reminded you, was said to alleviate or mitigate the grief of the faithful, who then considered themselves very miserable, as they alone were plundered by enemies.

For they saw that their neighbors were dwelling in safety and even becoming partakers of the spoil. Their condition, therefore, was very miserable and degraded.

Therefore, so that he might moderate this bitter grief, the Prophet says that the Idumeans would be plundered in no ordinary way, for not even a hair would be left to them. This is the import of the passage.

However, some regard the verb נדמיתה nudamite as signifying, “You are reduced to silence,” because the verb דום dum or דמה dame means “to be silent.”

They offer this interpretation: “How do you not endeavor at least to meet your enemies?” For they take “to be silent” in the sense of “being still,” as דמה dame is often so understood in Scripture: “How then have they been silent?”

But he speaks of the future in the past tense, as though God had already inflicted punishment on the Idumeans, so that faith in the prediction might be made more certain: “You have been reduced to silence,” that is, “How could you remain quiet on seeing your enemies plundering with so much violence — how then have you been reduced to silence?”

Others say, “How have you been consumed?” because דמה dame often means “to destroy.” However, this point is not of great importance.

For the Prophet means that it could not be ascribed to chance that enemies would destroy the whole land of Edom, because the cruel assault would by no means be of an ordinary kind.

And then, since the Idumeans thought that every entrance for their enemies was closed off (as they inhabited the mountain summits, according to what I have already said, and believed themselves most secure in their recesses and lofty rocks), the Prophet here presents it as an astonishing thing that God’s judgment would still reach them.

Let us proceed—