If the Grapegatherers Came to Thee (Obadiah 1:5)

2024-01-11

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? (Obadiah 1:5)

If grapegatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough. (Jeremiah 49:9)

Sometimes as you read the Bible, you make connections that you never would have expected. These verses spoken against the nation of Edom say much the same thing. The Edomites would ultimately be decimated because of their involvement in the destruction of God’s people during Jerusalem’s demise and exile. They would be well plundered by the enemy.

Just as Edom stopped Jerusalem’s fleeing residents from escape, plundered their possessions, and rejoiced at their defeat, they were going to face the same destruction (Obadiah 1:10-14).

They put confidence in their geographic position. “The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?” (Obadiah 1:3). However, the LORD can always find you out. “But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not” (Jeremiah 49:10).

What can we learn? Rejoice neither at the fall of your enemies nor against the people of the LORD. What you maliciously do against others will certainly revisit you later, for there is a God in heaven that is a God of justice. Moreover, no matter how well protected you think you are, be it where you live, or your financial situation, or your reputation, or what have you, the LORD can bring it down in a day. There is no safety in anything other than the LORD; everything else is a precarious thread on which you hang over an endless ravine.