"If grape-gatherers come to thee, would they not leave gleanings? If thieves came by night, they would only destroy till they had enough. But I have made Esau bare, I have stripped him stark naked; he shall not be able to hide himself. His children, and his brethren, and his neighbours are given up to plunder, and there is an end of him" (9, 10). "I have sworn by Myself--is the utterance of Jehovah-- That Bozrah shall become an astonishment, a reproach, a desolation, and a curse; All her cities shall become perpetual wastes. I have heard tidings from Jehovah, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, saying, Gather yourselves together and come against her, arise to battle" (13, 14). There was obviously but one leader who could lead the nations to achieve the overthrow of Edom and lead her little ones away captive, who could come up like a lion from the thickets of Jordan, or "flying like an eagle and spreading his wings against Bozrah" (22)--Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who had come up against Judah with all the kingdoms and peoples of his dominions.[233] In this picture of chastisement and calamity, there is one apparent touch of pitifulness:-- "Leave thine orphans, I will preserve their lives; Let thy widows put their trust in Me" (11). At first sight, at any rate, these seem to be the words of Jehovah. All the adult males of Edom would perish, yet the helpless widows and orphans would not be without a protector. The God of Israel would watch over the lambs of Edom,[234] when they were dragged away into captivity. We are reluctant to surrender this beautiful and touching description of a God, who, though He may visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation, yet even in such judgment ever remembers mercy. It is impossible, however, to ignore the fact that such ideas are widely different from the tone and sentiment of the rest of the section. These words may be an immediate sequel to the previous verse, "No Edomite survives to say to his dying brethren, Leave thine orphans to me," or possibly they may be quoted, in bitter irony, from some message from Edom to Jerusalem, inviting the Jews to send their wives and children for safety to Mount Seir. Edom, ungrateful and treacherous Edom, shall utterly perish--Edom that offered an asylum to Jewish refugees, and yet shared the plunder of Jerusalem and betrayed her fugitives to the Chaldeans.