Obadiah asks rather than states to force Edom to confront the irony and totality of their destruction. The contrast between thieves who take only what they need and enemies who have utterly stripped Edom highlights the severity of God’s judgment through their own mental comparison.

No verbal or behavioral response is recorded. The rhetorical nature demands silent acknowledgment of Edom’s unprecedented devastation, which exceeded normal wartime plundering.

Obadiah’s paired questions establish a devastating comparison: even criminals exercise restraint, but Edom’s enemies have shown none. The Hebrew structure repeats ‘if’ (im) to build hypothetical scenarios that highlight what did not happen to Edom. Ordinary thieves steal until satisfied, then depart. Grape gatherers, whether by custom or law, intentionally leave gleanings. The prophet asks these questions rather than making direct statements to engage Edom’s own reasoning; they must supply the obvious answers (‘yes, they would leave something’) and thereby recognize their own unprecedented calamity. The parenthetical exclamation ‘how you have been destroyed’ interrupts the flow, expressing shock at totality. This rhetorical device carries theological weight: when God judges entrenched pride, the devastation exceeds natural human restraint.