Obadiah 1:19

And [they of] the south shall possess the land of Esau,.... That is, those Jews that shall dwell in the southern part of the land of Judea shall seize upon the country of Idumea, lying contiguous to

And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines: and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.

They of the south; the Jews who lived in the south parts of Canaan, which was next to Idumea, shall, after their return and victories over Edom, possess his country, called here the Mount of Esau. They of the plain the Philistines; the Jews who dwelt in the plain country, which was next to Palestina, , shall enlarge their borders, and possess the Philistines’ country, together with their ancient inheritance. Now of the possession of Mount Esau by the Jews, saith Grotius, it was most fully accomplished by Hyrcanus. Josephus, lib. 13. chap; 17, reports the matter thus, that the Idumeans were commanded either to depart their country, or be circumcised. If this were the time of fulfilling the one, it was also the time of fulfilling the other also. And they shall possess the fields of Ephraim; and all the land which the ten tribes once did possess shall again be possessed by the Jews. And the fields of Samaria; the fields also about Samaria, how greatly soever wasted, shall be replanted, and that by the Jews too. Benjamin, either apart, or jointly with Judah, shall possess Gilead; a country beyond Jordan, assigned to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh, wasted by Hazael and Tiglathpileser some time before Samaria was taken, but should be inhabited by the Benjamites; and probably Gad, Manasseh, and Reuben did enlarge upon the Moabites and Ammonites. Here is promised a larger possession than ever they had before the captivity, and it doth no doubt point out the enlargement of the church of Christ in the times of the gospel, and particularly when antichrist, typified in this prophecy by Edom, shall be destroyed: but we are to give the literal meaning, and think we do not miss of it.

Obadiah 1:19 And [they of] the south shall possess the mount of Esau; and [they of] the plain the Philistines: and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria: and Benjamin [shall possess] Gilead.Ver. 19. And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau] Those of the south, that is, the tribe of Judah. For Judaea was divided into five parts, Joshua 15:1-63, whereof one was southward, toward the coast of Edom, Joshua 15:21. Another was in the vale or plain, near unto the Philistines, Joshua 15:33. Here, then, Obadiah showeth that the Jews shall not only recover their ancient inheritances, but also much enlarge the same; whereby he signifieth that the Church of Christ shall grow so very great, that Jewry shall be too narrow for them, see Zechariah 10:10; the ancient bounders shall not receive them, see Numbers 24:17 Isaiah 40:14. The gospel was soon spread, not only to the neighbouring nations, but to all the ends of the earth: the Edomites, Philistines, &c., are only mentioned, as being better known and more adverse to the Jews than other nations were. And they of the plain the Philistines] i.e. Those five lordships, Gath, Gaza, Ascalon, Ekron, and Azotus, all which country (called Saron, Acts 9:35) Augustus gave to Herod the Ascalonite; and, after his death, to his sons; dividing it into tetrarchies, Luke 3:1. And they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria] All which Hircanus subdued, and destroyed their temple built in mount Gerizim. And Benjamin shall possess Gilead] That is shall propagate and extend his habitation beyond Jordan; and in respect of his exceeding great multitude, shall be compelled to hold and possess Gilead, all the country between Jordan and mount Libanus. Thus Jerome with the Hebrew scholiasts and many others; who do also note, that under these earthly felicities heavenly are described; and that all this is chiefly accomplished under Christ, when as the faithful are made heirs and lords of all things by him, who is their head. See Ezekiel 37:16-23.

17-21.— OF THE KINGDOM OF JEHOVAH ON MOUNT ZION.(17) Deliverance.—Better, as in margin, the fugitives of Israel who have survived the recent calamity. This is clear from Isaiah 10:20, where phelκytah is in parallelism with shear=remnant, as well as Joe 2:32; Hebrews 3:5, where it is parallel to serξdξm, also remnant. (Comp. also Judges 21:17; 2 Chronicles 20:24.) While the judgment is falling upon all the heathen nations, Mount Zion will be an asylum for all the Israelites who had fled for safety, and been scattered and dispersed. Holiness.—See margin. Zion was once more to become a sanctuary, and those who inhabited it holy. (Comp. Isaiah 6:13.) Their possessions.—Whose—their own that had been lost, or those of the nations? The Vulgate, following the LXX., read “those who had possessed them,” indicating subjugation of the heathen tribes. But the parallelism is undoubtedly in favour of the other view—the remnant of Israel would be saved, and regain their old possessions. Having stated this, the prophet goes on to describe what would happen to Edom and its possessions. (18) Though, in the preceding verse, “house of Jacob” would seem to embrace all the restored Israel, without any reference to the distinction of the two kingdoms, in this verse, being opposed to “house of Joseph,” it requires to be taken as synonymous with Judah; as in Isaiah 46:3 : “Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel.” (Comp. Psalms 77:15; Psalms 80:1; Psalms 81:4-5.) For the expressive imagery, comp. Nahum 1:10; Isaiah 27:4; Isaiah 10:17. Any remaining.—Heb., sarξd, a fugitive. The LXX. must have had a different text, as they read here πυροϕόρος, i.e., wheat-bearer, apparently (as the various reading shows) a mistake for πυρϕόρος, fire-bearer.(19) After the destruction of the heathen the new kingdom of Zion will be restored, at least as far as the ancient territories which are at present held by the Idumζans, to the north and west of the original Edom, are concerned. Three divisions are enumerated of the house of Jacob (i.e., Judah; see Note, Obadiah 1:18), and separate mention made of Benjamin. They of the south.—Those at present occupying the south—Heb., negev—i.e., the dry parched country forming the southern portion of the tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:21), are to inhabit Mount Esau: i.e., are to extend their territory to its extreme south-eastern limit; they of the Shephelah, i.e., the western lowland on the Mediterranean, are to seize on the neighbouring Philistia, at present Idumζan; while they at present confined to the hill-country in the north and centre of Judah are to spread themselves over Ephraim and Samaria. Our present Hebrew text leaves the subject of this latter clause uncertain, as it is in the Authorised Version “they.” But the LXX., τὸὄρος indicates that hahor=the mountain, has dropped out, a conjecture which is abundantly borne out by the geographical arrangement of the localities in the passage. Benjamin, for which no room is left on the west of Jordan, is to push across it into Gilead instead.

Verse 19. They of the south] The Jews who possessed the southern part of Palestine, should render themselves masters of the mountains of Idumea which were contiguous to them. They of the plain] From Eleutheropolis to the Mediterranean Sea. In this and the following verse the prophet shows the different districts which should be occupied by the Israelites after their return from Babylon. The fields of Samaria] Alexander the Great gave Samaria to the Jews; and John Hyrcanus subdued the same country after his wars with the Syrians. See Josephus, contra. App. lib, ii., and Antiq. lib. xiii., c. 18. Benjamin shall possess Gilead.] Edom lay to the south; the Philistines to the west; Ephraim to the north; and Gilead to the east. Those who returned from Babylon were to extend themselves everywhere. See Newcome; and see, for the fulfilment, 1Macc 5:9, 35, 45; 9:35, 36.

17–21. The Restoration of Israel By an easy transition the prophet passes to the second and brighter part of his picture. The destruction of her enemies is accompanied by the restoration and salvation of Israel. There is however no sudden break between the two portions of the prophecy. The key-note of deliverance had already been struck in the earlier portion by the implied promise (Obadiah 1:16) that the punishment of Israel was not to be, like that of her enemies, continual. The tones of vengeance are heard still in the later portion, and are only lost at length in the final strain of victory, “The kingdom shall be the Lord’s.” Israel is to regain her former possessions (Obadiah 1:17), to overcome her ancient foes (Obadiah 1:18), to spread abroad in all directions (Obadiah 1:19-20), till as the ultimate issue which in the fulness of time shall be reached, God’s kingdom is set up in the world (Obadiah 1:21).

And they of the South shall possess the mount of Esau - The Church was now hemmed in within Judah and Benjamin. They too were to go into captivity.

The exaltation of the Jews, Obadiah 1:17-21.The judgment upon the nations is accompanied and followed by the restoration and glorification of Zion (compare Joe 2:32 ff.).