Albert Barnes Commentary Obadiah 1:17

"But in mount Zion there shall be those that escape, and it shall be holy; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions." — Obadiah 1:17 (ASV)

But (And) upon (in) Mount Zion, shall be deliverance, or, an escaped remnant, and there (and it) shall be holiness—The sifting times of the Church are the triumph of the world; the judgment of the world is the restoration of the Church.

In the triumph of the world, the lot was cast on Jerusalem: her sons were carried captive and slain, and her holy places were desecrated.

On the destruction of the nations, Mount Zion rises in calm majesty, as before. A remnant is replaced there after its sifting; it is again holiness—not holy only, but a channel of holiness.

And the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions (literally inherit their inheritances); either their own former possessions, receiving and inheriting from the enemy what they had lost, or the inheritances of the nations.

For the whole world is the inheritance of the Church, as Jesus said to the apostles, sons of Zion: Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19), and, Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15).

Holiness is its title-deeds to the inheritance of the world—that holiness which was in the upper chamber in Mount Zion, the presence of God the Holy Spirit, issuing in holy teaching, holy Scriptures, holy institutions, holy sacraments, holy lives.