Albert Barnes Commentary Obadiah 1:18

"And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall burn among them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining to the house of Esau; for Jehovah hath spoken it." — Obadiah 1:18 (ASV)

Having given, in summary, the restoration and expansion of Judah, Obadiah, in more detail, first mentions a further chastisement of Edom, quite distinct from the former. In the first, for which God summoned the pagan, there is no mention of Judah, whose holy City, Jerusalem, was presupposed to be temporarily desolate and its people in captivity. In the second, which follows the restoration of its remnant, there is no mention of pagans. Obadiah, whose mission was to Judah, gives it the name of the whole, “the house of Jacob.” It alone had the true worship of God and His promises. Apart from it, there was no unity with the faith of the fathers, no foreshadowing sacrifice for sin.

Does the “house of Joseph” express the same in other words? Or does it mean that after that first destruction of Jerusalem, Ephraim would again be united with Judah? Asaph unites, as one, the sons of Jacob and Joseph (Psalms 77:15), Israel and Joseph (Psalms 80:1); Israel, Jacob, Joseph (Psalms 81:4–5).

Zechariah (Zechariah 10:6), after the captivity, speaks of the house of Judah and the house of Joseph as together forming one whole. Amos, about this same time, twice speaks of Ephraim (Amos 5:15; Amos 6:6) under the name of Joseph. And although Asaph uses the name of Joseph, as Obadiah does, to designate Israel, including Ephraim, it does not seem likely that it would be used of Israel while excluding those whose special name it was.

While Hosea and Amos foretold the entire destruction of the “kingdom” of Israel, Obadiah foretells that some would be there, after the destruction of Jerusalem also, united with them. And after the destruction of Samaria, there remained in Israel, of the poor people, many who returned to the worship of God. Hezekiah invited Ephraim and Manasseh to the Passover (2 Chronicles 30:1) from Beersheba to Dan (2 Chronicles 30:5), addressing them as the remnant, that are escaped out of the hands of the kings of Assyria (2 Chronicles 30:6).

The greater part mocked (2 Chronicles 30:10); yet, several of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun (2 Chronicles 30:11) came from the first, and afterward many of Ephraim and Issachar as well as Manasseh and Zebulun (2 Chronicles 30:18). Josiah destroyed all the places of idolatry in Bethel (2 Kings 23:15) and the cities of Samaria (2 Kings 23:19), of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon even unto Naphtali (2 Chronicles 34:6). Manasseh, Ephraim, and all the remnant of Israel gave money for the repair of the temple, and this was gathered by the Levites who kept the doors (2 Chronicles 34:9). After the renewal of the covenant to keep the law, Josiah removed all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the children of Israel and made all found in Israel to serve the Lord their God (2 Chronicles 34:33).

The pagan colonists were placed by the king of Assyria in Samaria and its cities (2 Kings 17:24), probably to hold the people in the country in check. The remnant of “the house of Joseph” lived in the open country and the villages.

And the house of Esau for stubble - At some time after the first desolation by Nebuchadnezzar, Esau fulfilled the boast which Malachi records, we will return and build up the desolate places (Malachi 1:4). Probably during the oppression of Judah by Antiochus Epiphanes, they took possession of the South of Judah, bordering on their own country, and of Hebron , 22 miles from Jerusalem, where Judah had lived in the time of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 11:25).

Judas Maccabaeus was forced to fortify Bethzur—literally “house of the rock,” (20 miles only from Jerusalem) (Eusebius)—that the people might have a defense against Idumaea. Maresha and Adoraim, 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem, near the road to Gaza, were cities of Idumaea (Josephus, Ant. xiii. 15. 4). The whole of Simeon was absorbed in it (Josephus, Ant. v. 1. 22).

Edom was still on the aggressive when Judas Maccabaeus defeated them at Arrabatene. It was because they beset Israel round about that Judas fought against the children of Esau in Idumea at Arrabatene and gave them a great overthrow.

His second battle against them was in Judea itself. He fought against the children of Esau in the land toward the South, where he smote Hebron and her daughters, and pulled down its fortress and burned the towns thereof round about.

About 20 years afterward, Simon had to recover Bethzur again and fortify it again, as it still lay on the borders of Judah .

Twenty years later, John Hyrcanus, son of Simon , (Josephus, Ant. xiii. 9, 1) “subdued all the Edomites, and permitted them to remain in the country, on condition that they would receive circumcision, and adopt the laws of the Jews.” This they did, continues Josephus, “and from then on became Jews.” Outwardly, they appear to have given up their idolatry.

For although Josephus says, “the Edomites ‘account’ (not, accounted) Koze a god,” he relates that, after this forced adoption of Jewish customs, Herod made Costobar, of the priestly family, prefect of Idumaea and Gaza. Their character remained unchanged.

The Jewish historian, who knew them well, describes them as “a tumultuous disorderly race, ever alive to commotions, delighting in change, who went to engagements as to a feast”: “by nature most savage for slaughter.”

In 3 B.C., they took part in the rebellion against the Romans, probably using the Feast of Pentecost as a pretext, to which they went up with those from Galilee, Jericho, the country beyond Jordan, and “the Jews themselves.”

Just before the last siege of Jerusalem, the Zealots sent for them on the pretext that the city was being betrayed to the Romans. “All took arms, as if in defense of their metropolis, and, 20,000 in number, went to Jerusalem.” After massacres, of which they themselves repented when told they had been deceived, they returned and were, in turn, devastated by Simon the Gerasene.

Simon took it. “He not only destroyed cities and villages, but devastated the whole country. For as you may see wood completely bared by locusts, so the army of Simon left the country behind them, a desert. Some things they burned, others they razed.”

After a short time, “he returned to the remnant of Edom, and, chasing the people on all sides, constrained many to flee to Jerusalem.” There they took part against the Zealots, “were a great part of the war” against the Romans, and perished, “rivals in frenzy” with the worst Jews in the throes of that extreme, superhuman wickedness.

From that time on, their name disappears from history. The “greater part” of the remnant of the nation had perished in that dreadful, exterminating siege; if any still survived, they retained no known national existence. Arabian tradition preserves the memory of three Jewish Arab tribes, but none of the Edomites.