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 kindle them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau;
for the LORD has spoken it.
All Commentaries on Obadiah 1:18 Go To Obadiah 1
Cyril of Alexandria
AD 444
The foolish Edomites thought that they alone were about to possess the house of Jacob. Instead the land was divided with them and with the Chaldeans. That very unforseen thing was turned against them, it says. They would be possessed by the house of Jacob and likewise be consumed like chaff or stubble by a flame. And the house of Jacob will be a fire, but the house of Joseph will be only a flame, and thus not as strong. And they will be devoured internally so that among all the tribes Jacob and Joseph will be unable to come together as one. But the other side of this fiery trope should also be seen, for the house of Jacob is called a fire and the house of Joseph a flame. It is not unreasonable to understand in the literal sense the house of Jacob as those from Judah and Benjamin. It is just as true that the house of Joseph represents Samaria, specifically, the ten tribes who were sometimes kings of the Ephraimites, since Manasseh and Ephraim were born from Joseph. Israel will possess the land of Edom and possess all of its confines to the south. They will capture no less than Mount Ephraim, Samaria, Benjamin and Gilead—which were the names of those areas when their leader, Joshua, the successor of Moses, apportioned the land to the tribes of Israel. But after Israel was devastated at the hand of Assyria and again after the attack of Nebuchadnezzar, ruled by Phua and Shalmanezer, he predicts they will once again inhabit the land after they are released from their former captivity. .
