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.
And they of the south - Hebrew, 'they of the Negeb.'
Shall possess the mount of Esau. The Jews, who in the coming time are to occupy the south of Judea, shall possess, in addition to their own territory, the adjoining mountainous region of Edom.
And they of the plain the Philistines. The Jews who shall occupy the low country (Hebrew, 'they of the Shepheelah') along the Mediterranean, south and southwest of Palestine, shall possess, in addition to their own territory, the land of "the Philistines," which runs as a long strip between the hills and the sea.
And they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria - i:e., the rightful owners shall be restored, the Ephraimites, to the fields of Ephraim. Pusey takes it, The Jews who returned from Babylon were to occupy then "the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria." But the context seems to me to point to the literal restoration of the ten tribes, as well as that of Benjamin and Judah, as foretold by the other prophets. Obadiah plainly means the former by "the house of Joseph" (Obadiah 1:18).
Benjamin shall possess Gilead - i:e., the region east of Jordan, occupied formerly by Reuben, Gad, and half Manasseh. Benjamin shall possess, besides its own territory, the adjoining territory eastward, while the two and a half tribes shall, in the re-distribution, occupy the adjoining territory of Moab and Ammon.