Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_500.lzh/6_524.TXT

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THE title of this Book, in the Hebrew copies, is
usually Sepher Obadiah, the Book of Obadiah: the
'Vulgate Latin version calls it the Prophecy ofObadiah;
and so the A'rabic version: and in the Syriac version it
is, the Prophecy of the Prophet Obadiab. His name
signifies a servant or worshipper of the Lord. Who he
was, what his parentage, and ia what age he lived, are
things uncertain. The Seder Ohm Zuta {} places him
in the reign of Jehoshaphat: and he is thought by some
to be that Obadiah that was one of the princes he sent
to teach the people, 2 Chron. xvii. 7. The ancient
Jewish Rubbins take hitn to be the same with him
that lived in the times of' Ahab, and in his court, who
hid the prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them,
1 Kings xviii. 3, 4. tO which Aben Ezra objects, be-
cause he is not called a prophet, only one that feared
the Lord; whereas to be a prophet is something
greater. They also say he was an Edomite by birth,
but was proselyted to the Jewish religion, and so a fit
person to be employed in prophesying against Edom;
and it is a tradition with them that his widow is the
woman whose cruse of oil Elisha multipliect, c2 Kings
iv. l. Some have been of opinion that he was the
captain of the third fifty, whose life Elijah spared in
the times of Ahaziah; and who upon that left the
king's service, and followed the prophet, and became
a disciple of his; so Pseudo-Epiphauius {b}, and Isidorus
Hispalensis }, who say that he was of Sychem, a city
of Samaria, and of the field of Beth-achamar, or
Beth-accaron. Others would have him to be one of the
overseers of the workmen in the house of the Lord, in
the times of Josiah, 2 Chron. xxxiv. 12. to which
Mr. Lively {d} inclines; though others, going according
to the order of the books in the canon of Scripture,
which is not to be depended on, place him earlier, and
make him cotemporary with Hosea, Joel, and Amos,
as Grotius {e}, Huetius f, and Lightfools: but he seems
rather to be cotetnporary with Jeremiah and Ezekiel,
with whose prophecies this agrees, as may be observed
by comparing it with Jer. xlix. and Ezek. xxv. and to
have lived and prophesied after the destruction of
Jerusalem by the Chaldeans; in which the Edomites,
against whom he prophesies, had a concern; see
yet. 11., l2, 13, 14. Psal. cxxxvii. 7. though Dr. Light-
foot thinks these prophecies refer either to the sacking
of Jerusalem by Shishak king of Egypt, 1 Kings xiv. c25.
or by the Philistines and Arabians, 2 Chron. xxi. 16, 17.
or by Joash king of Israel, 2 Chron. xxv. c2_1. so that,
upon the whole, it is not certain; and, as Aben Ezra and
Kimchi own, it is not known in what age this prophet
lived: Bishop Usher h places his prophecy in the l2th
year of Jeconiah's captivity. However, there is no
doubt to be made of the authenticity ofthe prophecy;
as may be concluded, not only from the title of it, and
the solemn manner in which it begins; but from the
matter of it, and the accomplishment of what is con-
tained in it; as well as froth the testimony borne to it
in the New Testament, in which not only the book of
the minor prophets, in which this stands, is quoted,
Acts vii. 42. but a passage in it, ver. 8. is referred to
in I Cur. i. 19. as is thought by some learned men.
have only to observe, that, according to Pseudo-Epi-
phanius {}, he died in Beth-achamar, where he is said to
be born, and was buried in the sepulchre of his an-
cestors; but, according to Jerom {k} and lsidore {l}, his
sepnlchre is in Sebaste or Samaria; which remained to
the times of Jerom, near those of the Prophet Elisha
affd John the Baptist. Monsieur Thevenot {m} says that
John Baptist here lies buried between the Prophets
Elisha and Abdias.

This prophecy of Obadiah is the least of the minor
prophets, consisting but of one chapter; the subject
of it is Edom, whose destruction is foretold, and is to
be considered as a type of the enemies of Christ and
his kingdom, and especially of the Roman antichrist.
After the preface, the rumour of war, and preparation
for it, which would issue in the ruin of Edom, are ob-
served, ver. 1, 2. because of their pride, confidence,
and security, ver. 3, 4. which should be complete and
entire, ver. 5, 6. notwithstanding their allies, who
would deceive them; and the wisdom of their wise
men, which should be destroyed; and the strength of
their tnighty men, who would be dismayed, vet. 7, 8, 9.
and this should come upon them, chiefly because of
their ill usage of the Jews at the time of Jerusalem's
destruction, which is enlarged upon, ver. 10, 11, 12,
13, 14. and this would be when all the nations round
about them would be destroyed, ver. 15, 16. and then
deliverance is promised to the Jews, who should not
only enjoy their own possessions, but the land of the
Edomites, wasted by them, vet. 17, 18, 19, c20. and the
book is concluded with a glorious prophecy of the
kingdorn of the Messiah, ver. 2l.
Ver. 1. The vision of Obadiah, &c.] Or the pro-
phecy, as the Targum; which was delivered unto httn
by the Lord in a vision; it was not what he fantied or

{a} P. 103.
{b} De Prophet. Vit. c. 15.
{c} Da Vita & Mort. Sanct. c. 44.
{d} In loc.
{e} In loc.
{f} Demonstrat. Evangel. Prop. 4. p. 290.
{g} Works, vol. 1. p. 96.
{h} Annales Vet. Test, A. M. 3417.
{i} Ut supra.
{k} Comment. in loc. & in Epitaph. Paulae fol. 59. M.
{l} Ut supra.
{m} Travels, par. 1. B. 1. ch. 56. p. 216.