OBADIAH
268
OBADIAH
holds that Obadiah followed Jeremiah. Schnurrer makes it more probable that Jeremiah's prophecy is an altered form of Obadiah's. Eichhorn, Schultz, Rosen- miiller, and JIaurer agree with him. AVhatever be the relation of Jeremiah to Obadiah, Obadiah is indepen- dent of Jeremiah. The verses common to the two form in Obadiah one compact, consecutive, progressive piece, in Jeremiah they are scattered and disjointed. Tliis feeling was so powerful with Ewald that he could not regard Obadiah as the follower of Jeremiah, but con- cluded that Obad. 1-10 and ver. 17, 18 belonged to an earlier prophet, and liad been appropriated bodily by Obadiah, i. e. the writer of the present book, and freely used by Jeremiah {Prophefen, i, 399). Stiihelin, too, under the same feeling, though he regards Jeremiah's original prophecy as having preceded Obadiah's, yet fancies that Jeremiah in his latest revision of his prophecies used Obadiah, and embodied much of him in his own work ! (EiiiL p. 312). Bleek, who also con- siders Jeremiah prior to Obadiah, yet comes to this con- clusion because he fancies the day of Jacob's calamity can be no other than the Chaldrean conquest; still he does not bring the question to the test of a comparison of the two prophets {Einl. p. 537).
There are likewise remarkable coincidences between Obadiah and others of the minor prophets, especially Joel. Both call the treatment of Judah by Edom vio- ^«?ce (Joel iv, 19; Obad. 10, comp. Amos i, 11) ; bothcom- plain of the carrying off a great spoil from Jerusalem (Joel iv, 5; Obad. 11) ; both say it was done by stran- gers (Joel iv, 17; Obad. 11): both use the formula, c«rf lots on Jerusalem (Joel iv, 3 ; Obad. 1 1 ; again in Nah. iii, 10) ; both speak of the dai/ of the Lord (Joel iv, 14; i, 15; Obad. 15); both make prominent the idea of >-e- quital in that day (Joel iv, 4, 7; Obad. 15) ; both speak of the remnant or refuge that shall be in that day (Joel iii, 5; Obad. 17), both saying it shall be on Mount Zion (Joel iii, 5; Obad. 17), and both that it shall be holy (Joel iv, 17 ; Obad. 17) ; both employ the simile of tire for a destroyer (Joel ii, 3, 5 ; Obad. 18) ; and both clinch their predictions against Jerusalem's foes and in- vaders with the formula. For the Lord hath said it (Joel iv, 8 ; Obad. 18). The correspondences with Amos are fewer, consisting mainly in the similarity of their allu- sions to Edom, the absorption of which by Israel is pre- dicted by both (Amos ix, 12; Obad. 21), an advance over Joel, who merely predicts Edom's destruction.
3. Contents, and their Verification. — The book of Oba- diah is a sustained denunciation of the Edomites, melt- ing, as is the wont of the Hebrew prophets (comp. Joel iii; Amos ix), into a vision of the future glories of Zion, when the arm of the Lord should have wrought her de- liverance and have repaid double upon her enemies. Previous to the ca]itivity, the Edomites were in a simi- lar relation to the Jews with that wliich the Samaritans afterwards held. They were near neighbors, and they were relatives. The result was that intensified hatred ■which such conditions are likely to produce, if they do not produce cordiality and good-will. The Edomites are the types of those who ought to be friends and are not — of those who ought to be helpers, but in the day of calamity are found "standing on the other side." The prophet first touches on their pride and self-con- fidence, and then denounces their •' violence against their brother Jacob" at the time of the capture of Jeru- salem. Tliere is a sad tone of reproach in the form into whicli lie throws his denunciation, that contrasts with the i.ar.dlcl denunciations of Ezekiel (xxv and xxxv), Jeremiah ( L:nii. iv, 21), and the author of tlie 137th Psalm, which seem to have been uttered on the same occasion and for the same cause. The Psalmist's " Re- member the children of Edom, O Lord, in the day of Jerusalem, how they said, Down with it, down with it, even to the ground !" coupled with the immediately succeeding imprecation on Habylon, is a sterner utter- ance, by the side of which the " Thou shouldest not" of Obadiah appears rather as the sad remonstrance of
disappointment. He complains that they looked on and rejoiced in the destruction of Jerusalem ; that they triumidied over her and plundered her ; and that they cut off the fugitives who were probably making their way through Idumx'a to Egypt.
The last six verses are the most Important part of Obadiah's prophecy. The vision presented to the prophet is that of Zion triumphant over the Idumasans and all her enemies, restored to her ancient possessions, and extending her borders northward and southward and eastward and westward. He sees the house of Jacob and the house of Joseph (here probably denoting the ten tribes and the two) consuming the house of Esau as tire devours stubble (ver. 18). The inhabi- tants of the city of Jerusalem, now captive at Sepharad, are to return to Jerusalem, and to occupy not only the city itself, but the southern tract of Juda3a (ver. 20). Tiiose who had dwelt in the southern tract are to over- run and settle in Idumaja (ver. 19), The former in- habitants of the plain country are also to establish themselves in Philistia (ibid.). To the north the tribe of Judah is to extend itself as far as the fields of Ephra- im and Samaria, while Benjamin, thus displaced, takes possession of Gilead (ibid.). The captives of the ten tribes are to occupy the northern region from the bor- ders of the enlarged Judah as far as Sarepta, near Sidon (ver. 20). What or where Sepharad is no one knows. The Sept., perhaps by an error of the copyist, reads 'E0pn3a. Jerome's Hebrew tutor told him the Jews held it to be the Bosporus. Jerome himself thinks it is derived from an Assyrian word meaning '•bound" or "limit," and understands it as signifying "scattered abroad." So Maurer, who compares ot iv ry Ciamropq, of James i, 1. Hardt, who has devoted a volume to the consideration of the question, is in favor of Sipphara in Mesopotamia. The modern Jews pronounce for Spain. Schultz is probably right in saying that it is some town or district in Babylonia, otherwise unknown.