hewn from the end of o. range of cliffs, the last one looking like a great grim warder at the city gate. Beneath are numberless excavations, each one of which, from its e,ppearance, might have been used first as o. home for the living before being appropriated as a tomb. . . . Now emerging into the expanse of the little valley, the full glory of the Edomite capital burst upon us. Natnre bnilt these stupendous walls, and man adorned them with patient workmanship, each artist vying with his fellow in shaping these rainbow cliffs into forms of beauty." The fulfilment of Obadiah's prophecy may be briefly summarized. It is most probable that, after the fall of Jerusalem, and notwithstanding the assistance which they gave to Nebuchadnezzar on that occasion, the Edom.ites were llubdued by that monarch some five years later. History fails to assert this fact in unmistakable terms, but it is satisfactorily inferred from other considerations. Jeremiah prophesies (x:xv. 9; xxvii. 3-6) that the Chaldeans shall attack this country as well as Egypt (xliii. 8-13), and Josephus (' Ant.,' x. 9. 7) narrates how they warred against Ccele-Syria, the Ammonites, and Moo.bites, and then proceeded to invade Egypt. It is highly improbable that they left Petra unconquered in their rear, more especially as in all likelihood Edom joined with Ammon and Moab in resisting this aggression. Rather, the ruin mentioned by Malachi (i. 3, 4), "They shall bnild, bnt I will throw down," was then inflicted, and their "mountains were made a desolation, and their heritage given to the jackals of the wilderness." At this time the Nabathmans, an .Arabian tribe, and possibly sent thither by N ebnchadnezzar, took possession of Petra; and thus, according to Obadiah's word, the heathen rose up against her in battle, seized her stronghold, and brought her down to the ground. Antigonus, one of the genera.ls of Alexander the Great, conquered this people and despoiled Petra, B.O. 312. The Edomites, who had established themselves in Southern Palestine, snfiered heavy dsfeats at the hands 0£ Judas Maccabmus (1 Maco. v. 3, 65); John Hyrcanus compelled them to submit to the Mosaio Law (Josephus, 'Ant.,' xiii. 9. 1); Alexander Janneaus completed their ruin (ibid., 15. 4). The scanty remains of the people which existed at the siege 0£ Jerusalem were almost entirely put to the sword (' Bell Jnd.,' iv. 5, etc.; v. 6. 1); the few survivors of the massacre took refuge among the tribes of the desert, and were absorbed in their community, so that Origen could say that in hie time their name and language had wholly perished (' In Job.').
§ II. AUTBOB.
Of Obadiah, the author of this prophecy, nothing whatever is known. Not even his father's name is given in the title of the book, which is simply, "the vision of Obadiah." The name itself (in Greek, 'A/38,0-6 or '0{38,o-6, so. •opau,~: in Latin, .Abdias) signifies "Servant" or "Worshipper of Jehovah," and was common among the Hebrews; but the attempt to lN'l'RODtl'OTION TO
identify the prophet with any of the persons so called in Holy Writ is entirely unsuccessfnl, and haa a.risen rather from the natural desire to know more concerning this holy man than from any special evidenoe or probability. Persons of the same name (though sometimes in different form) are found i.n 1 Kings xvi.ii.. 3; 1 Ohron. iii.. 21; vii. 3; vii.i. 38; ix. 16, 44; xii. 9; xxvii.. 19; xxriv. 12; Ezra viii. 9; Neh. x. 5; 2 Ohron. xvii. 7; x:xriv. 12; but none of these has any pretension to be considered our prophet. The contents of his prophecy prove that he belonged to the kingdom of J ndah, and St. Ephrem assert.a tha.t he ea.me from Siohem. His tomb was shown at Samaria in St. Jerome's time.
The age in whi.eh Oba.dia.h' lived and prophesied is a. matter of great dispute, and, after all that can be said, must be considered as only probably a.scerta.ined. The most va.rying opinions have been held. While some regard him as the earliest, or among the earliest, of the minor prophets, others place him after the destruction of Jerusalem in the time of Captivity; a.nd Hi.tzig sets his date e.s la.te &11 B.O. 812. The interval between the various dates amounts to six hundred years. "That is," says Dr. Pusey (' Minor Prophets,' p. 227), "just as if men doubted, from internal evidence, whether a work were written in the time of William the Conqueror or in that of Cromwell; of St. Louis or Louis XVID. ; or whether Hesiod was a contemporary of Callimachus, and Ennius of Clandian; or the author of the 'Nibelungen Lied' lived with Schiller." The elements for determining this controversy are not very satisfa.ctory. First, there is the position of the book in the Hebrew Bible. If this were proved to be strictly chrono- logical, the question might be thus decided, and Obadiah might be regarded as prophesying about the age of Amos, next to whom he is arranged, The Septuagint places his book between Joel and Jonah, setting Micah before the former; and this order would give an approximately similar date. In the Hebrew arrangement the e:rilie.n or post-e:rilian prophets certainly occupy the last place; and Obadiah, occurring among the older seers, between Amos and Jonah, would appear to belong to an earlier age. But it is objected that this position is due to his prophecy being an expansion of the prediction a.bout Edom in the concluding words of Amos (ix. 12), and has no bearing whatever npon his date. Though we can by no means concede this, and are disposed to lay great weight on the arrangement of the Hebrew canon, we must be go.ided by other considerations in deter- miniog the question. The contents of the book supply two farther aids. In ver. 11 Obadiah alludes to the capture of Jerusalem; and if we knew for certain to what event he refers, we should at once be in a position to settle the difficulty. We gather from his language that Jerusalem was taken and plundered; that her soldiers were sent into captivity; that her ciii.zenB were sold as slaves; and that Edom joined with the invaders, cut THE BOOK OF OBADIAH. .i.t