THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
advanced against Joram, king of Judah, and carried off prisoners and a great booty. This event is alluded to by Joel (iii. 6) and Amos (i. 6, 9) when they reproach the Philistines with having sold Judean prisoners to Edom and Javan.
If this view be accepted there is no reason to doubt the unity of the writing. The visions fall easily into three sections. The first, 1-9, contains the announcement to the Edomites of the divine judgment; the second (verses 10-16) describes the crime that caused this judgment; the third (verses 17-24) recounts the restoration of down-trodden Israel who shall possess both his own land and that of his enemies and shall regain the lost members of his race who have been dragged away to captivity. The words " as the Lord hath said," Joel ii. 32 (expressly referring to Ob. 17), clearly shows which was the earlier prophet. If, then, Joel belongs to the time of Joash, Obadiah's activity must be placed in the reign of Joram.* Thus Obadiah appears to be the oldest prophet whose writings are preserved in the canon; his position among the other minor prophets proves nothing against this, since the order is not governed by chronological considerations. (W- VoLCKf.) Bibliography: The best commentary for the English reader is by G. A. Smith, The Book of the Twelve, in Expositor's Commentary, ii. 163 sqq., London, 1898. Other treatments are found in the commentaries on the Minor Prophets of H. Ewald, Eng. transl., ii. 277 sqq., 5 vols., London, 1876-81; C. F. Keil, Edinburgh, 1888; F. W. Farrar, pp. 175 sqq., London, 1890; C. von Orelli, New York, 1893; J. Wellhausen, Berlin, 1898; K. Marti, in Kurzer Handkommentar zum A. T., Tubingen, 1904; and E. B. Pusey, new ed., vol. iii., London, 1906. Other commentaries are by C. P. Caspari, Leipsic, 1842; W. Seydel, ib. 1869; F. Hitzig, ib. 1881; T. T. Perowne, in Cambridge Bible, Cambridge, 1889; P. J. Bachmann, Halle, 1892; N. Peters, Paderborn, 1892; W. Nowack, in Handkommentar zum A. T., Gottingen, 1897; and J. Fischer, Regensburg, 1909. Questions of introduction are discussed in the works on Biblical Introduction (q.v.); in the prefaces to most of the commentaries; by Vaihinger, in Archiv fur wissenschaftliche Erforschung des A. T., i (1867), 488 sqq.; G. A. Peckham, An Introduction to the Study of Obadiah, Chicago, 1910; in DB, iii. 577-580; EB, iii. 3455-62; and JE, ix. 369-370.
OBBENITES. See Mennonitbs, VIII. , §2. OBEDIENCE.
I. In Ethics and Religion.
II. In Ecclesiastical Usage.
I. In Ethics and Religion: Ethically obedience is the subordination of one's own will to that of another. By the very fact of his dependence on God, man's behavior must be one of obedience toward God; from the very beginning, sin, according to Scripture, is disobedience. Blessing or cursing, in the destinies of God's people, is made conditional upon obedience to God's command (Deut. xxviii.). The fundamental virtue of the Old-Testament heroes from Abraham to Nehemiah is obedience (cf. I Sam. xv. 22). The work of Christ in the New Testament is above all a discharge of obedience (Phil. ii. 8), defined by orthodox dogmatists as obedientia activa et passiva. Hence, too, the Christian's behavior must consist of obedience (Rom. i. 5, v. 19; I Pet. i. 22). God can require
* Many modern critics place Joel in the Greek age (Driver, Introduction, chap, vi., § 2).
us to accept the message of salvation obediently. Ethically regarded, faith is obedience, unbelief is disobedience. Christian ethics distinguishes between servile and free obedience. The latter is harmony of the heart and will with the divine command in love. Its prototype is the perfect subordination of the son to the father, which we realize in the imitation of Jesus under perfect submission to the Father's will.
In the relations between man and man, obedience is required of children, servants, and subjects with due consideration, however, of the will of God (Acts v. 29). The morality of children is essentially the discharge of obedience (cf. the example of Jesus, Luke ii. 49). This educates man to become a moral personality, and fits him for the right use of freedom. The requirements proper to the Old Testament have been embodied by the New Testament in the " house tables " (Eph. v. 22 sqq.; Col. iii. 18 sqq.; I Pet. ii. 13 sqq.) of Christian conduct, wherein a subordination of the wife is required analogous to the subordination of the congregation to Christ its head. The service of servants is in this respect lightened, in that they are permitted to account themselves as servants of Christ. Allegiance to the State carries with it the obligation to render obedience to the ethical order (law and right) enforced by the State. In case of conflict between God's requirement and that of society, the Christian must suffer, in the last resort, as a disobedient subject.
Obedience is a signal means for the development of power. Every kind of social organization, every kind of discipline, rests on obedience. Hence, too, the discharge of obedience plays so great a part not only in military service, but also in the Roman Catholic orders. Arnold Ruegg.
II. In Ecclesiastical Usage: In Roman Catholic church law obedience is the submission which is due from those in lower grades to their superiors. The organization of the Church rests upon the correlation of authority and obedience. Before the Reformation the idea of obedience developed from that of feudalism. All Christendom stood in the attitude of obedience toward the pope, as vice-regent of Christ upon earth. In consequence of the Reformation a large part of the Latin church fell from its former allegiance. Within the Church the bishop commanded the obedience of all the clergy of the diocese, even of the exempt (see Exemption). In early times at their consecration the bishops swore obedience to the metropolitan, but after the pope reserved for himself the right of consecration, to him alone was the oath sworn. The formula, which is very ancient and taken from a real oath of allegiance, is prescribed by an injunction of Pius IV. issued Nov. 13, 1564, which runs as follows: " I acknowledge the holy catholic and apostolic Roman Church, the mother and mistress of all churches, and I promise and swear true obedience to the bishop of Rome, the successor of St. Peter, the chief of the apostles, and the vicar of Christ." From this vow of obedience toward the pope, to which must be added the creed, should be carefully distinguished the oath of obedience to the bishop, which was sworn to at the consecration to the pries:-