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HAMILTON, ADAI\.IS, AND CO. DUBLIN, GEORGE HERBERT. NEW YORK, SCRinNE}{ AND wm.FORD~ THE SIX INTERMEDIATE MINOR PROPHETS nv GEORGE C. M. DOUGLAS, D.D., PRINC[PALi AND PROFESSOR OF HEBREW IN THE FREE CHURCH COLLEGE, GLASGOW; AUTHOR OF THE HANDBOOKS ON 'JOSHUA• AND 'JUDGES; t OF 'A SHORT ANALYSIS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT_/ ETC. EDINBURGH: T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET. PREFACE. I HA VE had one English Bible for mor.e than fifty-one years, and the state of its pages reminds me that I have used it considerably. The Minor Prophets were always a favourite study with me ; and when I was invited to join the Old Testament Revision Company in 1870, the hope immediately rose in my mind that we might give consider­ able help to the English reader of the Minor Prophets. The courtesy of the authorities of the Universities' Presses has enabled the publishers of this volume to use the Revised Version, and, by doing so, my labour has been much lightened. In my own commentary, however, I use the name Jehovah, though in the Revised Version we did not much do so, contenting ourselves with the note on Gen. ii. 4. It is scarcely necessary to say that the name, the Twelve Minor Prophets, has reference exclusively to the small bulk of their writings, not in any way to an inferiority in importance ot value. I have refrained from adding to the bulk of my volume by prefixing a general Introduction, for several reasons, one of which at present is all that I need give. The last three books, those supposed to be written after the Babylonian Exile, were annotated by Professor Marcus Dads, D.D., in 1879 ; and the first three have been reserved for another volume ; I thought I should needlessly weary my readers by a general Introduction to the intermediate six. But if my book prove acceptable and useful, there are indications that at a later time I might find it desirable to present such an Introduction. THE SIX INTERMEDIATE MINOR PROPHETS. -o- OBADIAH. --0-- I NTRODU CTI ON. THIS is the shortest of the prophetical books, and the title also is the shortest, giving no information as to the man, the time in which he lived, or the occasion of his ministry. There has therefore been abundance of room for conjecture ; all the more so that Obadiah, which means" he who serves Jehovah," is a name which we find in Scripture many a time, and several of the persons so named have been conjectured to be the prophet. Of all the various dates that have been assigned to his prophecy, perhaps the most common has been that of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar ; and his impassioned utterance against Edom suits very well with passages of Scripture belonging to that date, like Ps. cxxxvii. 7 ; Lam. iv. 21, 22; Ezek. xxxv., especially ver. 4. Yet it is very noticeable that Obadiah, looking apparently at the whole twelve tribes as one compact body, without a hint that ten of them were in exile, says not a word of the destruction of Jerusalem, nor of the temple being defiled and consumed by fire. Nor does he name the Chaldeans and their city Babylon, which are continually named in the later history, and by the prophets of that time ; it is simply " strangers" and "foreigners " who have carried captive Jacob's substance, and entered into his gates, ver. II. Not an allusion is made to any of the three great monarchies, Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon, which more and more come into view from the time of the prophets Micah and Isaiah; the places outside of Canaan which are mentioned, perhaps in connection with captivity, are Zarephath, a Phcenician city between Tyre and Sidon, and Sepharad, which is a puzzle to geographers, though I think the most probable opinion is that which identifies it 9 IO THE SIX INTERMEDIATE MINOR PROPHETS. with Sardis in the west of Asia Minor (yet possibly it is Sparta, the greatest military city in Greece), anyhow a comparatively distant place, towards the north-west or west. On account of these peculiari­ ties, I agree with those who prefer an earlier date for this prophet. There is a curiously close relation in which Obadiah stands to two other prophets, which has been also used to help in determining his age, namely, Jeremiah and Joel. (1) There is such a connection be­ tween Jeremiah, xlix. 7-22, and Obadiah, that almost all readers have come to the conclusion that the one has borrowed from the other ; and the fact that Jeremiah makes large use of several of the other prophets, more or less altering them to suit his own style and object, has led to the prevailing opinion that Obadiah is the original writer, which conclusion is often said to be confirmed by the more natural order of the topics, and by the somewhat more rugged language of Obadiah, such as an original might present. This does not, however, make it certain that the two prophets were not contemporaries. (2) There is a connection, very remarkable, varied, and sustained, though not consecutive, between Joel and Obadiah. Professor A. B. Davidson, in his article on Obadiah in Fairbairn's Bible Dictionary, says : "Both call the treatment of Judah by Edom violence, Joel iv.