mh_parser/vol_split/31 - Obadiah/0 - Introduction.xml
2023-12-17 21:11:28 -05:00

43 lines
2.6 KiB
XML
Raw Blame History

This file contains invisible Unicode characters

This file contains invisible Unicode characters that are indistinguishable to humans but may be processed differently by a computer. If you think that this is intentional, you can safely ignore this warning. Use the Escape button to reveal them.

<div2 id="Obad.i" n="i" next="Obad.ii" prev="Obad" progress="84.26%" title="Introduction">
<h2 id="Obad.i-p0.1">Obadiah</h2>
<hr/>
<pb id="Obad.i-Page_1270" n="1270"/>
<div class="Center" id="Obad.i-p0.3">
<p id="Obad.i-p1" shownumber="no"><b>AN</b></p>
<h3 id="Obad.i-p1.1">EXPOSITION,</h3>
<h4 id="Obad.i-p1.2">W I T H   P R A C T I C A L   O B S E
R V A T I O N S,</h4>
<h5 id="Obad.i-p1.3">OF THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET</h5>
<h2 id="Obad.i-p1.4">O B A D I A H.</h2>
<hr style="width:2in"/>
</div>
<p class="indent" id="Obad.i-p2" shownumber="no"><span class="smallcaps" id="Obad.i-p2.1">This</span> is the
shortest of all the books of the Old Testament, the least of those
tribes, and yet is not to be passed by, or thought meanly of, for
this penny has Cæsar's image and superscription upon it; it is
stamped with a divine authority. There may appear much of God in a
short sermon, in a little book; and much good may be done by it,
<i>multum in parvo—much in a little.</i> Mr. Norris says, "If
angels were to write books, we should have few folios." That may be
very precious which is not voluminous. This book is entitled,
<i>The Vision of Obadiah.</i> Who this Obadiah was does not appear
from any other scripture. Some of the ancients imagined him to be
the same with that Obadiah that was steward to Ahab's household
(<scripRef id="Obad.i-p2.2" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.18.3" parsed="|1Kgs|18|3|0|0" passage="1Ki 18:3">1 Kings xviii. 3</scripRef>); and, if
so, he that hid and fed the prophets had indeed a prophet's reward,
when he was himself made a prophet. But that is a conjecture which
has no ground. This Obadiah, it is probable, was of a later date,
some think contemporary with Hosea, Joel, and Amos; others think he
lived about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, when the
children of Edom so barbarously triumphed in that destruction.
However, what he wrote was what he saw; it is his <i>vision.</i>
Probably there was much more which he was divinely inspired to
speak, but this is all he was inspired to write; and all he writes
is concerning Edom. It is a foolish fancy of some of the Jews that
because he prophesies only concerning Edom he was himself an
Edomite by birth, but a proselyte to the Jewish religion. Other
prophets prophesied against Edom, and some of them seem to have
borrowed from him in their predictions against Edom, as <scripRef id="Obad.i-p2.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.49.7 Bible:Ezek.25.12" parsed="|Jer|49|7|0|0;|Ezek|25|12|0|0" passage="Jer 49:7,Eze 25:12">Jer. xlix. 7, &amp;c.; Ezek. xxv.
12</scripRef>, &amp;c. Out of the mouth of these two or three
witnesses every word will be established.</p>
</div2>