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The date of three of the minor prophets, Obadiah, Nahum, and
Habakkuk, is neither mentioned by themselves nor given in the
chronicles of Eusebius and Jerome. For although they put Obadiah
with Micah, yet when Micah prophesied does not appear from that part
of their writings in which the dates are noted. And this, I think,
has happened through their error in negligently copying the works of
others. But we could not find the two others now mentioned in the
copies of the chronicles which we have; yet because they are contained
in the canon, we ought not to pass them by.
Obadiah, so far as his writings are concerned, the briefest of all
the prophets, speaks against Idumea, that is, the nation of Esau
that reprobate eider of the twin sons of Isaac and grandsons of
Abraham. Now if, by that form of speech in which a part is put for
the whole, we take Idumea as put for the nations, we may understand
of Christ what he says among other things, "But upon Mount Sion
shall be safety, and there shall be a Holy One." And a little
after, at the end of the same prophecy, he says, "And those who are
saved again shall come up out of Mount Sion, that they may defend
Mount Esau, and it shall be a kingdom to the Lord." It is quite
evident this was fulfilled when those saved again out of Mount Sion,
that is, the believers in Christ from Judea, of whom the apostles
are chiefly to be acknowledged, went up to defend Mount Esau. How
could they defend it except by making safe, through the preaching of
the gospel, those who believed that they might be "delivered from the
power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of God?" This he
expressed as an inference, adding, "And it shall be to the Lord a
kingdom." For Mount Sion signifies Jades, where it is predicted
there shall be safety, and a Holy One, that is, Christ Jesus.
But Mount Esau is Idumea, which signifies the Church of the
Gentiles, which, as I have expounded, those saved again out of
Sion have defended that it should be a kingdom to the Lord. This was
obscure before it took place; but what believer does not find it out
now that it is done?
As for the prophet Nahum, through him God says, "I will
exterminate the graven and the molten things: I will make thy burial.
For lo, the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings and announceth
peace are swift upon the mountains! O Judah, celebrate thy festival
days, and perform thy vows; for now they shall not go on any more so
as to become antiquated. It is completed, it is consumed, it is
taken away. He ascendeth who breathes in thy face, delivering thee
out of tribulation." Let him that remembers the gospel call to mind
who hath ascended from hell and breathed the Holy Spirit in the face
of Judah, that is, of the Jewish disciples; for they belong to the
New Testament, whose festival days are so spiritually renewed that
they cannot become antiquated. Moreover, we already see the graven
and molten things, that is, the idols of the false gods, exterminated
through the gospel, and given up to oblivion as of the grave, and we
know that this prophecy is fulfilled in this very thing.
Of what else than the advent of Christ, who was to come, is
Habakkuk understood to say, "And the Lord answered me, and said,
Write the vision openly on a tablet of boxwood, that he that readeth
these things may understand. For the vision is yet for a time
appointed, and it will arise in the end, and will not become void: if
it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, and will not be
delayed?"
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