2 Chronicles 28:8

THE PROPHET OBED INTERCEDES FOR THE CAPTIVES

"And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and also took away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria. But a prophet of Jehovah was there, whose name was Obed: and he went out to meet the host that came to Samaria, and said unto them, because Jehovah, the God of your fathers, was wroth with Judah, he hath delivered them into your hand, and ye have slain them in a rage which hath reached up into heaven. And now ye purpose to keep under the children of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you: but are there not even with you trespasses of your own against Jehovah your God? Now hear me therefore and send back the captives, that ye have taken captive of your brethren; for the fierce wrath of Jehovah is upon you. Then certain of the heads of the children of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, and Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against them that came from the war, and said unto them, Ye shall not bring in the captives hither: for ye purpose that which will bring upon us a trespass against Jehovah, to add unto our sins, and to our trespass; for our trespass is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel. So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the assembly. And the men that have been mentioned by name rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them, and arrayed them, and shod them, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them upon asses, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm-trees, unto their brethren: then they returned to Samaria."

"But a prophet of Jehovah was there ... Obed" (2 Chronicles 28:9). God never stopped his pleading with the northern tribes through his holy prophets, despite the fact that within a decade, or a little less time, the Northern Israel would be destroyed and many of them transported as captives by Assyria in 722 B.C. The reign of Ahaz (735-715 B.C.)[1] would not close until after the fall of Samaria. "Thus this change of heart by some of the men of Ephraim came at a time when it was already too late."[2] This act of mercy on their part must therefore be viewed, not as any fundamental change in the apostate Israel, but as an act of God's mercy upon Judah, even in his judgment against them. Significantly, "Nothing is known of this prophet Obed, except what is written here."[3] There may have been many such prophets whom God sent in his futile efforts to win back from their rebellion the northern kingdom.

"Certain of the heads of the children of Ephraim" (2 Chronicles 28:12). Here the word Ephraim is used, as frequently in the O.T., for all of northern Israel.

The radical critics' hatred of Chronicles is typically expressed by Curtis (Madsen) who called this passage (2 Chronicles 28:8-15), "A good example of Midrash."[4] The meaning of such a comment is simply that, "There's not a word of truth in it." This writer is happy to reject out of hand such unbelieving, unsupported, and inaccurate comments. It is refreshing indeed to find that today, long after the fulminations of the International Critical Commentary, many great scholars, even liberal critics, give a much more favorable view of this passage. Myers, for example, treated this paragraph as authentic, and as being supported by the sources available to the Chronicler.[5] There are no legitimate grounds for denying anything in Chronicles.