Oded

The Prophet Oded is mentioned in chapter twenty-⁠eight of the Second Book of Chronicles (Paralipomenon). He was from Samaria. The Bible says that he was a prophet of the Lord, named Oded. The Russian source says of him that he was the father of the prophet Azariah, but the English source shows that this Oded of chapter 28 is different from the one in chapter fifteen, the father of the prophet Azariah. We have no commemoration day for him.

When the Israelites were returning to Samaria from the campaign against Judah, Oded went out before the army that was going to Samaria and told them that the Lord God of their fathers, angry with Judah, had delivered them into their hands, and they had killed them with a fury that reached up to heaven. He urged the Israelites to give freedom to the Judeans captured by them (two hundred thousand women, sons and daughters) and to return the war booty. He asked also: are there not offences of your own against the Lord? His speech, in verses 9 to 11, called them to return the captives.

He was joined by some Samaritan leaders who also called for this: Azariah son of Johanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum and Amasa son of Hadlai, chiefs of Ephraim. These said that the captives must not be brought in, for they did not wish to add guilt upon themselves, over their present sins and guilt; their guilt was already great, and the wrath of the Lord was fierce against Israel. The call succeeded. All the Judean captives were fed, clothed and shod, anointed with oil, some of them set on donkeys, and taken back to Jericho, to their brethren.

The episode has been compared to the parable of the Good Samaritan. Professor William Schniedewind, a specialist in the Bible and the north-⁠west Semitic languages at the University of California, Los Angeles, notes that Oded is the only prophet in Chronicles who does not address a king. The Chronicler, he says, did not consider a northern king legitimate and so does not mention him in Chronicles.