OBADIAH, THE PROPHECY OF. A canonical book of the Old Testament. This prophecy is contained in one single chapter, and is partly an invective against the cruelty of the Edomites, who mocked and derided the children of Israel, as they passed into captivity, and, with other enemies their confederates, invaded and oppressed these poor strangers, and divided the spoil amongst them; and partly a prediction of the deliverance and salvation of Israel, and of the victory and triumph of the whole Church over her enemies.
The time when this prophecy was delivered is wholly uncertain. The Hebrews believe, that this prophet was the same with the governor of Ahab’s house, mentioned in the First Book of Kings, who hid and fed the hundred prophets, whom Jezebel would have destroyed. Some say he was that Obadiah whom Josiah made overseer of the works of the temple. But most writers make him contemporary with Hosea, Amos, and Joel.
OBIT. An office performed at funerals, when the corpse was in the church before it was buried; it afterwards came to be performed on the anniversary of the death of a benefactor. Thus, in many of our colleges, the obit or anniversary of the death of the founder is piously observed. (See Commemoration.) The obiit Sundays (once a quarter) at St. George’s at Windsor, were celebrated formerly with great magnificence, and are to a certain degree still. In Kennet’s Register, p. 765, (as quoted in the Hiereugia Anglicana, p. 211,) there is the following notice. “1662, Sept. 10.—This day was published the service that is performed in the King’s Free Chapel of St. George, in the castle of Windsor, upon Obiit Sunday in the morning, (that is, the Sunday before every quarter day,) and at the offering up of the achievements of the deceased Knights of the Garter.
The Rubric. The service is the same that is appointed in the Book of Common Prayer, until you come to the Psalm for the day of the month, instead of which you have these proper Psalms, xxi., cxlvi., cxlvii. After the Psalm the junior canon upon the place cometh out of his stall with the verger before him, and readeth the lesson at the desk, which is taken out of the forty-fourth chapter of Ecclesiasticus. After the lesson Te Deum laudamus is sung. After the Te Deum is ended, they all depart out of the quire in the body of the church to sermon. After sermon is ended, the canons go to the altar, and the quire go to their stalls, and the communion service beginneth. The Epistle is taken out of the twenty-third chapter of Deuteronomy; the Gospel in the fifth of St. John, beginning at the twenty-fourth and ending at the thirtieth verse. After the sacrament (which is always on the Obiit Sunday) is ended, and the blessing given at the altar, the canons go to their stalls, and these following prayers are read:
Priest. O Lord, save the king.
Quire. And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.
Collect. O Lord, our heavenly Father and merciful Saviour, we praise and thank thee, O Lord, &c.
God save our gracious sovereign, and all the companions of the most honourable and noble Order of the Garter.
Here endeth the obiit service.
The verse and response, O Lord, save the queen, &c., are used daily after the anthem in St. George’s Chapel.—Jebb.