Oded
O'ded (Heb. Oded', עוֹדֵד, erecting; Sept. ᾿Ωδήδ v.r. Α᾿δάδ), the name of two Hebrews.
1. The father of Azariah the prophet, who was commissioned to meet and encourage Asa on his return from defeating the Ethiopians (2Ch 15:1-8). B.C. ante 953. It curiously happens that the address which at the commencement is ascribed to Azariah, the son of Oded, is at the end ascribed to Oded himself (15:8). But this is supposed to have been a slip of copyists, and the versions (Sept., Vulg., and Syr.) read the latter verse like the former.
2. A prophet .of Jehovah in Samaria, at the time of Pekah's invasion of Judah. B.C. 739. Josephus (Ant. 9:12, 2) calls him Obedas (᾿Ωβηδάς.). On the return of the victorious army with the 200,000 captives of Judah and Jerusalem, Oded met them and prevailed upon them to let the captives go free (2Ch 28:9). He was supported by the chivalrous feelings of some of the chieftains of Ephraim; and the narrative of the restoration of the prisoners, fed, clothed, and anointed, to Jericho, the city of palm-trees, is a pleasant episode of the last days of the northern kingdom.
