Oded

Two prophets share the name Oded, both in 2 Chronicles. The earlier figure is the father of the prophet Azariah whose oracle stiffens Asa's reform; the later figure is a prophet of Yahweh in Samaria who confronts the northern army for what it has done to its kin in Judah.

Father of the Prophet Azariah

In Asa's reform narrative, the Spirit comes on a prophet whose patronymic preserves the elder Oded: "And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded:" (2Ch 15:1). When the king receives the message, the chronicler attributes the prophecy back to the father by name: "And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the detestable things out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill-country of Ephraim; and he renewed the altar of Yahweh, that was before the porch of Yahweh" (2Ch 15:8).

Prophet in Samaria

Generations later, when the army of Israel returns to Samaria with a great body of Judahite captives after a defeat of Ahaz, a different Oded steps out to meet them. He charges that the slaughter has gone past commission into excess: "But a prophet of Yahweh was there, whose name was Oded: and he went out to meet the host that came to Samaria, and said to them, Look, because Yahweh, the God of your⁺ fathers, was angry with Judah, he has delivered them into your⁺ hand, and you⁺ have slain them in a rage which has reached up to heaven" (2Ch 28:9).

He then turns the question on his own countrymen. The plan to enslave fellow Israelites makes Israel itself liable: "And now you⁺ purpose to subdue the sons of Judah and Jerusalem for male slaves and female slaves to yourselves: [but] are there not even with you⁺ trespasses of your⁺ own against Yahweh your⁺ God?" (2Ch 28:10). The directive is concrete: "Now hear me therefore, and send back the captives, whom you⁺ have taken captive of your⁺ brothers; for the fierce wrath of Yahweh is on you⁺" (2Ch 28:11).

The oracle takes hold. Four named heads of Ephraim back the prophet's word, the army hands the captives over before the assembly, and the leaders themselves clothe, feed, and carry the feeble back to Jericho (2Ch 28:12-15). Oded's intervention is the rare case in Chronicles where a prophet's word from the northern kingdom redirects an army mid-victory.