Othniel (Heb. 'Othniel')

OTHONIEL (Heb. 'Othniel'). - Judge of Israel, son of Cenez and brother of Caleb. He conquered Cariath Sepher and obtained his cousin Axa as his wife (Ios. 15, 13-19; Iudc. 1, 12-15). He was the only judge of the southern tribes; he defeated a certain Chusan Rasathaim, king of 'Aram Nahārajim (the Nabrima of the el-'Amārnah letters, near the great bend of the Euphrates opposite Alessandretta): Iudc. 3, 7-11.

The uncertainty of these indications, the presence of the Arameans of northern Syria as far as southern Canaan, have led some to see in Chusan, whose name has an Arabizing form, a raiding chieftain coming not from Aram but from Edom (M.-J. Lagrange): an easy transition between r and d. In reality, however, it is not improbable that an Aramean raid reached Judah. Nomadic bands operate even at great distances from their places of origin; and in the time of O. (14th cent.: L. Desnoyers [V. BIBLICA.], p. 407 sqq.) the Syrian populations, following the collapse of the Hittite Empire, were so unstable that incursions of this kind are not implausible (cf. Gen. 14).

(from O. Braun, Tracht und Attribute der Heiligen in der deutschen Kunst, Stowards 1913, p. 389) OSVALDO, saint - St O., king and martyr. Detail of an altarpiece (c. 1450) - Graz, Picture Gallery.

BBL.: M.-J. Lagrange, Le livre des Juges, Parigi 1903, pp. 8-10, 46-49; C. F. Burney, The book of Judges, Londra 1918, p. 63 sqq.; L. Desnoyers, Histoire du peuple hébreu, I, Parigi 1922, p. 131 sqq. and notes: M. Sallé, La S. Bibbia. Vecchio Test., II, Torino 1924, pp. 52 f., 93 f. Francesco Spadafora