Obadiah the Prophet

(servant of the Lord):

The fourth of the twelve minor prophets. We know nothing of him except what we can gather from the short book which bears his name. The question of his date must depend upon the interpretation of the 11th verse of his prophecy. He there speaks of the conquest of Jerusalem and the captivity of Jacob as having occurred, He probably refers to the captivity by Nebuchadnezzar, B.C. 688. It must have been uttered at some time in the five years which intervened between B.C. 588 and 583. The book of Obadiah is a sustained denunciation of the Edomites, melting into a vision of the future glories of Zion when the arm of the Lord should have wrought her deliverance and have repaid double upon her enemies.

* See other occurrences of the same term: Obadiah.