O

(Heb. ‘servant of God’)

date unknown. A son of Izrahiah, he and his five brothers were leaders of the tribe of Issachar and mighty warriors, [1 Chr. 7:3]

c. 10 century bc. One of the eleven army commanders of the tribe of Gad who left the army of King Saul and rallied to David at Ziklag. [1 Chr. 12:9]

c. 10 century bc. Father of Ishmaiah who was made ruler of the tribe of Zebulun during the reign of King David. [1 Chr. 27:19]

c. 9 century bc. The head of the royal household of King Ahab of Israel. He was a pious man and when Jezebel, the king’s wife who was a worshipper of Baal, had begun to kill off the priests of the Lord, Obadiah had hidden a hundred in caves and they had survived. During a famine, Ahab told Obadiah that they would have to find pasture for the livestock or they would die. He went in one direction and sent Obadiah in another. Obadiah met the prophet Elijah and, recognizing him, fell on his face in front of him. Elijah told Obadiah to take him to Ahab but the servant was terrified, knowing that Ahab had placed a price on the head of the prophet and would kill him for having spoken to him. But Eiljah insisted and Obadiah took the message to the king and Ahab agreed to meet Elijah. [1 Kgs. 18]

date unknown. Son of Azel of the tribe of Benjamin and a descendant of King Saul. [1 Chr. 8:38; 9:44]

c. 9 century bc. A leader of Judah who was sent by King Jehoshaphat to teach the Law of God in the cities of Judah. [2 Chr. 17:7]

7 century bc. A Levite descended from Merari who was a supervisor of the work of repairing the Temple during the reign of Josiah, king of Judah. [2 Chr. 34:12]

5 century bc. A leader of the tribe of Judah descended from Zerubbabel and the royal house of King David. [1 Chr. 3:21]

c. 5 century bc. Son of Shemaiah, and a descendant of Jeduthun, he was one of the first Levites who settled in Jerusalem following the return from exile in Babylon. Also called Abda. [1 Chr. 9:16; Neh. 11:17]

c. 5 century bc. Son of Jehiel and a descendant of Joab, he was a leader of Judah who returned to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon and brought with him two hundred and eighteen men. [Ezra 8:9]

5 century bc. A priest of Judah who signed the covenant to observe the Laws of God in the days of Nehemiah. [Neh. 10:5]

c. 5 century bc. A Levite who was a porter at the gates of the Temple in Jerusalem in the time of Nehemiah. [Neh. 12:25]

c. 5 century bc. Post-exilic Hebrew prophet. The Book of the prophet Obadiah is the shortest one in the Old Testament: a single chapter of twenty-one verses. Nothing is known of the personal history of the author, though the text suggests he probably lived in the 5th century bc, some time after the fall of Jerusalem (587 bc).

His oracle is directed against the Edomites, who moved up from the Dead Sea area and occupied the depopulated southern part of Judah, up to Hebron.

Obadiah fiercely denounces them for their behaviour in the darkest hour of his people:

‘For the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off for ever … on the day that strangers carried off his wealth, and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them … you should not have looted his goods in the day of his calamity. You should not have stood at the parting of the ways to cut off his fugitives …’ (Obad. 1:10, n, 13, 14)

Obadiah looked forward to the day of the Lord, when the Hebrew nation would be restored to its independence and its former territory, and the heathen nations that oppressed them would be destroyed. On that day: ‘The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble … and there shall be no survivor to the house of Esau.’ (Obad. 1:18)

After that day of judgment ‘the kingdom shall be the Lord’s’ (Obad. 1:21). [Book of Obadiah]