Saint Obadiah

Obadiah , also known as Abdias, is a biblical prophet. The authorship of the Book of Obadiah is traditionally attributed to the prophet Obadiah. Most scholars date the Book of Obadiah to shortly after the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC. Other scholars hold that the book was shaped by the conflicts between Yehud and the Edomites in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE and evolved through a process of redaction. The composition date is disputed and difficult to determine due to the lack of information regarding the prophet Obadiah. However, because Obadiah wrote about Edom, there are two generally accepted dates. The first is 853–841 BC, when Jerusalem was invaded by Philistines and Arabs during the reign of Jehoram of Judah (recorded in 2 Kings 8:20–22 and 2 Chronicles 21:8-17). This earlier period would place Obadiah as a contemporary of the prophet Elijah. Jewish traditions favor the earlier date because the Jewish Talmud identifies Obadiah as an Edomite himself, and a descendant of Eliphaz the Temanite, the first of the friends of Job to speak with him about his tribulations. The other is 607–586 BCE, when Jerusalem was attacked by Nebuchadnezzar II of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, which led to the Babylonian captivity (recorded in Psalm 137). The later date would place Obadiah as a contemporary of the prophet Jeremiah. The Interpreters' Bible states that: According to the Talmud, Obadiah is said to have been a convert to Judaism from Edom, a descendant of Eliphaz, the friend of Job. He is identified with the Obadiah who was the servant of Ahab, and was chosen to prophesy against Edom because he was himself an Edomite. Obadiah is supposed to have received the gift of prophecy for having hidden the "hundred prophets" from the persecution of Jezebel. He hid the prophets in two caves, so that if those in one cave should be discovered those in the other might yet escape.