Obadiah the Prophet
Uploaded by DomDude on Jun 04, 2001
Prophet - One who utters divinely inspired revelations
That is how the word prophet is defined in Webster’s dictionary, but a prophet is much more. A prophet is someone who is chosen by God to convey his message to the people; a middleman between God and his people. A prophet is someone who God selects as the embodiment of himself. Someone that people will listen to. Someone with a presence. Now the prophets did not all lead perfect lives, but they all had a bond with the Lord that could not be matched. The Prophets were holy people but they were in no way God-like. They were humble people that gladly served their God. This summary of a prophet is what most people believe the prophet Obadiah was like.
Obadiah, the shortest book in the Old Testament consisting of only one chapter, is the pronouncement of doom against an ancient and long-forgotten nation, the land of Edom. It was written in 587 B.C.E, after the destruction of Jerusalem. But there is more to this book than that. The Scriptures have that ability of appearing to be one thing on the surface, but on a deeper level, yielding rich and mighty treasures. This is definitely true for the short, but meaningful book of Obadiah.
We know very little about Obadiah except that he was one of the minor prophets. There is a reference to a prophet Obadiah in the days of Elijah and Elisha and there is some thought that perhaps he is the same man. The name Obadiah was a very common name among the Hebrews though, and it is very likely this is not the same prophet, for in this book Obadiah mentions the day when Jerusalem was destroyed, captured by the alien armies, and that occurs long after the time of Elijah and Elisha. So most Bible commentators believe the author of this book was a contemporary of the prophet Jeremiah, the last of the prophets before Israel went into captivity.
The name Obadiah means "the servant of Jehovah;" He fulfills the position of a servant. He comes and does his work and fades into the background; he delivers his message and he is gone. That is about all we know about the man behind this book.
The book of Obadiah tells the story of two nations, the nation of Israel and the nation of Edom, the country to the south...