King James Bible Dictionary

Servant of the Lord.

1. An Israelite who was chief in the household of King Ahab (1 Kings 18:3). Amid great spiritual degeneracy he maintained his fidelity to God, and interposed to protect The Lord's prophets, an hundred of whom he hid at great personal risk in a cave (4, 13). Ahab seems to have held Obadiah in great honour, although he had no sympathy with his piety (5, 6, 7). The last notice of him is his bringing back tidings to Ahab that Elijah, whom he had so long sought for, was at hand (9-16). "Go," said Elijah to him, when he met him in the way, "go tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here."

2. A chief of the tribe of Issachar (1 Chronicles 7:3).

3. A descendant of Saul (1 Chronicles 8:38).

4. A Levite, after the Captivity (1 Chronicles 9:16).

5. A Gadite who joined David at Ziklag (1 Chronicles 12:9).

6. A prince of Zebulun in the time of David (1 Chronicles 27:19).

7. One of the princes sent by Jehoshaphat to instruct the people in the law (2 Chronicles 17:7).

8. A Levite who superintended the repairs of the temple under Josiah (2 Chronicles 34:12).

9. One who accompanied Ezra on the return from Babylon (Ezra 8:9).

10. A prophet, fourth of the minor prophets in the Hebrew canon, and fifth in the LXX. He was probably contemporary with Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Of his personal history nothing is known.

servant of the Lord

1. The governor of Ahab's house:

Conceals in a cave one hundred prophets persecuted by Jezebel
1 Kings 18:3-4

Meets Elijah and receives a commission from him
1 Kings 18:3-16

2. Head of a family
1 Chronicles 3:21

3. A descendant of Tola
1 Chronicles 7:3

4. Son of Azel
1 Chronicles 8:38; 1 Chronicles 9:44

5. A Levite, son of Shemaiah
1 Chronicles 9:16

6. A Gadite warrior who joined David at Ziklag
1 Chronicles 12:9

7. Father of Ishmaiah
1 Chronicles 27:19

8. A prince of Judah who instructed the people in the law
2 Chronicles 17:7-9

9. A Levite. One of the overseers in the repairing of the temple by Josiah
2 Chronicles 34:12

10. A descendant of Joab who returned from Babylon
Ezra 8:9

11. A priest who sealed with Nehemiah a covenant to observe God's law
Nehemiah 10:5

12. A gatekeeper of Jerusalem, under Nehemiah
Nehemiah 12:25

13. A prophet who prophesied the destruction of Edom
Obadiah 1:1

(servant of the Lord),

1. A man whose sons are enumerated in the genealogy of the tribe of Judah. (1 Chronicles 3:21) (B.C. 470.)
2. A descendant of Issachar and a chief man of his tribe. (1 Chronicles 7:3) (B.C. 1014.)
3. One of the six sons of Azel, a descendant of Saul. (1 Chronicles 8:33; 9:44) (B.C. 720.)
4. A Levite, son of Shemaiah, and descended from Jeduthun. (1 Chronicles 9:16; Nehemiah 12:25)
5. The second of the lion-faced Gadites who joined David at Ziklag. (1 Chronicles 12:9) (B.C. 1054.)
6. One of the Princes of Judah in the reign of Jehoshaphat. (2 Chronicles 17:7) (B.C. 909.)
7. The son of Jehiel, of the sons of Joab, who came up in the second caravan with Ezra. (Ezra 8:9)
8. A priest, or family of priests, who settled the covenant with Nehemiah. (Nehemiah 10:5)
9. 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.
10. An officer of high rank in the court of Ahab. (1 Kings 18:3) He was a devout worshipper of Jehovah, and at the peril of his life concealed over a hundred prophets during the persecution by Jezebel; (1 Kings 18:3-16) (B.C. 904.)
11. The father of Ishmaiah who was chief of the tribe of Zebulun in David's reign. (1 Chronicles 27:19) (B.C. before 1014.)
12. A Merarite Levite in the reign of Josiah, and one of the overseers of the workmen in the restoration of the temple. (2 Chronicles 34:12) (B.C.623.)

Consists of one chapter, "concerning Edom," its impending doom (1:1-16), and the restoration of Israel (1:17-21). This is the shortest book of the Old Testament.

There are on record the account of four captures of Jerusalem, (1) by Shishak in the reign of Rehoboam (1 Kings 14:25); (2) by the Philistines and Arabians in the reign of Jehoram (2 Chronicles 21:16); (3) by Joash, the king of Israel, in the reign of Amaziah (2 Kings 14:13); and (4) by the Babylonians, when Jerusalem was taken and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar (B.C. 586). Obadiah (1:11-14) speaks of this capture as a thing past. He sees the calamity as having already come on Jerusalem, and the Edomites as joining their forces with those of the Chaldeans in bringing about the degradation and ruin of Israel. We do not indeed read that the Edomites actually took part with the Chaldeans, but the probabilities are that they did so, and this explains the words of Obadiah in denouncing against Edom the judgments of God. The date of his prophecies was thus in or about the year of the destruction of Jerusalem.

Edom is the type of Israel's and of God's last foe (Isaiah 63:1-4). These will finally all be vanquished, and the kingdom will be the Lord's (comp. Psalms 22:28).