I. Authorship, Date, Historical Setting
A. Authorship
Obadiah was a popular name in Israel. There are a dozen men named Obadiah in the Bible in addition to this prophet who wrote the shortest book of the OT.
Obadiah means “servant of Jehovah” or “worshiper of Jehovah.” Although there is some difference of opinion on authorship, reasons for rejecting the book as genuine are inadequate. The book bears the name Obadiah and begins like Isaiah, stating “the vision” of the prophet.
From the style of writing it may be deduced that the author lived during the golden age of Hebrew language and literature. Few Aramaic words or constructions are mixed with the text. The style is “animated, terse and full of striking figures,” especially in the first part of the little scroll (ISBE, 4:2173).
B. Date
From the earliest to the latest date that has been assigned to Obadiah, there is a span of nearly six hundred years. Some authorities date this prophet early in the ninth century b.c. or a few years later when the Philistines and Arabs partially destroyed Jerusalem in the days of Jehoram, 848-844 b.c. (2Ch 21:5, 8-11, 16-17). Others date Obadiah as late as 312 b.c. when the Arabs were firmly settled in the territories of Edom (cf. Ries, 642; EB, 4:600-601).
A more conservative consensus is that Obadiah may have been an actual witness to the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 587-586 b.c. Added to this is the probability that Jeremiah quoted from Obadiah (Jer 49:7-13) as well as Ezekiel (cf. Jer 25:12-14; 35:1-15) and a psalmist (cf. Ps 137) may have in referencing the razing of Jerusalem (Hailey, 28).
C. Historical Setting
Even before the twins were born, Rebekah was told that there were two nations, two entirely different people in her womb (Ge 25:22-26). The case of Jacob (Israel) and Esau (Edom, Idumea) was one of intense feuding, of brotherly hate, of fierce competition, and of long-standing animosity.
The boys grew up together. Their personalities and habits were different. Jacob was a man with love of family and livestock. He was tricky and conniving in his youth. Esau was a hunter, a man of the mountains. The NT record of Esau is that he was a “godless” or “profane” person (Heb 12:16). He sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of red stew when he was hungry (Ge 25:27-34). He lost his inheritance and the blessing that belonged to him (Ge 27). Jealousies and rivalries were inevitable when Jacob deceived his blind father, Isaac, and left home running from his brother who had murder in his heart.
After centuries had gone by, the children of Israel on their way from the wilderness to Canaan politely asked for safe passage through Edom’s territory. The request was met with a nasty threat: “You may not pass through here; if you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword” (Nu 20:18).
David subdued the Edomites temporarily during the time of Saul (2Sa 8:13-14). Cruel and bitter conflicts continued until the Edomites joined with Nebuchadnezzar to bring Jerusalem to utter ruin. When it happened, their vengeance was underscored with delight and laughter.
The last and probably the latest OT record of the disposition of Esau is the statement, “Esau I have hated, and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackels” (Mal 1:3). The descendants of Esau, in nearly every reference in the prophets, are a symbol of the earthly, worldly, nonspiritual type of people with whom God is displeased.
During their later history the Edomites were overrun by the Arabs, known as Nabateans, a people who pushed in from the desert and drove the Edomites from their land. Crowded out of their own country south of the Dead Sea, the remaining Edomites were forced to settle just south of Judah. In the second century (166 b.c.), Judas Maccabeus began the subjugation of the Edomites, and John Hyrcanus completed their defeat (135 b.c.) by forcing them to be circumcised and to accept the Law of Moses. They became nominal Jewish proselytes and gave rise in the time of Christ to the Herods, Idumean puppets of the Roman government who ruled over Palestine. The one quality ascribed to the Edomites, exhibited to a high degree in the Herods, was their clever, crafty, scheming, ruthless manner of life. By the end of the first century of the Christian era the Edomites were lost in the shades of history.