Obadiah (; he, עֹבַדְיָה – ''ʿŌḇaḏyā'' or – ''ʿŌḇaḏyāhū''; "servant of Yah", or "Slave of Yah
HVH) is a
biblical prophet
In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
. The authorship of the
Book of Obadiah is traditionally attributed to the prophet Obadiah.
Biblical account
Dating
The Interpreters' Bible states that:
Rabbinic tradition
![Obadiah](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Obadiah.jpg)
According to the
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...
, Obadiah is said to have been a convert to Judaism from
Edom
Edom (; Edomite: ; he, אֱדוֹם , lit.: "red"; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom in Transjordan, located between Moab to the northeast, the Arabah to the west, and the Arabian Desert to the south and east.N ...
,
[ Translated by Michael L. Rodkinson] a descendant of
Eliphaz
Eliphaz ( "My Elohim is gold", Standard Hebrew Elifaz, Tiberian Hebrew ʾĔlîp̄az / ʾĔlîp̄āz) was the first-born son of Esau and his wife Adah. He had six sons, of whom Omar was the firstborn, and the others were Teman, Zepho, Gatam, ...
, the friend of
Job
Work or labor (or labour in British English) is intentional activity people perform to support the needs and wants of themselves, others, or a wider community. In the context of economics, work can be viewed as the human activity that contr ...
. 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.
Obadiah was very rich, but all his wealth was expended in feeding the poor prophets, until, in order to be able to continue to support them, finally he had to borrow money at interest from Ahab's son
Jehoram Jehoram (meaning " Jehovah is exalted" in Biblical Hebrew) was the name of several individuals in the Tanakh. The female version of this name is Athaliah.
*The son of Toi, King of Hamath who was sent by his father to congratulate David on the oc ...
. Obadiah's fear of God was one degree higher than that of
Abraham
Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Je ...
; and if the house of Ahab had been capable of being blessed, it would have been blessed for Obadiah's sake.
Christian tradition
In some Christian traditions he is said to have been born in "Sychem" (
Shechem
Shechem ( ), also spelled Sichem ( ; he, שְׁכֶם, ''Šəḵem''; ; grc, Συχέμ, Sykhém; Samaritan Hebrew: , ), was a Canaanite and Israelite city mentioned in the Amarna Letters, later appearing in the Hebrew Bible as the first c ...
), and to have been the third captain sent out by
Ahaziah Ahaziah ( he, אֲחַזְיָהוּ, "held by Yah(-weh)"; Douay–Rheims: Ochozias) was the name of two kings mentioned in the Hebrew Bible:
*Ahaziah of Israel
*Ahaziah of Judah Ahaziah ( he, אֲחַזְיָהוּ, "held by Yah(-weh)"; Douay– ...
against
Elijah
Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My El (deity), God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic language, Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) w ...
.
[
] The
date of his ministry is unclear due to certain historical ambiguities in the book bearing his name, but is believed to be around 586 B.C.
He is regarded as a
saint by several Eastern churches. His
feast day is celebrated on the 15th day of the Coptic Month
Tobi ToBI (; an abbreviation of tones and break indices) is a set of conventions for transcribing and annotating the prosody of speech. The term "ToBI" is sometimes used to refer to the conventions used for describing American English specifically, whic ...
(January 23/24) in the
Coptic Orthodox Church. The
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops vi ...
and those
Eastern Catholic Churches
The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous ('' sui iuris'') particular churches of t ...
which follow the
Byzantine Rite celebrate his memory on November 19. (For those churches which follow the traditional
Julian Calendar
The Julian calendar, proposed by Roman consul Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on , by edict. It was designed with the aid of Greek mathematicians and astronomers such as Sosigenes of Alexandr ...
, November 19 currently falls on December 2 of the modern
Gregorian Calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years dif ...
.)
He is celebrated on February 28 in the
Syriac Syriac may refer to:
*Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic
*Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region
* Syriac alphabet
** Syriac (Unicode block)
** Syriac Supplement
* Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
and
Malankara Churches, and with the other
Minor prophet
The Minor Prophets or Twelve Prophets ( he, שנים עשר, ''Shneim Asar''; arc, תרי עשר, ''Trei Asar'', "Twelve") ( grc, δωδεκαπρόφητον, "the Twelve Prophets"), occasionally Book of the Twelve, is a collection of propheti ...
s in the
Calendar of saints
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...
of the
Armenian Apostolic Church
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, icon_width = 100px
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, image = Էջմիածնի_Մայր_Տաճար.jpg
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, a ...
on July 31.
According to an old tradition, Obadiah is buried in
Sebastia, at the same site as
Elisha and where later the body of
John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
was believed to have been buried by his followers.
Islamic tradition
Some Islamic scholars identify the prophet
Dhu al-Kifl
Dhu al-Kifl ( ar, ذُو ٱلْكِفْل, ''ḏū ʾl-kīfl'', literally "Possessor of the ; also spelled Dhu l-Kifl, Dhul-Kifl, Zu al-Kifl, or Zu l-Kifl) is an Islamic prophet. Although his identity is unknown, his identity has been theorise ...
with Obadiah.
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...
br>38:48
/ref>
See also
* Abdiel
Abdiel ( he, עֲבְדִּיאֵל "Servant of El") is a biblical name which has been used as the name for a number of several notable people. The name has the same meaning as Obadiah and is cognate with the Arabic name Abdullah. Abdiel is mentio ...
* Theodulus
Theodoulos ( el, Θεόδουλος) or Theodulus (amongst other variations) is a Greek masculine given name. The name is a theophoric name, meaning "servant of God" - in a similar construction to Christodoulos.Robert Parker ''et al.''Lexicon of ...
, a Greek name with the same meaning
References
Citations
Sources
; Book
* Holweck, F. G., ''A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints''. St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1924.
External links
Prophet Obadiah (Abdias)
Orthodox icon
An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...
and synaxarion
{{Authority control
6th-century BCE Jews
Christian saints from the Old Testament
Converts to Judaism from paganism
Book of Obadiah