Obadiah is a character in

1 Kings The Book of Kings (, '' Sēfer Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of Israel also including the book ...

in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' majordomo A majordomo is a person who speaks, makes arrangements, or takes charge for another. Typically, this is the highest (''major'') person of a household (''domūs'' or ''domicile'') staff, a head servant who acts on behalf of the owner of a large ...

in charge of

Ahab Ahab (; akk, 𒀀𒄩𒀊𒁍 ''Aḫâbbu'' 'a-ḫa-ab-bu'' grc-koi, Ἀχαάβ ''Achaáb''; la, Achab) was the seventh king of Israel, the son and successor of King Omri and the husband of Jezebel of Sidon, according to the Hebrew Bib ...

's palace.

Biblical Account

According to 1 Kings 18:4, Obadiah hid a hundred prophets of God in two caves, fifty in each, to protect them from

Jezebel Jezebel (;"Jezebel"
(US) and ) was the daughte ...

, Ahab's wife. Later statements of the prophet

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 ...

, where he describes himself as the only remaining prophet of Yahweh led biblical theologian Otto Thenius to conclude that eventually they were captured and killed, but George Rawlinson and other commentators argue that Elijah means he is the only ''active'' prophet because the others are in hiding. While Ahab and Obadiah are surveying the land for relief from famine, Obadiah meets the elusive prophet Elijah, whom Ahab has been hunting. Elijah asks him to arrange a meeting with Ahab. Obadiah fears that while he goes to Ahab to announce that Elijah has requested a meeting, Elijah will disappear again and Ahab will kill Obadiah as a punishment. This was because every nation and kingdom was forced to make an oath with Ahab to officially declare that they were not lying whenever they failed to find Elijah's whereabouts. Obadiah was subject to these conditions as well. After being reassured by Elijah, Obadiah arranges the meeting.

Peter Leithart Peter James Leithart (born 1959) is an American author, minister, and theologian, who serves as president of Theopolis Institute for Biblical, Liturgical, & Cultural Studies in Birmingham, Alabama. He previously served as Senior Fellow of Theology ...

compares Obadiah to Elijah and notes that both are faithful servants of God, but that they "radically differ in their position and mode of service": whereas "Elijah confronts Ahab from outside the court", Obadiah works for the preservation of the prophets from within Ahab's court.

Authorship of the Book of Obadiah

According to both rabbinic tradition and the

tradition A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

of 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 via ...

, this Obadiah is the same person as the prophet who wrote the

Book of Obadiah The book of Obadiah is a book of the Bible whose authorship is attributed to Obadiah, a prophet who lived in the Assyrian Period. Obadiah is one of the Twelve Minor Prophets in the final section of Nevi'im, the second main division of the Heb ...

References

{{Hebrew-Bible-stub 9th-century BCE Hebrew people Elijah Books of Kings people