Obadiah, meaning servant of the Lord, was the
name of several people from
the Bible Old Testament and Jewish Tanach.
(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 Chr. 7:3).
(3.) A descendant of Saul (1 Chr. 8:38).
(4.) A Levite, after the Captivity (1 Chr. 9:16).
(5.) A Gadite who joined David at Ziklag (1 Chr. 12:9).
(6.) A prince of Zebulun in the time of David (1 Chr. 27:19).
(7.) One of the princes sent by Jehoshaphat to instruct the
people in the law (2 Chr. 17:7).
(8.) A Levite who superintended the repairs of the temple
under Josiah (2 Chr. 34:12).
(9.) One who accompanied Ezra on the return from Babylon (Ezra
8:9).
(10.) A prophet and the author of the Book of Obadiah.
He was the fourth of the minor prophets in the Hebrew
canon, and fifth in the Septuagint. He was probably contemporary with
Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Of his personal history nothing is known.
Initial text from Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897 -- Please update as needed
