Obadiah in Smiths Bible Dictionary

(servant of the Lord), 1. A man whose sons are enumerated in the genealogy of the tribe of Judah. 1Ch 3:21 (B.C. 470.) 2. A descendant of Issachar and a chief man of his tribe. 1Ch 7:3 (B.C. 1014.) 3. One of the six sons of Azel, a descendant of Saul. 1Ch 8:33; 9:44 (B.C. 720.) 4. A Levite, son of Shemaiah, and descended from Jeduthun. 1Ch 9:16; Ne 12:25 5. The second of the lion-faced Gadites who joined David at Ziklag. 1Ch 12:9 (B.C. 1054.) 6. One of the Princes of Judah in the reign of Jehoshaphat. 2Ch 17:7 (B.C. 909.) 7. The son of Jehiel, of the sons of Joab, who came up in the second caravan with Ezra. Ezr 8:9 8. A priest, or family of priests, who settled the covenant with Nehemiah. Ne 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. 1Ki 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; 1Ki 18:3-16 (B.C. 904.) 11. The father of Ishmaiah who was chief of the tribe of Zebulun in David's reign. 1Ch 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. 2Ch 34:12 (B.C.623.)