There are a grand total of 11 other Obadiah’s mentioned in the Old Testament, including an officer in King David's service, a servant of King Ahab’s, a Levite who lived under King Josiah, and a civil leader who returned from Ezra to begin post-exilic restructuring of the nation. None of these men, however, or any of the other eight wrote the book bearing this name. Nothing much is known about the author of Obadiah, other than that his name means “Worshiper of YHWH.”

This lack of information creates problems in dating the composition of the book. There are primarily two time periods which appear to fit the situation Obadiah describes. The first time period, between 853 and 841 B.C., is suggested by relating Obadiah’s situation to the Philistine and Arabian invasion of Jerusalem during the reign of King Jehoram (2 Kings 8.20-.22). There is strong evidence for this position. Obadiah was apparently quoted from several other prophets, including Jeremiah, Joel and Amos, suggesting a date before 830 B.C. Second, the looting of Jerusalem is consistent with the description of “destruction” Obadiah records.

The later time period suggested (post-exilic) has many problems to overcome. This dating relates the events to the Babylonian invasion, where the soldiers of Babylon completely pummeled and destroyed the city. In that conflict, no prisoners were taken as no one was left standing in the city. This event is not consistent with the events described in Obadiah, who doesn’t mention the destruction of the temple and all of Jerusalem. Further, Obadiah’s account tells of “fugitives,” of which there were none in the Babylonian conflict.

With these facts considered, a date sometime between 853 and 841 B.C. seems most probable.

The story of Obadiah actually begins more than a millennia earlier, in the womb of a woman named Rebekah, and finds the fruition of its prophecy almost a millennia later by the hands of Rome. What appears on the surface of this, the shortest book in the Old Testament (all of 21 verses), is merely the tip of the proverbial iceberg. One has to dig a little deeper to uncover the rich history and incredible fulfillment of prophecy which this narrative rests atop.

The first element of this book begins when Jacob and Esau, twins, battled in the womb of their mother Rebekah to become the firstborn son of their father Isaac. By brute force Esau muscled his way out first, obtaining for himself the birthright of his family, a bright red complexion and, one day, the blessing of his father. What Jacob could not accomplish physically, he could accomplish intellectually, however. One may recall the infamous occasion of Esau, the manly man, returning from an unsuccessful three day hunting trip, smelled a red stew which his brother Jacob had been fiddling with the better part of the day and begged for a single bowl.

“I’ll do one better, brother.” Said Jacob. “You can have as much as you like, if you will but give me the birthright.”

Esau hesitated only a moment. He had never been this hungry in his whole life and felt that if he didn’t eat he would surely die. Thinking, what good is a birthright to a dead man, Esau surrendered the title of First Born on the spot.

Esau thought little more of this over the passing years, until, again through the conniving intelligence of Jacob and mother Rebekah, Jacob received the blessing by his father who was on his deathbed. The combination of these two events caused a family rift that would never be healed. Esau left home, burning in anger toward Jacob, and vowed to kill him if ever Jacob stepped foot on his soil. The household of Jacob, as many know, became the nation Israel, while the house of Esau became the nation Edom, mentioned in Obadiah.

Both nations built themselves apart from each other, and neither nation had anything to do with the other. Edomites continued to hold the grudge of their father Esau for centuries. In fact, it is recorded that as Moses lead the children of Israel out of Egypt and to the Promised Land, they came to the border of Edom. When they asked merely to pass through the country, their request was heatedly declined. As a nation, Edom had held on to the prejudices of their father, and would retain their hatred of their brothers throughout history, which brings us to the book of Obadiah.