The prophecy consists of three parts. In the first (1-9), the certainty of Edam's overthrow is asserted ; in the second (10-16), the cause of this, in Edom's enmity and violence to his brother Jacob, is set forth ; and in the third (11-21), the establishment of the kingdom of God, and its tri umph over all opposition, is announced. In the concluding words : And the kingdom shall be Jehovah's,' we have the dominant idea of the book, the key-note of the prophet's song. And the as sertion of this is made with peculiar force in con trast with the overthrow of Edom, because that people, though allied to Israel by natural ties, were among its bitterest and most inveterate enemies.
The style of Obadiah is animated, and his elocu tion rapid. He deals much in appeal and interroga tion. The language is pure and idiomatic, and his utterances often highly poetic ( Jahn, Introd. in Libb. Sacc. V. F., p. 400 ; Eichhorn, Einleit. ins A. T., iii., sec. 569 ; De Wette, Einl., sec. 235 ; Havernick, Einl., ii., sec. 241).
Comnzentaries. —Rainolds, 1613, 1864 ; Pfeiffer, Viteb. 1666, 1670 ; Schroer, Bresl. 1766 ; Schnur rer, Tiib. 1787, and in his Dissertt. Phil. Grit., Goth. 1790 ; Venema, in Verschuir's Opuscula, Ultraj. 1810 ; Hendewerk, 1836 ; Hitzig, 1838 ; Caspari, ,1842;; Henderson, 1845 ; Pusey, 1861.— W. L. A.
2. (Sept. The governor of king Ahab's household, and high in the confidence of his master, notwithstanding his aversion to the idolatries which the court patronized. In the persecution raised by Jezebel, Obadiah hid one hundred of the Lord's prophets in caves, and supplied them secretly with nourishment during the famine. It was this person, when sent out to explore the country in the vain search of pasture unconsumed by the drought, whom Elijah encountered when about to show himself to Ahab, and who was reluctantly prevailed upon to conduct the prophet to his master (1 Kings xviii. 4-16). B.C. 906.
3. C A(3olu.) One of the heroes of the tribe of Gad, who joined David at Ziklag (1 Chron. xii. 9).
4. One of the nobles whom Jehoshaphat sent to teach in the cities of Judah (2 Chron. xvii. 7).
5. ('Apoias.) One of the Levites who presided over the restoration of the temple under Josiah (2 Chron. xxxiv. 12).
6. ('A(3aSia.) The head of a party, consisting of 218 males, with females and children in propor tion, who returned with Ezra from Babylon (Ezra viii. 9).
7. eA(3aia.) One of the priests who sealed the written covenant which Nehemiah caused the people to enter into (Neh. x. 5).
Other persons of this name occur in 1 Chron. iii. 21 ; vii. 3 ; viii. 38 ; ix. 16, 44 ; xxvii. 19 ; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 12.
OBAL 'stripped ;' Via ; Ebal), the seventh son of Joktan, and founder of one of the nomad tribes, the aboriginal inhabitants of Arabia (Gen. x. 28). In the Samaritan Pentateuch the name is written as it is also in the genealogi cal list given in I Chron. (i. 22, omitted in Vat. ; Alex. reyuiv, , Hebal). Bochart identifies Oba with the Adatiter or Avalites of classic geographers (Pliny, vi. 29 ; Ptolemy, iv. 7), who dwelt beside a gulf of the same name on the eastern coast of Africa, near the Straits of Bab el-Mandeb (Bochart, Geog. Sac., ii. 23 ; Opera, i. 123). They were a commercial people, largely employed in carrying the wares and products of Africa across the Red Sea to the cities on the Arabian coast, and return ing with spices, which they conveyed to Diospolis and Lower Egypt (see Bochart, d. c., and authorities quoted by him). There is certainly some resem blance in name between the Hebrew Obal and the classic Abalites. It is well known also that some tribes originally resident in Arabia have migrated to Africa. More than this, however, cannot be said in favour of Bochart's view, which is also adopted by Forster (Geogr. of Arabia, i. 148). This theory is much more probable than that which would identify Obal with GEBAL of Edom, the Gobolitir of Josephus (Antiq. ii. T. 2). The two names are radically different &Mr and 2i), the latter being given to a district because it was moun tainous' (Gesenius, Thes., p. 981 ; Winer, R. lg, z. v.)—J. L. P.