OBADIAH, BOOK OF. The smallest prophetic book in the Old Testament. The book of the prophet Obadiah contains a denunciation against Edom for its hostility to Israel. It is stated that when aliens entered into the gates of Jerusalem and cast loth over it, Edom was as one of them. The Edomites not only exulted over the land of Judah in the day of its disaster, but even cut off its fugitives in the day of distress (vss. 11-14). The verses in which these statements are made evidently describe the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. The prophecy, therefore, at least in its present form, must be later than the year 586. There are other verses in Obadiah (vss. 1-9) which exhibit many points of con tact with an oracle against Edom found in the Book of Jeremiah (xlix. 7-22). On comparison, it would appear that the passages in Obadiah are more original. Ewald thinks that the prophecy of Jeremiah emanates from the fourth year of Jehoiachim. This obliges him, as C,ornill says, to assume a third source common to both Jeremiah and Obadiah. "an original Obadiah, which Jeremiah
freely, and our Obadiah, on the other hand, faithfully, reproduced." C. F. Kent thinks that the prophecy in Jeremiah xlix. is late and that the author quotes from Obadiah. As a further indication of the date of Obadiah, in addition to the references to the destruction of Jeru salem, he points out that it is clear from vs. 7 that a great calamity has overtaken Edom itself. The allusion seems to be to " the expulsion of the Edomites from their territory by the Nabataeans, which took place sometime between 600 and 400 B.C." Kent would therefore assign the prophecy to some date between 500 and 450 B.C. He thinks that the second half of the prophecy comes from the same period as the first half. See C. Cornill, Intr.; G. H. Box; 0. C. Whitehouse; C. F. Kent, The Sermons, Epistles and Apocalypses of Israel's Prophets, 1910.