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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadGreater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 450. Obadiah
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Literature
Bennett, W. H., The Post-Exilic Prophets (1901), 86.
Bewer, J. A., Obadiah and Joel (International Critical Commentary) (1912), 29.
Deane, W. J., in The Pulpit Commentary (1893).
Duhm, B., The Twelve Prophets (1912), 189.
Elmslie, W. G., in Book by Book (1892), 278.
Farrar, F. W., The Minor Prophets (Men of the Bible), 175.
Findlay, G. G., The Books of the Prophets, i. (1900) 78.
Gray, G. B., A Critical Introduction to the Old Testament (1913), 213.
Horton, R. F., The Minor Prophets (Century Bible), 179.
Kent, C. F., The Sermons, Epistles and Apocalypses of Israel's Prophets (1910), 399.
Kirkpatrick, A. F., The Doctrine of the Prophets (1892), 31.
McFadyen, J. E., Introduction to the Old Testament (1905), 193.
McWilliam, T., Speakers for God (1902), 179.
Meyrick, F., in The Speaker's Commentary, vi. (1876) 561.
Orelli, C. von, Old Testament Prophecy (1885), 196.
Ottley, R. L., The Hebrew Prophets (1898), 61.
Perowne, T. T., Obadiah (Cambridge Bible) (1883).
Sanders, F. K., and Kent, C. F., The Messages of the Later Prophets (1899), 67.
Smith, G. A., The Book of the Twelve Prophets (Expositor's Bible), ii. (1898) 161.
Whitehouse, O. C., The Books of the Old Testament (1910), 128.
Wiles, J. P., Half-Hours with the Minor Prophets (1908), 71.
Woods, F. H., and Powell, F. E., The Hebrew Prophets, iii. (1911) 1.
Dictionary of the Bible, iii. (1900) 577 (J. A. Selbie).
Dictionary of the Bible, iii. (Single-volume, 1909) 663 (G. B. Gray).
And saviours shall come up on Mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the Kingdom shall be the Lord's.- Oba_1:21.
1. The Book of Obadiah is the smallest among the prophets, and the smallest in all the Old Testament. It raises no doctrinal issue nor any question of historical accuracy. All that it claims to be is The Vision of Obadiah. It mentions neither his father nor his birthplace, and in the book itself there is no positive statement of the period in which he lived, nor any quite definite clue to determine the date of his prophecy. All we know certainly about him is his name. That is a derivative of a word meaning servant or worshipper, and the sacred name of Israel's covenant-God It is a type of name common in Semitic languages (Abdeel, Abdallah, etc.), and it occurs very frequently of persons mentioned in the Old Testament-especially of members of the tribe of Levi. Among these the best known are a captain of King Ahab (1Ki_18:1-46) and a prince employed by Jehoshaphat in the religious reform attempted in his reign (2Ch_17:7).
2. The object of Obadiah's book is to denounce the pride and malignity of Edom, and to predict the judgment about to descend on it and on “all the nations.” In the great “day of Jehovah” the one hope of salvation will be on Mount Zion. Hebrew captives will be restored to their home, and Jehovah's kingdom will be finally established. Deliverers will come up on Mount Zion who “shall judge the mount of Esau.” We shall therefore trace the history of the relations between Israel and Edom before we turn to the prophet and his prophecy.