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OBADIAH is a name of a type common among the Semitic peoples; It occurs frequently in the OT, for the most part as the name of persons of whom little or nothing is known. It has also been found on an ancient Hebrew seal. For the meaning of the name, ‘servant of Jahweh,’ see art. Servant of the Lord, § 2. The different persons thus named are—1. The author of the Vision of Obadiah: see following article. 2. Ahab’s steward, the protector of Jahweh’s prophets against Jezebel (1Ki_18:3-16). This person lived in the 9th cent. b.c. 3. A descendant of Saul (1Ch_8:38), who lived, to judge from his position in the genealogy, about b.c. 700. On the probable genuineness of the genealogy see G. B. Gray, Studies in Heb. Proper Names, p. 241 f. 4. An Issacharite (1Ch_7:3). 5. A descendant of David in the 5th cent. b.c., if the Hebrew text (1Ch_3:21) correctly makes him a grandson of Zerubbabel, but in the 4th if the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] is right and he belonged to the sixth generation after Zerubbabel. 6. The head of a family who returned with Ezra (Ezr_8:9 = Abadias of 1Es_8:35). 7. A priestly contemporary of Nehemiah (Neh_10:5). 8. A door-keeper (Neh_12:25). 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Various persons in the genealogies or stories of the Chronicler (1Ch_9:16 [= Abda, Neh_11:17] 1Ch_12:9, 1Ch_27:19, 2Ch_17:7; 2Ch_34:12). On the Chronicler’s use of such names, see G. B. Gray, op. cit., pp. 170–190.
G. B. Gray.