Obadiah

:See also Book of Obadiah.

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:For the Khazar ruler, see Obadiah (Khazar).

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:For one of the 25 Islands described in the 2002 book by Clive Barker, see Abarat.

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Obadiah (עֹבַדְיָה "Servant of the LORD", Standard Hebrew ʿOvadya, Tiberian Hebrew ʿŌḇaḏyāh, Vulgate Abdias) is the name of many people mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament.

Related Topics:
The LORD - Standard Hebrew - Tiberian Hebrew - Vulgate - Hebrew Bible - Old Testament

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• An Israelite who was chief in the household of King Ahab (1 Kings 18:3). Amid a climate of spiritual degeneracy, Obadiah maintained his fidelity to God, and interposed to protect God's prophets, an hundred of whom he hid at great personal risk in a cave (4, 13). Ahab seems to have held Obadiah in great honour, although he had no sympathy with his piety (5, 6, 7). During the great famine he was sent by Ahab to search for food. He met the prophet Elijah, and brought Ahab the message that the famine was at an end (ib. 6 et seq.).
• One of the grandchildren of the last king, Jeconiah (1 Chron. iii. 21).
• A descendant of the tribe of Issachar, and one of David's heroes (Chron. vii. 3).
• A chief of the tribe of Issachar (1 Chron. 7:3).
• A Gadite, the second in the list of David's heroes who joined him in the desert before the capture of Ziklag (Chron. xii. 9).
• A descendant of Saul (1 Chron. 8:38).
• A Levite, after the Captivity, a descendant of Jeduthun (1 Chron. 9:16).
• A Gadite who joined David at Ziklag (1 Chron. 12:9).
• Father of Ishmaiah, who was appointed representative of the tribe of Zebulun, under David (Chron. xxvii. 19)
• One of the officers sent by Jehoshaphat to teach in the different towns of Judea (II Chron. xvii. 7).
• A Levite who superintended the repairs of the Temple in Jerusalem under Josiah (2 Chron. 34:12).
• Son of Jehiel; chief of 218 men who returned with Ezra to Palestine from Babylon. (Ezra 8:9).
• One of those who signed, with Nehemiah, the covenant to live according to the doctrines of the law of Moses (Nehemiah x. 6).
• A prophet and the author of the Book of Obadiah. He was the fourth of the minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible, and fifth in the Septuagint. He was probably contemporary with Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Of his personal history nothing is known.
 
Obadiah: Prophet Obadiah in rabbinic tradition ►