ABDIA (Hebrew «servant of Jahweh»; in the Masoretic text ‘Obadyáh,’ a form used by the Hebrews and by Luther and his followers). — Fourth of the minor prophets in the biblical canon, author of the shortest book in the Old Testament (21 verses), containing an oracle against Edom.
1. The oracle
The Lord invites the nations to unite in battle against Edom (1), whose villages nestled in the rocks will be destroyed and whose treasures plundered, while former allies withdraw, leaving it prey to slaughter (2–9). Such punishment is deserved because Edom acted wickedly toward Judah, joining forces with «the foreigners who carried off its goods, laid hands on its possessions, and slaughtered its fugitives» (10–14). On the day of the Lord, all nations will drink the cup of punishment and vanish, while Judah and Israel will be saved, destroying Edom, expanding their borders, and celebrating the return of the exiles (15–21).2. Date of composition
Many scholars, from Knabenbauer to Theis, place the oracle in the 9th century, interpreting it as a reference to the invasion of Jerusalem under Joram around 845 BC by Arabs and Philistines (cf. 2 Kings 8:20–22; 2 Chronicles 21:8–17). They adduce the following literary reasons: Jeremiah’s dependence on Obadiah (49:7–22) for verses 5–17, Amos’s dependence on Joel (4:16) for verses 1–2, and Joel’s dependence on Obadiah (3:5) for verse 17. Thus Obadiah would precede Amos and be the earliest of the prophets. However, it seems preferable to assign the oracle to the exilic period (6th century). The description of Jerusalem’s fall (10–14) aligns more with the total destruction by Nebuchadnezzar in 587 BC, when, according to Lamentations, Ezekiel (25:11; 35:3–15), and Psalm 136:7, Edom gloated and enriched itself from the spoils. Obadiah would thus reflect Jewish hatred of the Edomites, intensified by the exile. The dependence of Joel on Obadiah is likely reversed, and both Jeremiah and Obadiah may depend on an earlier, unknown oracle. Th. H. Robinson arbitrarily places the various parts of Obadiah between 520 and 350 BC, with the final redaction shortly before 300 BC.The hypothesis of a Proto-Obadiah (vv. 1–10) and a Deutero-Obadiah (vv. 11–21), the former dating to Joram’s reign and the latter to the Babylonian exile, is excluded by the evident literary unity of the book.
3. Messianic meaning
Christian exegetes generally apply the closing section, from verse 17 («and on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance...») to verse 21 («saviors shall ascend Mount Zion to judge the Mount of Esau, and the kingdom shall belong to Yahweh»), to Jesus Christ and the Church. Cf. J. Knabenbauer, *In Prophetas minores*, I, 2nd ed., Paris 1924, pp. 354–56.The body of Obadiah was venerated in Samaria-Sebaste at least from the 4th century; St. Paula stopped there in 385 where «the sites of Elisha and Obadiah the prophet...» are mentioned (St. Jerome, *Epist.* 108: PL 22, 536); Willibald still affirms this around 725 (T. Tobler and A. Molinier, *Itinera Hierosolymitana*, 1–2 [1880], p. 269).