Book of Obadiah: Difference between revisions

{{short description|Book of the Bible of the Assyrian Period}}

The majority of scholars date the Book of Obadiah to shortly after the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC.<ref>Riding, Charles Bruce. “Dating Obadiah to 801 BC”. Reformed Theological Review 80, no. 3 (December 1, 2021): 189–217. Accessed January 7, 2025. https://rtrjournal.org/index.php/RTR/article/view/286</ref> Other scholars hold that the book was shaped by the conflicts between [[Yehud (Babylonian province)|Yehud]] and the Edomites in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE and evolved through a process of [[redaction]].<ref>{{cite book |last1= Becking |first1= Bob |title= The Oxford Handbook of the Minor Prophets |editor1= Julia M. O'Brien |publisher= Oxford University Press |year= 2021 |pages= 437–448 |doi= 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190673208.013.28 |quote= "The constant quarrels between the Persian province Yehud and the Edomites in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE should hence be seen as the delivery room for the traditions leading to the book of Obadiah. This book articulates and ventilates the way in which the inhabitants of Jerusalem and surroundings found a way to cope with the Edomite threat. Not a single event but a string of events stands at the background of this biblical book. This also indicates that Obadiah in its present form is the final product of a process of redaction and rewriting."}}</ref><ref>Ben Zvi, Ehud. 1996. A Historical-Critical Study of the book of Obadiah. BZAW 242. Berlin: de Gruyter.</ref>

In the [[Siege of Jerusalem (597 BC)]], [[Nebuchadnezzar II]] sacked Jerusalem, carted away the King of Judah, and installed a puppet ruler. The Edomites helped the Babylonians loot the city. Obadiah, writing this prophecy around 590 BCE, suggests the Edomites should have remembered that blood was thicker than water. "On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them... You should not march through the gates of my people in the day of their disaster, nor gloat over them in their calamity in the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster."<ref>{{bibleref2|Obadiah|1:11, 13|NIV}}</ref>

The date of composition is disputed and is difficult to determine due to the lack of personal information about Obadiah, his family, and his historical milieu: the date must therefore be determined based on the prophecy itself. Edom is to be destroyed due to its lack of defense for its brother nation, Israel, when it was under attack. There are two major historical contexts within which the Edomites could have committed such an act. These are during 853–841 BCE when [[Jerusalem]] was invaded by Philistines and Arabs during the reign of [[Jehoram of Judah]] (recorded in [[Books of Kings|2 Kings]] {{bibleverse-nb|2 Kings|8:20–22|KJV}} and [[Books of Chronicles|2 Chronicles]] {{bibleverse-nb|2 Chronicles|21:8–20|KJV}} in the Christian [[Old Testament]]) and 607–586 BCE when [[Jerusalem]] was attacked by [[Nebuchadnezzar II]] of [[Babylon]], which led to the Babylonian exile of [[Israel]] (recorded in [[Psalm 137]]). The earlier period would place Obadiah as a contemporary of the prophet [[Elijah]].

The later date would place Obadiah as a contemporary of the prophet [[Jeremiah]]. A sixth-century date for Obadiah is a "near consensus" position among scholars.<ref name="Dykehouse2008">{{cite book|author=Jason C. Dykehouse|title=An Historical Reconstruction of Edomite Treaty Betrayal in the Sixth Century B.C.E. Based on Biblical, Epigraphic, and Archaeological Data|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YBOXDwRPK7sC&pg=PA11|year=2008|isbn=978-0-549-59500-7|page=11}}{{Dead link|date=April 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> {{bibleverse|Obadiah|1-9|KJV}} contains parallels to the [[Book of Jeremiah]] {{bibleverse-nb|Jeremiah|49:7-22|KJV}}. The passage in the Book of Jeremiah dates from the fourth year of the reign of [[Jehoiakim]] (604 BCE), and therefore {{bibleverse|Obadiah|11-14|KJV}} seems to refer to the destruction of [[Jerusalem]] by [[Nebuchadnezzar II]] (586 BCE). It is more likely that Obadiah and the Book of Jeremiah together were drawing on a common source presently unknown to us rather than Jeremiah drawing on previous writings of Obadiah as his source.<ref name="Zvi1996">{{cite book|author=[[Ehud Ben Zvi]]|title=A Historical-Critical Study of the Book of Obadiah|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-VIjAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA104|date=1 January 1996|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-080963-3|pages=104–106}}</ref> There is also much material found in {{bibleverse|Obadiah|10-21|KJV}} which Jeremiah does not quote, and which, had he had it laid out before him, would have suited his purpose admirably.

 

The exact expression "the Day of the Lord", from {{bibleverse|Obadiah|1:15|KJV}}, has been used by other authors throughout the Old and New Testaments, as follows: