Who was Obadiah in the Bible?

Of Obadiah we know nothing but his name, which means "servant of Jehovah." There are numerous men mentioned in the Old Testament by that name, but it is impossible to identify any one of these with Obadiah, or to trace him. "The silence of Holy Scriptures as to the prophet Obadiah stands in remarkable contrast with the anxiety of men to know something of him. They hoped that Obadiah might prove to have been the faithful protector of the prophets under Ahab; or the son of the Shunamite, whom Elijah called to life, or the Obadiah whom Jehoshaphat sent to teach in the cities of Judah, or the Levite who was selected, with one other, to be the overseer set over the repair of the temple in the reign of Josiah. Fruitless guesses at what God has hidden! God has willed that his name alone and this brief prophecy should be known in this world" (Dr. Pusey).

The book of the prophet Obadiah is the shortest book of the OT with 21 verses only. We do not know anything of the book’s author but his name (Obadiah = servant or worshipper of Jehovah). More than ten persons of the OT bear the same name but none of them is identical with the prophet. This fact makes it difficult to date the time of writing. This is why the scientists’ opinions regarding the time of writing vary greatly.

The governor of Ahab's house. He feared the Lord greatly, and had the boldness, in spite of Ahab and Jezebel, to hide a hundred of the prophets of Jehovah, and feed them with bread and water, when Jezebel was cutting off the prophets. When Elijah sent Obadiah to tell Ahab that he was there, he feared that the Spirit of the Lord would catch away Elijah, and he would be slain; but he obeyed, and Elijah met the king . Obadiah is a remarkable instance of how a servant who feared the Lord could maintain his integrity amid flagrant wickedness, though otherwise he seems out of his right place, for he was not separate like Elijah. His false position may account for his dwelling upon his own work for the Lord, and his fear for his life before Ahab. 1 Kings 18:3-16.

Obadiah ("Serving Jehovah") writes the shortest book of the Old Testament; and he prophesies entirely against Edom. This is, of course, the family of Esau, Jacob's brother. His hatred and violence against Israel was a dreadful result of pride and self‑righteousness, which could not bear his brother's receiving blessing from God.

The judgment of God as announced by Elijah continued its allotted time. A Greek historian, Menander of Ephesus, in his account of the acts of Ethbaal (the father of Jezebel, Ahab's wife), says: "Under him there was a want of rain from a certain month till the same month the following year." And Josephus, the Jewish historian who quotes this, adds, "by these words he designed the want of rain that was in the days of Ahab." It was in the third year of the drought that Elijah is commanded to show himself to Ahab. Elijah obeys. Great distress and famine were everywhere. Then we see Ahab and Obadiah, the governor or steward of his house, looking for a little pasture so that they might save the horses and mules alive. Obadiah (servant of Jehovah), holding a high position with Ahab, feared the Lord greatly. He belonged to the faithful remnant who did not bow the knee to Baal (1 Kings 19:18). He must have had severe tests of faith and much courage. It showed faith and devotion in hiding the Lord's prophets. Jezebel, the wicked idolatrous woman, used the civil power to kill off the true prophets. Her aim was to exterminate completely the men of God who stood for the truth. We find her mentioned in Revelation 2:20. There she is used to represent Rome, the harlot, and her spiritual fornication and idolatry. Rome, like Jezebel, has persecuted the Lord's servants and killed them (Rev. 18:24). Jezebel had evidently left the palace of Samaria and was at Jezreel, but Ahab and Obadiah were still in Samaria making a survey of the land. Then Obadiah met Elijah. The prophet requests Obadiah to announce his presence to Ahab. But Obadiah feared that such a message might cost him his life. Had not the whole country been searched for Elijah? And what if the Spirit should carry Elijah away? Then he pleads his kindness to the hundred prophets whom he saved when murderous Jezebel slew the prophets. From all this we learn that Obadiah, pious and faithful, was full of fear and trembling. He and the other faithful ones in Israel during the dark days of Ahab and Jezebel typify that faithful remnant of Israel during the end of the present age, suffering and persecuted during the great tribulation.

In Obadiah also (1 Kings 18) we have one who we are told was governor of Ahab's house, a king who did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him! As if, however, to guard our minds against entertaining unworthy thoughts about the one who was over Ahab's house, because he was servant to such a master, the Holy Spirit is careful to tell us, "Now Obadiah feared Jehovah GREATLY." We may well, therefore, pause before we pass judgment on him, for "the fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do His commandments" (Ps. 111:10). And the first act recorded of Obadiah is, "For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of Jehovah, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water." A noble deed, which might have cost him his life, had it come to the knowledge of Jezebel, Ahab's wife, for she, we are told, stirred Ahab up to work the wickedness which he wrought. Though the world may and does hate the ways of a godly man, yet it knows in such an one there is what can be relied on for truth and uprightness. No wonder, then, that when Ahab wants to know how the land is faring under the word spoken by Elijah, "there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word," if he goes himself through one half of the land unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks, he chooses Obadiah to go through the other half on the important mission.

When unexpectedly Obadiah meets Elijah, he does him obeisance; and when commissioned by the prophet to tell Ahab, "Behold, Elijah," he pleads, not without reason, that to deliver such a message might endanger his life. For he knew the murderous search that Ahab had made for Elijah in every nation and kingdom, and he feared that when he had delivered the message the Spirit of Jehovah might carry the prophet away. It is, then, as the occasion seemed to demand it, that he himself tells Elijah what the Holy Spirit also records of him in the narrative. Was it wrong in Obadiah to wish not to throw away his life needlessly? Did not the Lord Jesus say to His disciples, "When they shall persecute you in this city, flee ye to another" (Matt. 10:23)? Again, let us not forget that when assured by Elijah that he would surely show himself to Ahab that day, Obadiah was obedient, and forthwith "went to meet Ahab, and told him." It were better to have Obadiah's care for God's people and his obedience to His word through the prophet, than rashly to cavil at the servant. Let us admire the grace that could maintain the man in such a king's palace, even as it did Daniel when he was made "ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon," or, in other words, prime minister to that, at one time, most idolatrous first monarch of world-empire, Nebuchadnezzar.

While Elijah was enjoying divine abundance at Cherith and at Zarephath at a time of want, Ahab was using all his faculties to seek to bring about a remedy for the judgment of God by strategies of human wisdom. He associates Obadiah, the steward of his house, one who occupies a public place at the king's court, with himself. "Obadiah feared the Lord greatly" (v. 3). This might seem to be enough for a faithful walk, for "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; (Prov. 9:10). But we are also told: "Fear the Lord, and depart from evil" (Prov. 3:7). And again: "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil" (Prov. 8:13). One may fear the Lord greatly, yet nevertheless dishonour Him by being in association with the world that rejects Him. This position, so lacking in openness, is found on every hand in professing Christendom. Yet nevertheless Obadiah's piety had prompted him to hide those who were being persecuted for the Lord's name's sake. "And it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of Jehovah, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and maintained them with bread and water" (v. 4). In one sense, his work had not been insignificant. It was no small thing, especially on part of a man in the public eye at Ahab's court, to hide one hundred prophets whose lives were being hunted and to feed them.

Obadiah, the governor of Ahab's house, was one who, in the secret of his own spirit, feared the Lord, but who was planted in a most unhallowed atmosphere. The house of the wicked Ahab, and his still more wicked consort, must have been a painful school for the righteous soul of Obadiah; and so he found it. He was hindered in service and testimony. What he did for the Lord was done by stealth. He was afraid to act openly and decidedly; yet he did quite enough to show what he would have done had he been planted in a more congenial soil, and cherished by a more healthful atmosphere. "He took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water." This was a most precious token of devotedness of heart to the Lord — a blessed triumph of divine principle over the most untoward circumstances.

The scene changes and brings us to the subject we are considering. Ahab had a governor or steward who ruled over his house and contrary to what we might have supposed he was a pious person, for Obadiah “feared the LORD greatly” and did fear Him “from my youth” (1 Kings 18:3, 12). The proof was that he “took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water” (18:4). We see here an upright man seeking the welfare of these servants of God, and therefore dealing righteously with them in the midst of the idolatrous people and rulers. Such behaviour was worthy of reward: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me” (Matt. 25:40). However, there was a serious shortcoming. What really shocks us is that he remained faithful to king Ahab. He was the steward of his house and under obedience to the king's commands. How he obtained this position we are not told. It seems that outwardly he pretended to follow Baal while inwardly he feared the Lord. This fear of the Lord was shown in relation to the faithful prophets but hidden from the king and people.

The first thing mentioned is that Obadiah was the governor of Ahab's house; and then, in a parenthesis within the parenthesis, the Spirit of God turns aside to describe Obadiah and the service he had rendered to a hundred of the Lord's prophets in the moment of their peril, when Jezebel, in her idolatrous zeal, sought their destruction. Wherefore is this account given? Evidently that we might know that he was really a servant of Jehovah - one, as his very name signifies, who worshipped the Lord. It is true that he himself tells the fact to Elijah, and also speaks of his meritorious service to the prophets; but had we not divine and authentic testimony borne to him, we might have thought that it was impossible for one who "feared the Lord greatly" to occupy such a post in the house of the apostate and idolatrous monarch. We might have concluded that he was only a professor; and in truth it is a bad sign when we have to appeal to the past to prove what we are, and when we have to seek to convince others that we are believers. Alas! Obadiah is a type of that large class who, while truly Christians, are yet found in positions of ease and influence in the world, a type of those who delude themselves with the thought that they can use their position to favour the people of God. They, like Obadiah, have not yet learned that there can be no communion between light and darkness, and no concord between Christ and Belial. (2 Cor. 6:14-18.)