Ovadiah HaNavi
610 BCE–540 BCE · Biblical · Jerusalem
Ovadiah (Obadiah) wrote the shortest book in the Hebrew Bible: a single chapter of 21 verses, entirely an oracle against Edom, the nation descended from Esav. It condemns Edom's pride - 'you who dwell in the clefts of the rock' (Obadiah 1:3) - and its conduct toward its 'brother Jacob' on the day strangers entered Jerusalem's gates and cast lots for the city (Obadiah 1:10-14). It ends with deliverers going up on Mount Zion and the promise that 'dominion shall be the LORD's' (Obadiah 1:21). Several verses closely parallel Jeremiah's oracle on Edom (compare Obadiah 1:1-5 with Jeremiah 49:9, 14-16). Most scholars date the book after Jerusalem fell in 586 BCE. The Talmud identifies the prophet with Ovadiah, the God-fearing steward of King Achav who hid a hundred prophets from Izevel (1 Kings 18:3-4), and records the view of Rabbi Meir that he was a convert from Edom (Sanhedrin 39b).
Life journeyclick any stop, or use ←/→Trace on the orchard map →
JerusalemירושליםJudea
What they did here
The book does not say where Ovadiah lived. Its oracle centres on the day Jerusalem was plundered and lots were cast for it (Obadiah 1:11) and ends with deliverers going up on Mount Zion (Obadiah 1:21), so it is pinned to Jerusalem as the city his prophecy concerns.
Jerusalem in this era
In the Hebrew Bible, David takes Jerusalem from the Jebusites and makes it his capital, Solomon builds the First Temple there, and Nehemiah rebuilds its walls after the return from Babylon; in 164 BCE Judah Maccabee rededicated the Temple, the origin of Hanukkah. Archaeologists debate how large the city was in the 10th century BCE; it is well attested as the capital of Judah by the 8th century BCE, and Babylon destroyed it in 586 BCE.
About Jerusalem
Jerusalem, in the Judean hills, is a sacred city for Jews, Christians and Muslims. In the Hebrew Bible it is King David's capital and the site of Solomon's Temple; the First Temple was destroyed by Babylon in 586 BCE and the Second Temple, rebuilt from about 516 BCE, by Rome in 70 CE. Christians revere it as the place of Jesus's crucifixion and, in their faith, his resurrection; in Islamic tradition it is the destination of the Prophet Muhammad's Night Journey and the first direction of prayer, marked by the Dome of the Rock (691-92) and al-Aqsa Mosque. It was ruled in turn by Rome and Byzantium, by Muslim dynasties from 638, by Crusaders (1099-1187), Ayyubids, Mamluks and Ottomans (1517-1917), and by Britain. Divided between Israel and Jordan from 1948 to 1967, it has since been under Israeli control. Israel regards the city as its capital; Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state; most countries do not recognize sovereignty over the whole city.
In Jerusalem at the same time
In the same place & time
Sages whose lives overlapped with Ovadiah HaNavi’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
In the same tradition
The world in their lifetime
Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Ovadiah HaNavi’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Works
No works attributed in the corpus yet.