OBADIAH, ō’ bə dī’ ə (עֹֽבַדְיָ֑ה or עֹבַדְיָ֖הוּ, a slave or worshiper of Yahweh). This is one of the commonest names in the OT.

1. A descendant of Issachar (1 Chron 7:3).

2. One of the leaders of the Gadites who joined David at Ziklag (12:9).

3. A descendant of Saul and Jonathan (8:38; 9:44).

4. The father of Ishmaiah, whom David placed over the tribe of Zebulon (27:19).

5. Ahab’s royal chamberlain. He had risked his life to save a hundred of the prophets, when they were being hunted by Jezebel. The task allotted him by Ahab shows that his position was more important than his title suggests. Elijah met him on his way back from Zarephath (1 Kings 18:3-16). Jewish tradition (BT San. 39b) identifies him with the prophet Obadiah, but like most of these suggestions it is clearly valueless.

6. One of Jehoshaphat’s ministers of state (princes) entrusted with the task of teaching the law in Judah (2 Chron 17:7).

7. A Levite of the family of Merari, one of the overseers of the repair work in the Temple under Josiah (34:12).

8. The prophet (Obad 1). See Book of Obadiah.

9. A postexilic descendant of David and Jehoiachin (1 Chron 3:21).

10. A postexilic Levite, descendant of Jeduthun (1 Chron 9:16). He is commonly identified with Abda (Neh 11:17).

11. A family head who returned from Babylonia to Jerusalem with Ezra (Ezra 8:9).

12. One of the priests who signed the covenant with Nehemiah (Neh 10:5).

13. A Levitical gatekeeper in charge of the storehouses in the time of Nehemiah (Neh 12:25).