Septuagint: Obadiah

The origin of the Book of Obadiah is debated to some degree, with some scholars suggesting that the book my date to the Persian era, however, the general view is that it dates to before the fall of Judea to the Babylonians in 587 BC. The exact identity of Obadiah is debated by scholars, however, the Rabbinical Jewish and Orthodox Christian identification of Obadiah is that he was an Edomite who worked for King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Judea, circa 860 BC. This Obadiah was described as saving 100 prophets from Ahab and Jezebel in Septuagint's 3rd Kingdoms (Masoretic Kingdoms). An alternate theory is that he was the Obadiah who served as a captain under King Ahaziah of Samaria in his dispute with Elijah, circa 850 BC, however, Ahaziah had no reason to threaten Edom, which was south of Judea and Moab, and did not border Samaria.

In the Islamic tradition, Obadiah is known as Abdullah, which is derived from the name Abdeel, not Obadiah. Abdeel was mentioned in the Masoretic Book of Jeremiah, but not the Septuagint's Jeremiah. In Masoretic Jeremiah, Abdeel was referred to as the father of Shelemiah, one of the men that was commanded to seize Jeremiah and Baruch by King Jehoiakim. If Obadiah's name was originally Abdeel, then his name would have been changed, as well as his god, from El to Iah, at some point before the Twelve books of the minor prophets were combined in the Persian era. Several other Obadiahs were mentioned in the Hebrew scriptures, ranging from the time of David, circa 1000 BC to the time of Ezra the Scribe, circa 450 BC, so the exact identity of the author remains debated.

Nevertheless, the dominant view is that he lived in the 9th-century BC, an Edomite who made a lot of money in Judea, working for King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, and then used his wealth to hide the 100 prophets that the King and Queen were trying to kill. As described in the various books of the prophets, his world was very different from the later Kingdom of Judea that emerged in the 2nd-century BC, as the Israelites of his time were still polytheistic, worshiping the Canaanite Elohim, as well as statues of Iaw (Masoretic Yahweh), the God the Jews and Samaritans would later worship. The Book of Obadiah is a short manuscript, which likely started as a letter to the Edomites, who had recently been driven south into the mountains around Petra. Due to its brevity, there are few differences between the Septuagint's and Masorites' versions of Obadiah. The notable difference between the two versions is the name of God, which is generally Lord (κύριος) in the Septuagint, other than in the opening line, where is was Lord God (κύριος ὁ θεὸς). Conversely, in the Masoretic version of Obadiah, the only god mentioned is Yahweh (יְהוָ֖ה). As the Edomites are known to have worshiped Iaw circa 800 BC, Obadiah's letter would likely have mentioned their god, and therefore the name Iaw (Septuagint's Yahweh) is restored in this translation. Iaw was in early copies of the Septuagint, however, not in as many places as the Masoretic Texts. The name was later removed from Christian versions of the Septuagint in the 3rd-century and is likely when the name redacted from this book. The alternate term in the Septuagint's Obadiah, Lord God, is a common reference to Lord El from the First Temple era, which was redacted from the proto-Masoretic texts during the Hasmonean dynasty when Yahweh replaced El.