Prophet - One who pronounces divinely inspired revelations. This is how the word prophet is defined in Webster's Dictionary, but a prophet is much more. A prophet is someone who is chosen by God to convey his message to the people; an intermediary between God and his people. A prophet is someone whom God chooses to embody himself. Someone people will listen to. Someone with a presence. Now, not all the prophets led perfect lives, but they all had a connection with the Lord that could not be matched. The prophets were holy people, but they were nothing like God. They were humble people who willingly served their God. This summary of a prophet is what most people believe the prophet Obadiah was like. Obadiah, the shortest book of the Old Testament consisting of a single chapter, is the declaration of doom against an ancient and long-forgotten nation, the land of Edom. It was written in 587 BCE, after the destruction of Jerusalem. But there is more to this book than that. The Scriptures have this ability to appear as one thing on the surface, but on a deeper level, producing rich and powerful treasures. This is certainly true of the short but significant book of Obadiah. We know very little about Obadiah except that he was one of the minor prophets. There is a reference to a prophet Obadiah in the time of Elijah and Elisha and some think it may be the same man. The name Obadiah, however, was a very common name among the Hebrews, and it is very likely that it is not the same prophet, because in this book Obadiah mentions the day when Jerusalem was destroyed, captured by foreign armies, and this occurs long after the time of Elijah and Elisha. Thus, most biblical commentators believe that the author of this book was a contemporary of the prophet Jeremiah, the last of the prophets before Israel was sent into captivity. The name Obadiah means “the servant of Jehovah”; He occupies the position of servant. He comes to do his work and disappears into the background; he delivers his message and he leaves. That's about all we know about the man behind this book. The book of Obadiah tells the story of two nations, the nation of Israel and the nation of Edom, the land south of Israel which is now generally called the Negeb..