1. The author of the Prophecy is עֹבַדְיָה/Obadiah, the servant of the Lord. Was he a prefect of Ahab, an Idumean Proselyte? The traditions of the Jews concerning this are uncertain.
Who the author of this Prophecy, עֹבַדְיָה/Obadiah, or Abdias, which denotes the servant, or worshipper, of the Lord, might have been is not every evident. The Hebrews, and even many Christians, both ancient and more recent, that this is that Obadiah, the prefect of Ahab, who concealed and fed the hundred Prophets exposed to the fury of Jezabel, 1 Kings 18:3, 4. The Jews add that he was an Idumean proselyte. But Calvin thinks them to be deceived: neither do we lend credence to the traditions of the Hebrews resting upon no foundation. It is likewise uncertain, what some contend, that he was that Obadiah, of whom mention is made in 2 Chronicles 34:12; but others contrive that he, discharging the duty of a Captain of Fifty before Ahaziah, when, after two captains of fifty had been consumed by fire from heaven, he was sent to seize Elijah, adhered to him.[1] But who he was, and when he lived, it matters little to know, especially since the same Prophecy in great part is extant in Isaiah 34; Jeremiah 49; Ezekiel 25; 35.
[1] See 2 Kings 1.