Obadiah "servant of Yahweh." The name occurs on ancient Hebrew seals and on the Samaria ostraca.

1. A man of the tribe of Issachar (1 Chr 7:3).

2. A warrior of the tribe of Gad who joined David in the wilderness (1 Chr 12:9).

3. A Zebulunite whose son Ishmaiah was the chief officer of that tribe in David's reign (1 Chr 27:19).

4. A descendant of King Saul through Jonathan (1 Chr 8:38; 9:44).

5. The governor of King Ahab's palace, who is described as a man who feared the Lord. He saved the lives of 100 prophets by hiding them in 2 groups of 50 each in caves (1 Ki 18:3, 4). At the end of the long drought predicted by Elijah, Ahab sent Obadiah to look for pasturage so that the horses and mules of the royal stable might be kept alive. During this search he met Elijah, who sent him to the king to announce the prophet's arrival (1 Ki 5-16).

6. A prince of Judah whom King Jehoshaphat sent out to teach in the cities of Judah (2 Chr 17:7).

7. A Merarite Levite, one of the overseers of the workmen who repaired the Temple in the reign of King Josiah (2 Chr 34:12).

8. A postexilic descendant of David (1 Chr 3:21).

9. A prophet, and author of the shortest OT book. See Obadiah, Book of.

10. A son of Jehiel of the family of Joab; he returned with 218 male members of his family from Babylonia with Ezra (Ezr 8:9).

11. A prominent priest who set his seal to Nehemiah's covenant (Neh 10:5).

12. The head of a Levitical family of gatekeepers (Neh 12:25); possibly identical with Obadiah, 13.

13. A son of Shemaiah of the descendants of Jeduthun (1 Chr 9:16); called Abda in Neh 11:17. He is possibly identical with Obadiah, 12 -- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Dictionary.