He is the prophet of the shortest book of the Old Testament, which rebukes Edom for its pride and betrayal of its kindred people. He proclaimed the hope that on the Day of the Lord justice would prevail and the kingdom would belong to God.
Life
Saint Obadiah is an Old Testament prophet; the Book of Obadiah that bears his name is the shortest book in the Old Testament. Scripture tells us almost nothing about his life, so we cannot know for certain when or where he lived.
The book rebukes Edom, a kindred people, for rejoicing over and harming Jerusalem in its distress, and proclaims that the proud will be brought low and that on the day of the Lord God's kingdom will be established. Scholars generally see it as reflecting the time of Jerusalem's fall in 587 BC. The Church remembers him on November 19.
Spirituality
Obadiah's spirituality is faith in God's justice and a warning against pride. He reminds us how grave it is before God to rejoice in or ignore a neighbor's misfortune. Brief as it is, his message ends in hope: the kingdom shall be the Lord's.
Reflection
Obadiah rebuked Edom's pride in rejoicing over a brother's misfortune. Have I ever quietly taken pleasure in someone else's failure, or turned away from a neighbor in trouble?