Lives of Scripture

Obadiah is named among five officials -- Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah -- whom King Jehoshaphat of Judah sent throughout the kingdom in the third year of his reign as part of an organized program of religious instruction (2 Chronicles 17:7). Jehoshaphat paired these officials with a team of Levites and two priests, Elishama and Jehoram (17:8), and together "they taught in Judah, having the book of the law of the LORD with them; and they went throughout all the cities of Judah and taught among the people" (17:9). This was a deliberate, circuit-style teaching campaign reaching the whole of Judah, part of the broader reforms Chronicles credits to Jehoshaphat, including removing pagan high places and Asherim (17:6). The chapter connects this teaching mission to the kingdom's resulting stability: surrounding nations, in awe of the LORD's hand on Judah, brought tribute rather than making war (17:10-11). Scripture gives Obadiah no further individual action beyond his place on this team. A different, much later Obadiah -- also called Abda, son of Shammua and descended from Jeduthun -- appears only as a name in genealogical lists of Levite gatekeepers who resettled Jerusalem after the exile (1 Chronicles 9:16; Nehemiah 11:17), with no narrative of his own; the two men are best read as separate individuals who happen to share a name.