Holier Than Thou

Who wrote the books of the Bible and when?

Book of Obadiah, about the vision Obadiah had concerning the judgment of Edom, was written around the sixth century B.C. by Obadiah ("servant of the LORD"), possibly making him a contemporary of Jeremiah. Edom was a neighboring nation of Israel which was decended from Isaac's son Esau (Israel was descended from Isaac's son Jacob). The Edomites participated in the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., and as a result were destroyed and resettled by other neighboring countries. The Book of Obadiah includes: prophecy against Edom for helping to destroy their brother, Judah, and rejoicing while its people were carried off in exile.

"In that day," declares the Lord, "will I not destroy the wise men of Edom, men of understanding in the mountains of Esau? Your warriors, O Teman, will be terrified, and everyone in Esau's mountains will be cut down in the slaughter. Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever. On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. You should not look down on your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their trouble. You should not march through the gates of my people in the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster. You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugatives, nor hand over their survivors in the day of their trouble." (Obadiah 8-14)