Justice and Judgement
Of the authors of these books we know nothing. Both appear to be nom-de-plumes. ‘Obadiah’ is Hebrew for ‘Servant of Yahweh’. ‘Nahum’ simply means ‘comfort’, as in Isaiah 40:1. Of their dates we know a little more.
Nahum clearly relates to the fall of Nineveh, capital of Assyria, in 612 BCE, though scholars are divided as to whether it is a prophecy uttered before or a news report uttered afterwards. A date somewhere in the latter half of the 7th century BCE seems likely, though it is not all that important since (as wih all the prophets) the experience described is universal.
Obadiah is more difficult. It certainly reflects animosity between Israel and Edom but that was such a long-running battle that it doesn’t help very much. Probably a date in the early part of the 6th century BCE is to be preferred, but again is of secondary importance.
Neither offers an immediately obvious message for today but the issues and the general terms in which they are described invite us to enter imaginatively into their experience, to identify similar events and emotions in our own time and then to see if we ‘hear a word’ for our time.
Both prophets address similar circumstances, from a similar standpoint, and are probably not too far apart in time. Both pronounce the judgement of God on wicked foreigners, Obadiah on Edom and Nahum on Assyria (Nineveh). The picture of God which they present raises similar questions for us, but apparently none for them. For example, is this ‘a God’ we want to own? Is it even a part of him? Or could it be that when we see dreadful things happening to our enemies we really do feel a certain sense of satisfaction but don’t want to admit it?
Obadiah and Nahum invite us to look more closely at what is going on. They also leave us with one question we might prefer not to think about. But what is it?