5. (a) What proves the record of Obadiah to be authentic and true? (b) How did Obadiah fulfill the requirements of a true prophet, and why is his name appropriate?

⁵ Obadiah’s prophecy against Edom was fulfilled​—all of it! In reaching its climax, the prophecy states: “The house of Esau [must become] as stubble; and they must set them ablaze and devour them. And there will prove to be no survivor to the house of Esau; for Jehovah himself has spoken it.” (Vs. 18) Edom lived by the sword and died by the sword, and no trace of her descendants remains.

11, 12. (a) How did those “at peace with” Edom come to prevail against her? (b) By what stages did Edom come to be “cut off to time indefinite”?

¹¹ Obadiah had foretold that “the very men in covenant with” Edom, those “at peace with” her, would be the ones to prevail against her. (Obad. 7) Babylon’s peace with Edom did not last. During the sixth century B.C.E., Babylonian forces under King Nabonidus conquered Edom.b Nevertheless, a century after Nabonidus’ invasion of the land, confident Edom still hoped to make a comeback, and concerning it, Malachi 1:4 reports: “Because Edom keeps saying, ‘We have been shattered, but we shall return and build the devastated places,’ this is what Jehovah of armies has said, ‘They, for their part, will build; but I, for my part, shall tear down.’” Despite Edom’s efforts at recovery, by the fourth century B.C.E. the Nabataeans were firmly established in the land. Having been pushed out of their land, the Edomites dwelt in the southern part of Judea, which came to be called Idumea. They never succeeded in reconquering the land of Seir.

¹² According to Josephus, in the second century B.C.E. the remaining Edomites were subjugated by the Jewish king John Hyrcanus I, were forced to submit to circumcision, and were gradually absorbed into the Jewish domain under a Jewish governor. Following the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E., their name disappeared from history.c It was as Obadiah had foretold: “You will have to be cut off to time indefinite. . . . And there will prove to be no survivor to the house of Esau.”​—Obad. 10, 18.