[3] As part of the recent Persian turn in Minor Prophets scholarship, the Book of Obadiah is considered to have been shaped by the conflicts between Yehud and the Edomites in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE and to have evolved through a process of redaction.

[4][5] The composition date is disputed and difficult to determine due to the lack of information regarding the prophet Obadiah.

[7] The other is 607–586 BCE, when Jerusalem was attacked by Nebuchadnezzar II of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, which led to the Babylonian captivity (recorded in Psalm 137).

The Interpreters' Bible states that: The political situation implied in the prophecy points to a time after the Exile, probably in the mid-fifth century B.C.

[11] Obadiah was very rich, but all his wealth was expended in feeding the poor prophets, until, in order to be able to continue to support them, finally he had to borrow money at interest from Ahab's son Jehoram.