Obadiah means "Servant of God," and it is not an uncommon name in the Old Testament, though, as this list shows, it is, with the exception of Ahab's steward, a name which belongs to the later literature. But this is all we know about the author of the book.
We are equally ignorant about the date. The book was probably inserted here in the Canon, because the prophecy in Amos ix. 12 is, according to this document, realized. The dates assigned vary by nearly six hundred years, from 889 B.C. to 312 B.C.
The subject of the book is a denunciation of Israel's hereditary foe and neighbor, Edom, the descendants of Esau who lived in Mount Seir. The denunciation at the close passes into a general denunciation of other nations and a promise of victory to Israel.
