James Hofmann, age 15, of Keen, N.H., for his question:

WHO WAS OBADIAH?

Obadiah was a Hebrew prophet who lived in the sixth century B.C. Obaaiah is also the name of the shortest book of the Old Testament. In the Bible, Obadiah consists of only one chapter of 21 verses. It is one of the 12 short prophetic books known, primarily because of their brevity, as the Minor Prophets.

Tradition attributes the old Testament book to the prophet, but many modern scholars question the unity of the book and ascribe it to more than one author, one of whom may have been Obadiah.

It is generally agreed that the book dates from postexilic times. Verses 11 14 most probably refer to the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. Many dates have been suggested, however, for other passages, some of them as early as the ninth century and others as late as the fourth.

The first part of Obadiah (1 14) foretells the fall of Judah's traditional enemy Edom. The remainder prophesied that Edom and the neighboring nations would be punished.