Obadiah is the shortest book in the Hebrew Bible, containing only 291 Hebrew words. Nonethe­less, like all prophetic books, it is meant to be read, read again, and studied. The book's main topic is the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE, and the putative actions of Edom against Judah at the time. The Edomites, the central characters of the book, were regarded as kin to the Israelites, since they were supposedly descended from Esau, Jacob's brother.