Charles Wolfe is remembered for just one poem ‘The Burial of Sir John Moore at Corunna’. We might say the same of W.E. Henley and his poem ‘Invictus’ or of A.H. Clough and his poem ‘Say not the struggle naught availeth’. But to say no more than that would be churlish. These three men achieved much else in life.
Wolfe was a Church of Ireland clergyman who died at the age of 31. Both Henley and Clough lived longer and wrote other worthwhile poems with a Stoical flavour. Henley’s familiar poem caught on as an example of standing up to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Henley had troubles enough in life. The amputation of a leg, which led Robert Louis Stevenson to model Long John Silver on him, was followed by a disease in the other leg. He pressed on nonetheless. In a varied career Clough proved himself an invaluable assistant to Florence Nightingale. He came to prominence during WW2 when Churchill quoted his line ‘But westward, look, the land is bright.’ With the help of Clough Churchill eyed the prospect of the USA joining the alliance against Nazi Germany. He had us looking across the Atlantic.
To be known for one poem is no small feat. Most of us do not get anything like as far. An esteemed military commander, an amputee and a man given to public service were men likely to inspire others. To be the subject or the author of a poem that strikes a chord with the public is not to have lived in vain. Obadiah was quite other than major prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel. No sooner had he started than he stopped. And he had no Churchill to quote him.
There was little, then, in the way of prophetic output from Obadiah. We know nothing about his life. His contribution to the Jewish scriptures is the shortest of them all. It is a miniature, a handful of brief poems on the theme of the treachery of Israel’s neighbour Edom. With a capital city in mountainous territory, the Edomites (descendants of Esau) would have noticed God’s threat through his mouthpiece Obadiah: ‘Though you soar as high as an eagle and your nest is set among the stars, even from there I shall bring you down.’ But Obadiah offered hope after adversity. The day of the Lord, he said, is coming. Things would be sorted out. There is a hint here of a coming Kingdom of God. Sometimes big things come in small packages.
THE SHORTEST PSALM
Dwarfed by its near-neighbour, 119, Psalm 117 is the shortest of the Psalms.
At two minutes the shortest UK scheduled flight is that between Westray and Papa Westray in the Orkneys.
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