Edom

"Edomite" redirects here.

Edom (אֱדוֹם, ʾĔḏôm, "red") is a name given to Esau in the Hebrew Bible, as well as to the nation purportedly descended from him. The nation's name in Assyrian was Udumi; in Greek, Ἰδουμαία (Idoumaía); in Latin, Idumæa or Idumea.

The Edomite people were a Semitic-speaking tribal group inhabiting the Negev Desert and the Aravah valley of what is now southern Israel and adjacent Jordan. Although the Bible traces the origin of its name to Esau, the region has much reddish sandstone, which may have given rise to the name. Historically, the nation of Edom is known to have existed back to the either or ninth century B.C.E. The Bible dates it back several centuries further, however. Archeological evidence may indicate an Edomite nation as long ago as the eleventh century, but the topic is controversial. In Roman times Idumea accepted Judaism and produced a particularly famous native sons in King Herod the great and his royal line. The nation ceased to exist with the Jewish-Roman Wars.

The Edomites

Origins

The Edomites may have been connected with the Shasu and Shutu, nomadic raiders mentioned in Egyptian sources. Indeed, a letter from an Egyptian scribe at a border fortress in the Wadi Tumilat during the reign of Merneptah reports movement of nomadic "Shasu tribes of Edom" to watering holes in Egyptian territory. Other ancient references refer to "Yahweh of the Shashu," leading scholars to conclude that this ancient nomads worshiped the deity also identified "God of Israel."

The Bible states that the Edomites were descendants of Esau. Although it does not mention the reddish sandstone which characterizes the region, the Book of Genesis mentions "red" a number of times in describing Esau and explaining his alternate name of Edom (red). "The first one [Esau] came out reddish [admoni in Hebrew], as hairy as a fur coat. They named him Esau." (Genesis 25:25) Years later, "Jacob was once simmering a stew, when Esau came home exhausted from the field. Esau said to Jacob, 'Give me a swallow of that red stuff'." He was therefore given the name Edom" Genesis 25:29-30.

In biblical history

The Edomites' original country, according to the Bible, stretched from the Sinai peninsula as far as Kadesh Barnea. Southward it reached as far as Eilat, which was the seaport of Edom.(Deut. 1:2; 2:1-8). On the north of Edom was the territory of Moab. Judges 11:17-18; (II Kings 3:8-9) The boundary between Moab and Edom was the Wadi Zered. (Deut. 2:13-18) The ancient capital of Edom was Bozrah Gen. 36:33; Isa. 34:6, 63:1, et al) According to Genesis, Esau's descendents settled in this land after displacing the Horites. It was also called the land of Seir. Mount Seir appears to have been strongly identified with the Edomites and may have been a cultic site associated with the Hebrew God Yahweh, conceived of as a deity of rain and storm. The ancient "Song of Deborah" (Judges 5:4) states:

Lord, when You went out from Seir,

When You marched from the field of Edom,

The earth quaked, the heavens also dripped,

Even the clouds dripped water.

Elsewhere, God is depicted doing "the same for the descendants of Esau" as he had done for Israel, by fighting on the side of the Edomites agains their enemies. (Det. 2:22)

Genesis 36 chronicles Esau's family and the kings of Edom:

These are the kings who ruled in the land of Edom before a king ruled the children of Israel. And Bela ben Beor ruled in Edom, and the name of his city was Dinhabah. And Bela died, and Jobab ben Zerah from Bozrah ruled in his place. And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of Temani ruled in his place. And Husham died, and Hadad ben Bedad, who struck Midian in the field of Moab, ruled in his place, and the name of his city was Avith. And Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah ruled in his place. And Samlah died, and Saul of Rehoboth on the river ruled in his place. And Saul died, and Baal-hanan ben Achbor ruled in his place. And Baal-hanan ben Achbor died, and Hadar ruled in his place, and the name of his city was Pau, and his wife's name was Mehetabel bat Matred bat Mezahab. And these are the names of the clans of Esau by their families, by their places, by their names: clan Timnah, clan Alvah, clan Jetheth, clan Aholibamah, clan Elah, clan Pinon, clan Kenaz, clan Teman, clan Mibzar, clan Magdiel, clan Iram.

In the time of Amaziah (838 B.C.E.), Selah (Petra) was its principal stronghold, (II Kings 14:7) while Eilat and Ezion-geber were its seaports. I Kings 9:26

The Hebrew word translated as "clan" is aluf, also translated as "chief," "general," or "duke" and used in this sense only in connection with Edom and Hori.

If the account may be taken at face value, the kingship of Edom was, at least in early times, not hereditary, perhaps elective. First Chronicles mentions both a king and chieftains.

=Relations with Israel

When the King of Edom refused to allow the Israelites (Numbers 20:19) to pass through his land on their way to Canaan, they detoured around the country because of his show of force. (Num. 20:14-21) The Book of Deuteronomy adds that God ordered Israel to avoid confrontation rather than wage war against the Edomites. (Deut. 2:4-6) It also declares: "You shall not detest an Edomite, for he is your brother... The sons of the third generation who are born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord. (23:7-8)

Map of the southern Levant, c.830s B.C.E. ██ Kingdom of Judah ██ Kingdom of Israel ██ Philistine city-states ██ Phoenician states ██ Kingdom of Ammon ██ Kingdom of Edom ██ Kingdom of Aram-Damascus ██ Aramean tribes ██ Arubu tribes ██ Nabatu tribes ██ Assyrian Empire ██ Kingdom of Moab

Nothing further is recorded of the Edomites in the Bible until a brief mention of warfare between the Edomites and King Saul of Israel in the late 1000s B.C.E. (1 Sam. 14:47) An Edomite named Doeg is later described as Saul's chief shepherd. Doeg is also the villain in story of the hideous murder of the priests of Nob, ordered by Saul in retaliation for their sheltering of the renegade David. (1 Sam:21-22)

Later, King David and his general Joab defeated the Edomites in the "valley of salt," (probably near the Dead Sea), occuping the country for six months and reportedly slaughtering "every male in Edom" in a policy clearly aimed at genocide, despite Deuteronomy's commandment not to despise the Edomites. (II Sam. 8:13-14; I Kings 9:15-16) An Edomite prince named Hadad escaped and fled to Egypt, and Edom became a vassal state of David's kingdom. After David's death, Hadad returned and tried to start a rebellion, but failed and went to Syria. David placed Israelite governors over the Edomites, (2 Sam. 8:14), and this form of government seems to have continued under Solomon.

When Israel divided into two kingdoms, Edom became a dependency of the Kingdom of Judah. In the time of Jehoshaphat (c. 914 B.C.E.) the Bible mentions a king of Edom, (II Kings 3:9-26) who was probably an Israelite appointed by the King of Judah. It also states (II Chron. 20:10-23) that the inhabitants of Mount Seir invaded Judea in conjunction with Ammon and Moab, and that the invaders turned against one another and were all destroyed. Edom also revolted in the time of King Jehoram of Judah and elected a king of its own.(II Kings 8:20-22; II Chron. 21:8) Amaziah attacked and defeated the Edomites, seizing Selah, but the Israelites never subdued Edom completely.

In the time of Nebuchadnezzar II the Edomites helped plunder Jerusalem and slaughter the Jews. For this reason the Prophets denounced Edom violently.

Although the Israelites controlled the lands to the east and south of the Dead Sea, their peoples were held in contempt by the Israelites. Hence the Book of Psalms says "Moab is my washpot: over Edom will I cast out my shoe". According to the Torah, the congregation could not receive descendants of a marriage between an Israelite and an Edomite until the fourth generation. This law was a subject of controversy between Shimon ben Yohai, who said it applied only to male descendants, and other Talmudists, who said female descendants were also excluded.

Economy

The Kingdom of Edom drew much of its livelihood from the caravan trade between Egypt, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and southern Arabia, along the Incense Route. Astride the King's Highway, the Edomites were one of several states in the region for whom trade was vital due to the scarcity of arable land. It is also said that sea routes traded as far away as India, with ships leaving from the port of Ezion-Geber. Edom's location on the southern highlands left it with only a small strip of land that received sufficient rain for farming.^{[citation needed]}

Edom probably exported salt and balsam (used for perfume and temple incense in the ancient world) from the Dead Sea region.^{[citation needed]}

Post-Biblical Times

Map showing kingdom of Edom (in red) at its largest extent, c. 600 B.C.E. Areas in dark red show the approximate boundary of classical-age Idumaea.

Edom is mentioned in Assyrian cuneiform inscriptions in the form "Udumi" or "Udumu"; three of its kings are known from the same source: Ḳaus-malaka at the time of Tiglath-pileser III (c. 745 B.C.E.), Malik-rammu at the time of Sennacherib (c. 705 B.C.E.), and Ḳaus-gabri at the time of Esarhaddon (c. 680 B.C.E.). According to the Egyptian inscriptions, the "Aduma" at times extended their possessions to the borders of Egypt. After the conquest of Judah by the Babylonians, the Edomites were allowed to settle in the region south of Hebron. They prospered in this new country, called by the Greeks and Romans "Idumaea" or "Idumea", for more than four centuries. At the same time they were driven by the Nabatæans from their ancestral lands to the south and east.

During the revolt of the Maccabees against the Seleucid kingdom, II Maccabees refers to a Seleucid general named Gorgias as "Governor of Idumaea"; whether he was a Greek or a Hellenized Edomite is unknown. Some scholars maintain that the reference to Idumaea in that passage is an error altogether. Judas Maccabeus conquered their territory for a time in around 163 B.C.E. They were again subdued by John Hyrcanus (c. 125 B.C.E.), who forced them to observe Jewish rites and laws. They were then incorporated with the Jewish nation.

The Hasmonean official Antipater the Idumaean was of Edomite origin. He was the progenitor of the Herodian Dynasty that ruled Judea after the Roman conquest. Under Herod the Great Idumaea was ruled for him by a series of governors, among whom were his brother Joseph ben Antipater and his brother-in-law Costobarus.

Immediately before the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, 20,000 Idumaeans, under the leadership of John, Simeon, Phinehas, and Jacob, appeared before Jerusalem to fight in behalf of the Zealots who were besieged in the Temple.

After the Jewish Wars the Idumaeans ceased to be a separate people, though the geographical name "Idumea" still existed at the time of St. Jerome.

Edomite religion

The nature of Edomite religion is largely unknown. As close relatives of other Levantine Semites, they may have worshipped such gods as El, Baal, Asherah, and possibly even YHWH. A national god named Kaus (possibly analogous with the Moabite god Chemosh) is known from personal names and from an altar inscription discovered near Mamre.^{[citation needed]}

Identification with Rome

Later in Jewish history, the Roman Empire came to be identified with Esau and "Edom". In medieval rabbinic writing, "Edom" is used to refer to the Byzantine Empire and Christendom in general (cf. the use of "Ishmael" to refer to the Islamic world). See extended discussion of this subject under Esau.

Controversy

For over a century, archeologists specializing in the Middle East maintained that there was no evidence of an organized state society in Edom earlier than the 800s or 700s B.C.E. Biblical minimalists touted this fact as one piece of evidence of the Bible's ultimate unreliability as a historical source.

Recently, however, excavations such as the 2004-2004 UCSD dig at Khirbat an-Nahas in Jordan have shed new light on the history of Edom, unearthing artifacts and evidence of settled state society as early as the tenth century B.C.E.,1 2), although whether and to what extent these sites reflect Edomite statehood is debated.3 Thomas E. Levy, among other scholars, concluded from a survey of the an-Nahas site that Edom was a sophisticated, urbanized society as early as the eleventh century B.C.E., (the date of the first Israelite monarchy, according to the Bible) which even had its own copper works. Radiocarbon tests from the site have confirmed that the industrial areas of the site date to the eleventh and tenth centuries B.C.E.

See also

• Children of Eber
• Edomite language
• Habiru
• Hebrews
• Nabataea

Resources

• Gottheil, Richard and M. Seligsohn. "Edom, Idumea." Jewish Encyclopedia. Funk and Wagnalls, 19011906; which cites:

• Buhl, Die Edomiter, 1893;
• Nöldeke, in Cheyne and Black, Encyc. Bibl. ii. 1181;
• Trumbull, Kadesh Barnea;
• Baethgen, Beiträge zur Semit. Religionsgesch. p. 10;
• Hommel, Ancient Hebr. Trad., Index;
• Rapoport, Erech Millin, p. 14.

• Edom on Bruce Gordon's Regnal Chronologies
• UCSD article on age of Edom
• Article on age of Edom from the Jerusalem Post
• Mail & Guardian Article on Edom's age, includes Dever's reaction
• Edom on Ancientroute.com

This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.

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