Edom

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

The Edomite people were a Semitic-speaking tribal group inhabiting the Negev Desert and the Arabah valley of what is now southern Dead Sea and adjacent Jordan. The region has much reddish sandstone, which may have given rise to the name "Edom". The nation of Edom is known to have existed back to the 8th or 9th century BC, and the Bible dates it back several centuries further. Recent archaeological evidence may indicate an Edomite nation as long ago as the 11th century BC, but the topic is controversial. The nation ceased to exist as a settled state with the Jewish-Roman Wars.

The Edomites

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.^[1]

In the Bible

The Bible identifies Esau as the fraternal twin brother of Jacob, the grandson of Abraham. Jacob became the father of the Israelites after God (Genesis 35:10) renamed Jacob "Israel." Thus Esau shared his mother's womb together with the founder of the nation of Israel.^[2] See Genesis 25. Although Esau was Isaac's first-born entitled to inherit Isaac's wealth and blessing, Esau sold his birthright to his younger brother Jacob (Israel) for a pot of stew. The descendants of Esau and Israel led divergent paths with Edom settling east of modern day Israel forming tribal chiefs while Jacob traveled all of Israel, his inheritance.

The Bible explains the name "Edom" with no mention of red rock. It refers to the Edomites as descendants of Esau, and the Book of Genesis mentions "red" a number of times in describing Esau and explaining his alternate name Edom. "The first one [Esau] came out reddish [admoni in Hebrew], as hairy as a fur coat. They named him Esau."^[3] Years later, "Jacob was once simmering a stew, when Esau came home exhausted from the field. Esau said to Jacob: "Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom". (Genesis 25:29-30, KJV) ^[4] (see also retroactive nomenclature).

The Edomites' original country, according to the Tanakh, stretched from the Sinai peninsula as far as Kadesh Barnea. Southward it reached as far as Eilat, which was the seaport of Edom.^[5] On the north of Edom was the territory of Moab.^[6] The boundary between Moab and Edom was the Wadi Zered.^[7] The ancient capital of Edom was Bozrah^[8] According to Genesis, Esau's descendants 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 them and may have been a cultic site. In the time of Amaziah (838 BC), Selah (Petra) was its principal stronghold;^[9] Eilat and Ezion-geber its seaports.^[10]

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.^[11]

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.^[12] (Since 1948 it has been used for senior ranks in the Israeli Defense Force).

If the account may be taken at face value, the kingship of Edom was, at least in early times, not hereditary,^[13] perhaps elective.^[14] First Chronicles mentions both a king and chieftains.^[15] When the King of Edom refused to allow the children of Israel^[16] to pass through his land on their way to Canaan, they detoured around the country because of his show of force^[17] or because God ordered them to do so rather than wage war.^[18] The King of Edom did not attack the Israelites, though he prepared to resist aggression.

Map of the southern Levant, c.830s BC.      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 Tanakh until their defeat by King Saul of Israel in the late 1000s BC. Forty years later King David and his general Joab defeated the Edomites in the "valley of salt", (probably near the Dead Sea).^[19] An Edomite prince named Hadad escaped and fled to Egypt, and after David's death returned and tried to start a rebellion, but failed and went to Syria.^[20] From that time Edom remained a vassal of Israel. David placed over the Edomites Israelite governors or prefects,^[21] 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 BC) the Tanakh mentions a king of Edom,^[22] who was probably an Israelite appointed by the King of Judah. It also states^[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 revolted against Jehoram and elected a king of its own.^[24] Amaziah attacked and defeated the Edomites, seizing Selah, but the Israelites never subdued Edom completely.^[25]

In the time of Nebuchadnezzar II the Edomites helped plunder Jerusalem and slaughter the Jews.^[26] For this reason the Prophets denounced Edom violently.^[27]

Although the Idumaeans 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".^[28] According to the Torah,^[29] 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.^[30]

Archaeology

Archaeological excavations in southern Jordan have uncovered dozens of sites dated to the 7th and 6th centuries BCE and attributed to the Edomites. Modern Buseirah is generally identified with biblical Bozrah, probably the Edomite capital. However, most of the Edomite sites are small villages, farms or seminomadic sites. Edomites are usually associated with Edomite pottery, a ware found and manufactured both in southern Jordan and the Negev.

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 BC, and first believed no Edom existed at all. Biblical minimalists touted this fact as one piece of evidence of the Bible's ultimate unreliability as a historical source.^[31]

Recently, however, excavations such as the 2004-2004 UCSD dig at Khirbat an-Nahas, part of the Jabal Hamrat Fidan (JHF) Archaeological Project, 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 BC,^[32] although to what extent these sites reflect Edomite statehood is debated. 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 BC, (the date of the first Israelite monarchy, according to the Bible) which even had its own copper works.^[33] Newer data pushes back the archaeological chronology some three centuries earlier than the current scholarly consensus.^[34] "Now," said Levy, "with data from the first large-scale stratified and systematic excavation of a site in the southern Levant to focus specifically on the role of metallurgy in Edom, we have evidence that complex societies were indeed active in 10th and 9th centuries BCE and that brings us back to the debate about the historicity of the Hebrew Bible narratives related to this period."^[35] Radiocarbon tests from the site have confirmed that the industrial areas of the site date to the eleventh and tenth centuries BC.^[36]

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. ^[37] 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.

Edom probably exported salt and balsam (used for perfume and temple incense in the ancient world) from the Dead Sea region.

Post-Biblical times

Map showing kingdom of Edom (in red) at its largest extent, c. 600 BC. 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 BC), Malik-rammu at the time of Sennacherib (c. 705 BC), and Ḳaus-gabri at the time of Esarhaddon (c. 680 BC). According to the Egyptian inscriptions, the "Aduma" at times extended their possessions to the borders of Egypt.^[38] After the conquest of Judah by the Babylonians, the Edomites were allowed to settle in the region of Hebron. They prospered in this new country, called by the Greeks and Romans "Idumaea" or "Idumea", for more than four centuries.^[39].Strabo, writing around the time of Christ, held that the Idumaeans, whom he identified as of Nabataean origin, constituted the majority of the population of Western Judea, where they commingled with the Judaeans and adopted their customs ^[40].

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.^[41] 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 BC.^[42] They were again subdued by John Hyrcanus (c. 125 BC), who forced them to observe Jewish rites and laws.^[43] They were then incorporated with the Jewish nation.^[14]

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.^[44]

After the Jewish Wars the Idumaean people are no longer mentioned in history, though the geographical region of "Idumea" is still referred to at the time of St. Jerome.^[14]

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, Kaus and Asherah.

Identification with Rome

Later in Jewish history, the Roman Empire came to be identified with Edom, and specifically the remnants of Amalek. This can be seen in rabbinic and Pharasaic writings such as the Mishnah or the Talmud, the Spanish Rabbinic leaders Ramban and Ibn-Ezra, the French Rabbinic scholars Rashi (1040-1105) and Tosphoth, Babylonian Jewish scholars like Sa-adia Gaon and other Jewish exilarchs, the Lithuanian leader Rabbi Vilnius Gaon and Baal-Shem-Tov. They use "Edomite" to refer to Rome, the Byzantine Empire. In parallel, the Islamic world is referred to as "Ishmael".

Magdiel

Magdiel was an Edomite province, and possibly the name of an eponymous chieftain (Hebrew: sar‎), mentioned in the Bible ( Genesis 36:31-43). ^[45] In various midrashim, Magdiel was associated with Rome. ^[46]

See also

• List of rulers of Edom
• Edomite language
• Habiru

References

• Gottheil, Richard and M. Seligsohn. "Edom, Idumea." Jewish Encyclopedia. Funk and Wagnalls, 1901-1906; which cites:

External links

• 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.