region

Edom

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History

Edom was the hill country south of the Dead Sea, east of the Arabah, from the Zered (Wadi Hasa) south towards the Gulf of Aqaba; the Bible also calls it Seir, and the Edomites "the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir". The name means "red", from the sandstone of its mountains and, in Genesis, from the red pottage for which Esau sold his birthright. Its towns were Bozrah (Busayra), Teman and Sela, whose people, Obadiah says, dwell "in the clefts of the rock"; Sela is placed by some at Umm el-Biyara above Petra and by others at es-Sela near Bozrah. The copper mines of Faynan in the Arabah were worked in the Iron Age; whether a kingdom already existed there in the tenth century BC or only from the eighth is disputed.

Genesis lists the kings "that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel". When Moses asked leave to pass along the king's highway, "Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me", and Israel turned away; yet the Law forbade them to abhor an Edomite, "for he is thy brother". Saul fought Edom, and David put garrisons through all of it after the slaughter in the valley of salt. In the days of Joram "Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and made a king over themselves"; Amaziah took Sela, and Uzziah rebuilt Elath on the Red Sea, which Rezin recovered under Ahaz.

Assyrian lists name Qaush-malaka, Aiarammu and Qaush-gabri, kings of Edom, among those who paid tribute from the 730s to the 670s BC; the royal names honour Qaus, the god of Edom. In 587 BC the Edomites stood by at the fall of Jerusalem: "Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it", and Obadiah, Ezekiel and Malachi condemn them for it. The Nabonidus Chronicle seems to have the Babylonian king encamp against Edom in 553/552 BC, after which the kingdom fades. Edomites moved into the Negeb south of Hebron, which became Idumea, and Arabs and then the Nabataeans took their old land and built Petra.

In the late second century BC John Hyrcanus conquered Idumea and, Josephus says, made its people live by the Jewish law; Herod the Great was of Idumean descent. The old Edom became part of the Roman province of Arabia in AD 106, and Eusebius knew Idumea as the country round Petra. Today it is the south of Jordan: Tafila, Shawbak and the ruins of Petra, inscribed by UNESCO in 1985, with the port of Aqaba at its southern end.

Scripture: Gen 25:30; Gen 32:3; Gen 36:8–9; Gen 36:31; Num 20:14–21; Deut 2:4–5; Deut 23:7; 2 Sam 8:14; 2 Kgs 8:20–22; 2 Kgs 14:7; 2 Kgs 16:6; Ps 137:7; Isa 63:1; Jer 49:7; Jer 49:16; Ezek 25:12–14; Amos 1:11; Obad 1:3–4; Obad 1:10–12; Mal 1:2–4

Checked against its sources; not yet read by a historian.

Verses (111)

Gen 32:3

And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

Gen 36:9

And these are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in mount Seir:

Gen 36:16

Duke Korah, duke Gatam, and duke Amalek: these are the dukes that came of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these were the sons of Adah.

Gen 36:17

And these are the sons of Reuel Esau’s son; duke Nahath, duke Zerah, duke Shammah, duke Mizzah: these are the dukes that came of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Bashemath Esau’s wife.

Gen 36:20

These are the sons of Seir the Horite, who inhabited the land; Lotan, and Shobal, and Zibeon, and Anah,

Gen 36:21

And Dishon, and Ezer, and Dishan: these are the dukes of the Horites, the children of Seir in the land of Edom.

Gen 36:31

And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel.

Gen 36:32

And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom: and the name of his city was Dinhabah.

Gen 36:40

And these are the names of the dukes that came of Esau, according to their families, after their places, by their names; duke Timnah, duke Alvah, duke Jetheth,

Gen 36:43

Duke Magdiel, duke Iram: these be the dukes of Edom, according to their habitations in the land of their possession: he is Esau the father of the Edomites.

Exod 15:15

Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away.

Num 20:14

And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us:

Num 20:18

And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword.

Num 20:20

And he said, Thou shalt not go through. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand.

Num 20:21

Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border: wherefore Israel turned away from him.

Num 20:23

And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in mount Hor, by the coast of the land of Edom, saying,

Num 21:4

And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.

Num 24:18

And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies; and Israel shall do valiantly.

Num 33:37

And they removed from Kadesh, and pitched in mount Hor, in the edge of the land of Edom.

Num 34:3

Then your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Zin along by the coast of Edom, and your south border shall be the outmost coast of the salt sea eastward:

Josh 15:1

This then was the lot of the tribe of the children of Judah by their families; even to the border of Edom the wilderness of Zin southward was the uttermost part of the south coast.

Josh 15:21

And the uttermost cities of the tribe of the children of Judah toward the coast of Edom southward were Kabzeel, and Eder, and Jagur,

Judg 5:4

LORD, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water.

Judg 11:17

Then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land: but the king of Edom would not hearken thereto. And in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab: but he would not consent: and Israel abode in Kadesh.

Judg 11:18

Then they went along through the wilderness, and compassed the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, but came not within the border of Moab: for Arnon was the border of Moab.

1 Sam 14:47

So Saul took the kingdom over Israel, and fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, and against the children of Ammon, and against Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines: and whithersoever he turned himself, he vexed them.

2 Sam 8:12

Of Syria, and of Moab, and of the children of Ammon, and of the Philistines, and of Amalek, and of the spoil of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah.

2 Sam 8:13

And David gat him a name when he returned from smiting of the Syrians in the valley of salt, being eighteen thousand men.

2 Sam 8:14

And he put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom put he garrisons, and all they of Edom became David’s servants. And the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went.

1 Kgs 9:26

And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom.

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King James Version