Edom
Edom is a region mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Transjordan in modern-day Israel. Known today as Buseira. It appears across 111 verses in Scripture.
Biblical History
Edom, the rugged highland territory southeast of the Dead Sea, figures prominently throughout Scripture as both a neighbor and a theological foil to Israel. The Edomites traced their descent from Esau, Jacob's twin brother (Genesis 36:1), giving the nation a perpetual fraternal rivalry with Israel. When Israel sought passage through Edom during the Exodus, the Edomite king refused (Numbers 20:14–21), a rebuff remembered bitterly for generations. David subjugated Edom (2 Samuel 8:14), but the nation repeatedly reasserted its independence. The prophets — Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, and especially Obadiah — thundered against Edom's pride and its treachery during Jerusalem's fall to Babylon in 586 BC, when Edomites reportedly encouraged and aided the destruction (Obadiah 10–14). Edom became a symbol of human arrogance under divine judgment. By the intertestamental period the Edomites, displaced by Nabataeans, had migrated into southern Judah, becoming the Idumeans from whom Herod the Great descended — giving Edom an ironic presence at the margins of the New Testament story.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Buseira (biblical Bozrah) served as Edom's capital and has been excavated by Crystal Bennett in the 1970s, revealing a substantial Iron Age administrative complex with large public buildings, indicating a well-organized state. The Nabataean city of Petra later rose to prominence in Edomite territory, and its remarkable rock-cut monuments survive today. Survey work across the Edomite highlands by scholars including John Bienkowski has documented a network of Iron Age villages and forts. Edomite pottery is stylistically distinctive and identifiable across the region. Inscriptions from neighboring regions confirm Edom's political presence, and Assyrian records mention Edomite kings paying tribute, corroborating the biblical account of a functioning monarchy.
Verse Appearances (111)
Exod
1Sam
2Kgs
Jer
Dan
Joel
Mal
Sources: ISBE Encyclopedia · OpenBible Geocoding (CC BY) · Pleiades Gazetteer View all →