Mount Esau
Mount Esau is a mountain mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Negev in modern-day Israel. Known today as Jebel esh Shera. It appears across 4 verses in Scripture.
Biblical History
Mount Esau, also called Mount Seir, refers to the mountainous territory in southern Transjordan that became the homeland of Esau and his descendants, the Edomites. The connection between Esau and this mountain is established in Genesis 36:8-9, where Esau is described as settling in the hill country of Seir. The book of Obadiah, the shortest prophetic book, is directed entirely against Edom and Mount Esau, pronouncing divine judgment for their violence against their brother Jacob (Israel) during Jerusalem's destruction. Obadiah declares that saviors shall go up to Mount Zion to govern Mount Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's (Obadiah 1:21). This prophecy frames the ultimate triumph of God's people over the pride and hostility symbolized by Edom. Throughout Scripture, Edom and Mount Esau represent opposition to God's covenant purposes, from Esau's sale of his birthright (Genesis 25:29-34) to Edom's refusal to let Israel pass through their territory during the exodus (Numbers 20:14-21).
Archaeological & Historical Notes
Mount Esau corresponds to the mountainous region of ancient Edom in southern Jordan, centered on the sandstone highlands east of the Arabah valley. The area is identified with Jebel esh-Shera, a mountain range reaching elevations of approximately 1,700 meters. Archaeological surveys and excavations have revealed extensive Edomite settlement from the Late Bronze and Iron Ages, including the major sites of Buseirah (biblical Bozrah, the Edomite capital), Tawilan, and Umm el-Biyara near Petra. Nelson Glueck's pioneering surveys in the 1930s-40s and subsequent work by Crystal-M. Bennett and others have documented a sophisticated Edomite civilization with copper smelting, agriculture, and trade networks.
Verse Appearances (4)
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
- Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
- Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
- Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
- Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]