Edom, edomites (Hastings' Dictionary)

Edom, the 'Red' Land, so called from the red colour of its sandstone clills, embraced the ranges of Mount Seir on either side of the 'Arabah, or depression which runs southward from the Dead Sea to the head of the Gulf of Akabah. The name corresponds with that of Deser or ' Red,' applied by the Egyptians to the desert to the east of their country which was inhabited by the Sliasu or Bedawin, and included Mount Seir.

In the time of the Twelfth Dynasty, as we learn from the story of Sinuhit, the country in which Edom was situated went by the name of Tonu (or Tennu), the portion to the north-east of it being called ^adflmil, the ^^edera of the OT, whence the Kadmonites of Gn 15" (see also 1 K 4*"). Sinuhit received in it the district of Aia. In one of the Tel el-Araama tablets (The Tel el-Aniarna Tablet) in the British Museum, No.

64) the city of Udumu or Edom is mentioned as hostile to the Egyptian king, and as being in a foreign land, together with the cities of Aduri (Addar), Magdalim (Migdol), and Khini-s- nabi (En-ha(n)-nabi). Udumu is sometimes called a 'city 'in the later Assyr. inscriptions, though it is also spoken of in them as a 'country.' We may conclude, therefore, that tlie country took its name from its capital.

In tlie Leyden Papyrus (L 343, 7) the wife of the Semitic fire-god Reslipu is said to be ' Edom ' [Etum], and at Kamak both Anienophis II. and Thothnies lll. mention the city of Shemesh- Edom {Shems/iu-Edum), which is coupled with Anukhertu, the Analiarath in Issachar of Jos 19"". Retlipana, the EgjT>tian name of the Dead Sea, may be a derivative from Reshpu (cf. Job 5', where ' sparks ' are called ' the sons of Resheph'). The name Obed-edom, 'servant of Edom,' occurs in the OT (2 S e'").

Edom, there- fore, was probably (but not certainly [see Driver, Text of Sam. 205]) the name of a deity ; and since both Udura and Etum correspond to the same Hebrew word, it would seem that the local and divine names were connected with one another. Tlie original inhabitants of Mount Seir were Horites (which see), who were ' destroyed ' by the cliiklren of Esau (Dt 2*^). The genealogies in Gn 36, however, show that the destruction was not complete, and that the two races intennarried.

Esau himself married a descendant of ' Seir the Horite' (36'', where 36"-" show that we must read 'Horite' for 'Hivite'). When the campaign of Chedorlaomer and his Babylonian allies took place EDOM, EDO.MITES EDOM, EDOMITES 645 the Horites had not yet been ili»i)i)ssessed (Gn 14'). The Horites were governed by 'ailii/ihim or ' dukes,' and both the olhceand name were handed on to their Edomite successors (Gn 3U-'-'- "').

As the ' 'alliipli im of Edoiii ' are ahme referred to in tlie son" of Moses (Ex 15) after the overthrow of the Ejj'yptians, we may perhaps infer that at the time of the Exodus a Icinj' had not been established in Edom ; at any rate tlie reference is an indication of the antiquity of the passable in which it occurs. Before the Israelites had quitted the desert, however, there was a kin;^ in Edom.

Moses sent messenj;ers from Kadesliliarnea to the kin;; of Edom asking liini to permit liia ' brother Israel ' to pass through his territories, promising that they would march along the highway and do no injiirj' to the country. But the Eclomites refused permission, and came out with an army, so tliat the Israelites were obliged to ' compass the land of Edom ' (Nu 20"-^' 21^).

The kings of Edom who reigned ' before there reigned any king over the children of Israel ' are enumerated; in (U\ SG^''**. The first, Hela the son of Beor, seems to be identical witli Bahiam the son of Beor, the seer of Petbor. If so, this would account for his having been slain in the war with the Miilianites (Nu 31").

' Kehoboth by the river,' from which Sliaul came (Gn 30"), must have stood on the Euphrates, as that is 'the river' of the OT ; conseciuently it cannot be the Hehobotli or ' Suburbs' of Kineveh (Assyr. liibit), which were on the Tigris. The list of Eilomite kings must have been extracted from the royal annals, and, as It breaks off in the reign of Hadar (Gn 36") (or Hadad, 1 Ch 1*), may have been composed %t that time. It will be noticed that the monarchy was elective, not hereditary.

The children of Israel were ordered not to ' contend ' with their ' brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir,' for God had 'given Mount Seir unto Esau for a possession ' ; anu accordingly they turned eastward after passing the Edomite ports of Elath and Eziongeber (now 'Akabah and kala'at el-'A^abah), at the head of the Gulf of Akabah, and ma<le their way to Moab along the eastern edge of Mount Seir (Dt 2^").

Similarly, the Edomite, like the Egyptian, was allowed to ' enter into the congregation of the Lord in the third generation' (Dt 'JS'-'), in contrast to the Ammonite and Moabite, who could not do so till the tenth generation. Ramses m. of the Twentieth Egyptian Dynasty, after defeating the northern hordes who had attacked Egj'pt, and overrunning the south of Palestine, ' smote the people of Seir who belong to the Shasu (Bedawin), and plundered their tents.' Amon^ the pictures of his pri.

soner8 at Medinet Habu IB that of the Edomite ' chief,' who, it must be observed, is not called 'king.' So far as we know, it was the only campaign ever undertaken by a Pharaoh against Mount .Seir. Its date was aoout B.C. 1230-1200, some thirty years after the Exodus, so that the Israelites might have been in the neighbourhood of Edom at the time (ef. Nu 2I'''). Edomite tribes settled in the south of Judah, and even Othiiiel the brother of Caleb, and the first judge, was a Keniz/.

ite (Nu 32", Jos I.'i", Gn ,3(i"-">). Saul warred with Edom (IS 14"); and David conquered the country, putting garri.sons throughout it, and occupying its ])()rts in the Gulf of Al>abah (2 S H"- ", where we must read ' Edom ' for 'Aram,' AV 'Syrians'). It was in these ports that .Solomon with the help of the Tyrians con- Btnicted the merchant ve-si-cls which traded to Ophir for gold (1 K U"'-*).

Throughout his reign, however, Kdom was in a state of revolt umler Hadad, 'of the king's seed,' who had escapcrd to Midian when Joab was for six months cutting 'oil every male in Edom ' after David's conquest of the countrj". From Midian he and his companions- went to Parau, and from thence to the court ol Egypt, where the Pharaoh gave him his sister-in- law as a wife, and his son Genubath was brought up as an Egj-ptian prince.

But on the death of David and Joah, Ilatlad obtained leave to return to Edom, and became 'an adversary unto Solomon' (1 K 11""^). He does not seem to have succeeded in making himself independent, however, as we find Edom still subject to Judah after the revolt of the Ten Tribes. Jehoshaphat still held Ezion- j^eber, where he built ships to trade to Ophir ; and it La stated that ' there was then no king in Edom : a deputy was king' (1 K 22'").

This means that there was no independent king there, since, in the war against Moao, when Edom had to follow its suzerain, its ruler is calle<l ' king ' (2 K 3'- "•• ''• '''). In the reign of Jehoram, Jehoshaphat's successor, Edom revolted, 'and made a king over themselves.'

The revolt spread to the south of Judah, where Libnah was the centre of disall'ection ; and though Jehoram defeated the Edomites at Zair, he was unable to reduce them to obedience (2 K S*"'") About fifty years later Ainaziah invaded Edom, slaying 10,000 of the enemy in the Valley of Salt, an<l taking Sela (or Petra), which he named Joktheel (2 K 14'). Edom seems to liave been crushed by this defeat, as Amaziah's successor, Uzziah, 'restored' Elath to Judah, and rebuilt it (2 K 14'-').

It remained in Jewish hands tUl it was captured by Uezin of Damascus, who colonized it with Syrians* ('2 K 10"). This was in the reign of Ahaz, wlien 'the Edomites had come and smitten Judah, and carried away captives' (2 Ch 28"). Kezin, however, was conquered and put to deiith in B.C. 732 by Tiglath-pileser HI. of Assyria, who thereupon held a court at Dama.

scus, where he received the homage and tribute of numerous princes, among them being 'Jehoahaz (Ahaz) of the land of the Jews,' and ' ^Caus■malaka (I,vaiis- melech) of the land of the Edomites.' Schr.uler has pointed out that I^aus is the name of a god which appears as Kos in Greek inscriptions, with which Ilal6vy compares the name of the early Arab, deity "^ais (Heb. Kish, Kishon). In B.C.

711, Edom joined the league against Sargon along witli Judah, Philistia, Moab, Egypt, and Merodach- baladan of Babylon ; but Aslidod, the Syrian centre of the league, was taken by the Assyrians, and Edom, like Moab and Judah, paid tribute to the conqueror. Edom again joineil the revolt against Assyria in B.C. 701, of which Hezekiah was the .ssyri ead ; but when Sennacherib marched into Pales- ^ tine, A-rammu of Edom submitted like thokini^H of Moab and Amnion.

Esarhaddon caused kaus- gabri, ' king of the city of Edom,' together with the other va-ssal kings of the west, including Manasseh of ' the city of Judah ' and the king of ' the city of Moab,' to convey to Nineveh timber from Lebanon anil various stones for the construction of his lace. When Jerusalem was destroyed by ebuehadrezzar, the ICcUimites took jiart with the enemy, and rejoiced over the calamities of .

Iiulah, — conduct which arouseil hitter feelings against them on the part of the Jews (La i'"-*', Ezk 35'-'», Ob'"''"). These feelings were not dimiuislKMi by their occupation of southern Judah, with Hebron as their capital, and their attacks upon the Jews during the Maccaba-an war. Judas Maorabu'us, however, drove them from the south of Judah (II. C. 1()4) ; and John Hyrcanus, in B.C. 109, conquered their countrj", and compelled them to adopt Judaism.

Alount Seir, as far north lus Petra, had already fallen into the hands of the Nabata'ans, who spoke an Aramaic dialect. Hyrcanus II , the • So the Kcthibh C'DnM. The Ker6. however, rends O'C'ng (Edolnitefl) ; and this, whieh baa the snpiMirt of Ihe LXX 'Um/^m/*!, u adopted by Slo^fried-Stade and Ox/. Utb. Lexxoon. 546 EDOS EDUCATION grandson of John Hyrcanus, on being driven out of Jerusalem, was induced by the Iduiiitvan Antipater to seek the help of Aretas, the king of I etra.

Porapey, however, intervened, and after sacking Jerusalem, made Hyrcanus high priest (B.C. 63), while Antipater was subsequently (B.C. 47) appointed by Julius Csesar procurator of Juda-a, Samaria, and Galilee on account of his sen-ices against Pompey. His son was Herod the Great. Edoniite proper names show that the language of Edom was practically identical with Hebrew. Of Edomite deities we know only the names of Hadad (also Dad), ^aus, Koz6, Edom, and A.

The name of Esau's son Jeush (Gn 36'), however, corre- sponds phonetically with that of Yaghftth, a pre- Mohammedan deity of Arabia. LrrcaATnnB. — Beth^en, Beitrdge zur semitischen RetigioTis- getchichte, 10 ft. ; Reland, Pal 230 fl. ; Robinson, BRP ii. 117 £f., 168 fl. ; Baedeker, PaL 1839. ; Palmer, Desert o/ the Ezodut, 42911.; HuU, Mount Seir, 85fl. : TrumbuU, Eadeth-Bamai ; Hommel, Ancient Hebrew Traditum, 263 f. A. H. Sayck. EDOS (B 'HJ«f, A'HJoit, AV Edes), 1 Es 9»= IDDO, Ezr 10*».