The oldest Biblical traditions place Yahweh as the deity of Southern Edom, and that Yahweh may have originated in Edom, Teman, Seir, or Sinai before being adopted in Israel and Judah.

IF

this be true, perhaps an in-depth examination of Edom is in order.

Believed to have been first settled in the Late Bronze Age, about 1550BC to 1069BC, Edom was an Ancient Transjordan kingdom located between Moab, the Arabah region south of the Dead Sea, and the Arabian Desert. The vast majority of what was Edom's territory is now divided between Modern Day Southern Israel and Jordan.

Their capital in Raqmu in Modern Day Petra, Jordan adjacent to the Jabal Al-Madbah mountain, Edom flourished between the 13th Century BC and the 8th Century BC. BabylonIa destroyed the city in the 6th Century BC. The Ancient Nabataeans of Arabia finished them off.

After Edom fell, the Edomites relocated towards Southern Jordan, the kingdom of Judah (its capital being Jerusalem), and parts of the Negev desert down to the Timna valley in Northern Israel, in the southwestern Arava basin. This area is rich in copper that has been mined since about the 5th Century BC.

Modern Jews are named after, and descended from the Kingdom of Judah. The Tel Dan Stele shows the kingdom existed by the mid-9th Century BC, and was a successor to the United Kingdom of Israel under Saul, David, and Solomon.

Driven out of this area by Nebuchadnezzar II about 587/586BC, the Edomites settled in the southern hills of Judah, to an area north of Tel Be'er Sheva, the largest city in the Negev Desert of Southern Israel. There, they became known as Idumaeans, and their territory was known as Idumaea, a name used in the Hellenistic and Roman eras, and mentioned in the New Testament.

In the 2nd Century BC, the Edomites were forcibly converted to Judaism by the Hasmonean leader, and Jewish High Priest, John Hyrcanus in about 125BC and incorporated into the Jewish nation. The Hasmoneans ruled Judea with the Seleucid Empire and expanded into Galilee, Perea, and Samaria. While Edom and Idumaeans relate to a historically-contiguous population, they were two separate territories.

The Gospel of Mark indicates people from Idumaea, Tyre, Sidan, Judea, Jerusalem, and lands west of the Jordan came to see Jesus by the Sea of Galilee.

Edom is a Hebrew word that means "red," and the Hebrew Bible relates the name to Esau, the older son of Isaac. Genesis, Obadiah, Malachi, Romans, and Hebrews all refer to Esau, who sold his birthright to Jacob. Edom ceased to exist approximately 667BC, and was last mentioned in an Assyrian inscription of that year.

Strabo, a Greek geographer, philosopher, and historian, who resided in Anatolia (Modern Day Turkey) during the Roman Empire's transitional period, wrote around the time of Jesus. He stated the Idumaeans constituted the majority of the population of Western Judea.

The Hebrew Bible states Edom stretched from the Sinai Peninsula (around Kadesh Barnea, at the southern border of Canaan and Judah) to Eilat, Israel's southernmost city on the northern tip of the Red Sea. Bozrah (Busaira) in Tafilah Governate, in Jordan, was the capital of Ancient Edom.

Genesis lists the descendents of Esau settled in the land after displacing the Horites inhabiting the area around Mount Seir (Genesis 14:6 and Deuteronomy 2:12). Selah was its principal stronghold, and Ezion-geber, on the Gulf of Aqaba, another main seaport.

Genesis 36:31-43 displays eight Edomite kings reigned before any Israelite kings did. There were also ten clans of Esau in Edom. 1 Samuel 14:47 depicts King Saul defeated the Edomites in the Late 11th Century BC. 2 Samuel 8:13-14 tells how David defeated the Edomites in the "Valley of Salt." 1 Kings 9:15-16, 2 King's 14:7, and 2 Chronicles 25:11-12, explain the Israelites never completely vanquished the Edomites.

In 587/586BC, Nebuchadnezzar II plundered Jerusalem and slaughtered Judaeans. These actions placed a permanent end to the Kingdom of Judah. Psalms 137:7, and Obadiah 1:11-14, tell this story. Edom was denounced by prophets for these incidents (Isaiah 34:5-8 and Jeremiah 49:7-22).

In the year 70AD, some 20,000 Edomites, under Simon bar Giora and Roman Emporer Titus, may have assisted in pillaging Jerusalem. The Book of Jeremiah states "No one will live there, nor will anyone of mankind reside in it." Psalms states "Over Edom will I cast out my shoe." These passages demonstrate the Israelites held the Edomites in contempt.

After the three Jewish Wars against the Roman Empire in Judea, where the Jewish Temple was destroyed during Nero's reign, the Idumaeans were no longer mentioned though the geographical region of Idumaea was still referred to at the time of Jerome (who converted the Bible into Latin).

Edom drew much of its trade for spices, incense, salt, balsam wood, and copper between Egypt, Mesopotamia, Southern Arabia, and the Lavant along the Incense Route. This was a series of land and sea routes that linked the Mediterranean world with Northwest Africa, Arabia, India, and several other locations.

Found in Wadi Faynan, between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba, the large-scale copper-mining site Khirbet en-Nahas (one of the Ancient world's largest copper mines and smelting sites, that was excavated by archaeologist Thomas Levy in Southern Jordan), provided evidence of Edom's strong, centralized, 10th Century BC kingdoms.

Since the exodus from Egypt, Edom was a long-time enemy of the Hebrews. They treated them in unfriendly manners though they were related to the Israelites.

Sources:

Bible
britanica.com
bibleodyssey.org
jewishvirtuallibrary.org
newworldencyclopedia.org





Next Time: Sea Of Galilee #27: Philistines - The Arch-Enemies Of The Hebrews


Table of Contents:

Chapter 1 - Galilee Boat (Was This Jesus' Boat?)
Chapter 2 - Names (Sea of Galilee Has Been Known By)
Chapter 3 - Ohalo (Prehistoric Sea Of Galilee Village)
Chapter 4 - Via Maris (Major Trade Route)
Chapter 5 - Talmud
Chapter 6 - Byzantine Era (Christianity Under Their Rule)
Chapter 7 - Hattin (A Devastating Turning Point In Sea Of Galilee's History)
Chapter 8 - Kebbatz (Cradle Of Early Zionism)
Chapter 9 - Zionism #1 (Forms)
Chapter 10 - Zionism #2 (Cornerstone Of Zionism)
Chapter 11 - Zionism #3 (Beliefs Of Zionism)
Chapter 12 - Zionism #4 (Attempts To Resettle Jews Before Zionism)
Chapter 13 - Zionism #5 (Christianity's Support Of Zionism)
Chapter 14 - Zionism #6 (Bad Raps Of Zionism)
Chapter 15 - Zionism #7 (Racial Zionism)
Chapter 16 - The Creation Of Mandatory Palestine
Chapter 17 - The Geopolitical Importance Of Canaan
Chapter 18 - Canaan's Chalcolithic Ghassalian Culture
Chapter 19 - Canaan's Early Bronze Age
Chapter 20 - Canaan's Middle Bronze Age
Chapter 21 - Canaan's Late Bronze Age
Chapter 22 - Do Amarna Letters Confirm Biblical Conquest Of Canaan?
Chapter 23 - Amarna Letters From Jerusalem
Chapter 24 - Was Yahweh Nothing More Than A Canaanite Location?
Chapter 25 - The Moabite Stone's Connection To Ancient Hebrews
Chapter 26 - Edom's Interactions With Ancient Hebrews

To read any, or all, of these chapters click on the blue numbers on the top of the page.