S. Michael Houdmann Supporter Got Questions Ministries

References to Edom occur more than 120 times in the Old Testament. The prophet Obadiah specifically mentions Edom as a people to be judged for their pride in rejoicing over the destruction of Jerus...

Login or Sign Up to view the rest of this answer.

July 01 2013 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jack Gutknecht Supporter Arizona Bible College graduate and Dallas Seminary graduate

Edom was where the descendants of Esau settled, south of the Dead Sea; thus it became known as Edom (“red”) because Esau had traded his privileged rights as the family’s first son for a bowl of red stew. 

Esau Sells His Birthright
29One day, while Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the field and was famished. 30He said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am famished.” (That is why he was also called Edom) 
31“First sell me your birthright,” Jacob replied. 
32“Look,” said Esau, “I am about to die, so what good is a birthright to me?” 
33“Swear to me first,” Jacob said. 
So Esau swore to Jacob and sold him the birthright. 34Then Jacob gave some bread and lentil stew to Esau, who ate and drank and then got up and went away. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Also, the sandstone hills there in Edom and much of the soil there bear a reddish hue. The onetime capital of Edom was Petra, today a tourist attraction with massive rock carvings in the cliffs.

October 18 2020 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jeffrey Johnson Supporter

Who/what is Edom?
Obadiah 1:1-8

ESV: 1 "The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom: :We have heard a report from the Lord, and a messenger has been sent among the nations: 'Rise! Let us rise against her for battle!' 2 Behold, I will make you small among the nations; you shall be utterly despised."

Edom is an ancient kingdom and a people in the Hebrew Bible, identified as the descendants of Esau, the twin brother of Jacob (Israel). Situated in the mountainous region between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba (modern-day southern Jordan), the Edomites were historically close relatives of Israel but often rivals. 

Edom. Another name given to Esau, son of Isaac. The descendants of Esau (Edom) took over the area of Seir, the mountainous region between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of 'Aqaba. It became known as Edom. (Ge 25:30; 36:8)

Sometime during Jacob's 20-year stay in Haran, Esau (Edom) had begun to establish himself in the land of Seir, "the field of Edom." (Ge 32:3) Thus, even before the death of his father (Ge 35:29), Esau was apparently beginning to fulfill Isaac's prophetic blessing, directing his attention away from the fertile soils around Hebron and, doubtless, starting to ‘'ive by his sword,' along with the 400 men under his command. (Ge 27:39, 40; 32:6, 8) The record indicates, however, that he still maintained a residence or base camp in the Hebron area, not definitively transferring to the mountainous region of Seir until after his father's death (1738 B.C.E.). By then, his family had grown, and his possessions were great.​—Ge 36:6-8.

The Edomites, as descendants of Esau, were basically a Semitic race, but with a strong Hamitic strain. This was because two of Esau's wives were from Hamitic Canaanite stock (Hittite and Hivite); only one wife was part Semitic, through Abraham's son Ishmael. (Ge 36:2, 3) If, as some scholars hold, the name Horite means simply "cave dweller," Esau's Hivite wife Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, may have come from the Horite dwellers of Seir. (Compare Ge 36:2, 20, 24, 25.) At any rate, the Edomites, like Lot's descendants, the Moabites and the Ammonites (note Da 11:41), were related to the Israelites, and originally they also practised circumcision. (Jer 9:25, 26; compare Eze 32:29.) 

The book of Malachi, written some 100 years after the campaign into Edom by Nabonidus, relates that God had already made Edom's "mountains a desolated waste and his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness." (Mal 1:3) The Edomites were hoping to return and rebuild their devastated places, but they would not be successful.​—Mal 1:4.

By the fourth century B.C.E., the Nabataeans had settled in Edomite territory, and the Edomites were never able to return. Instead, they found themselves in the Negeb to the S of Judah. The Edomites moved as far north as Hebron, and eventually the southern part of Judah became known as Idumea. 

According to Josephus, John Hyrcanus I subjugated them sometime between 130 and 120 B.C.E. and compelled them to accept Judaism. (Jewish Antiquities, XIII, 257, 258 [ix, 1]; XV, 253, 254 [vii, 9]) Thereafter, they were gradually absorbed by the Jews, and following the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E., they ceased to exist as a people.​—Ob 10, 18.

6 days ago • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report