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IDUMAEA ('ISovµai'a)

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Originally appearing in Volume V14, Page 291 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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IDUMAEA ('ISovµai'a) , the See also:Greek See also:equivalent of See also:Edom (ors), a territory which, in the See also:works of the Biblical writers, is considered to See also:lie S.E. of the Dead See also:Sea, between the See also:land of See also:Moab and the Gulf of See also:Akaba. Its name, which is connected with the See also:root meaning " red," is probably applied in reference to the red See also:sandstone ranges of the mountains of See also:Petra.' This See also:etymology, however, is not certain. The apparently theophorous name Obed-Edom (2 Sam. vi. zo) shows that Edom is the name of a divinity. Of this there is other See also:evidence; a See also:Leiden See also:papyrus names Etum as the wife of the Semitic See also:fire-See also:god Reshpu. The See also:early See also:history of Edom is hidden in darkness. The See also:Egyptian references to it are few, and do not give us much See also:light regarding its early inhabitants. In the early records of the See also:Pentateuch, the See also:country is often referred to by the name of Seir, the See also:general name for the whole range of mountains on the See also:east See also:side of the See also:Jordan-Araba depression See also:south of the Dead Sea. These mountains were occupied, so early as we can find any See also:record, by a See also:cave-dwelling aboriginal See also:race known as Horites, who were smitten by the much-discussed See also:king Chedorlaomer (Gen. xiv. 6) and according to Dent. ii. 22 were driven out by the Semitic tribes of See also:Esau's descendants. The Horites are to us little more than a name, though the See also:discovery of cave-dwellers of very early date at See also:Gezer in the excavations of 1902–1905 has enabled us to See also:form some See also:idea as to their probable culture-status and See also:physical See also:character. The occupants of Edom during practically the whole See also:period of biblical history were the Bedouin tribes which claimed A curious etymological See also:speculation connects the name with the See also:story of Esau's begging for See also:Jacob's pottage, Can. See also:xxv.

30.descent through Esau from See also:

Abraham, and were acknowledged by the Israelites (Dent. See also:xxiii. 7) as See also:kin. That they intermarried with the earlier stock is suggested by the passage in Gen. See also:xxxvi. 2, naming, as one of the wives of Esau, Oholibamah, daughter of Zibeon the Horite (corrected by See also:verse 20). Among the peculiarities of the Edomites was See also:government by certain officials known as D.1 *2 which the See also:English versions (by too See also:close a See also:reminiscence of the See also:Vulgate See also:dunes) translate " See also:dukes." The now naturalized word " sheikhs " would be the exact rendering. In addition to this Bedouin organization there was the curious institution of an elective See also:monarchy, some of whose See also:kings are catalogued in Gen. xxxvi. 31-39 and z Chron. i. 43-54. These kings reigned at some date anterior,to the See also:time of See also:Saul. No deductions as to their See also:chronology can be based on the silence regarding them in See also:Moses' See also:song, See also:Exodus xv. 15. There was a king in Edom (Num. xx.

14) who refused passage to the Israelites in their wanderings. The history of the relations of the Edomites and Israelites may be briefly summarized. Saul, whose See also:

chief herdsman, Doeg, was an Edomite (r Sam. xxi. 7), fought successfully against them (i Sam. xiv. 47). See also:Joab (i Kings xi. 16) or Abishai, as his See also:deputy (1 Chron. xviii. 11, 13), occupied Edom for six months and devastated it; it was garrisoned and permanently held by See also:David (2 Sam. viii. 14). But a refugee named See also:Hadad, who escaped as a See also:child to See also:Egypt and See also:grew up at the See also:court of the Egyptian king, returned in See also:Solomon's reign and made a See also:series of reprisal raids on the Israelite territory (1 Kings xi. 14). This did not prevent Solomon introducing Edomites into his See also:harem (z Kings xi.

I) and maintaining a See also:

navy at Ezion-See also:geber, at the See also:head of the Gulf of Akaba (1 Kings ix. 26). Indeed, until the time of See also:Jehoram, when the land revolted (2 Kings viii. 20, 22), Edom was a dependency of See also:Judah, ruled by a See also:viceroy (r Kings xxii. 47). An See also:attempt at recovering their See also:independence was temporarily quelled in a See also:campaign by Amaziah (2 Kings xiv. 7), and See also:Azariah his successor was able to renew the sea See also:trade of the Gulf of Akaba (2 Kings xiv. 22) which had probably languished since the See also:wreck of See also:Jehoshaphat's See also:ships (1 Kings xxii, 48); but the See also:ancient See also:kingdom had been re-established by the time of See also:Ahaz, and the king's name, Kaush-Malak, is recorded by Tiglath Pileser. He made raids on the territory of Judah (2 Chron. See also:xxviii. 17). The kingdom, however, was See also:short-lived, and it was soon absorbed into the vassalage of See also:Assyria. The later history of Edom is curious.

By the See also:

constant See also:west-See also:ward pressure of the eastern See also:Arabs, which (after the restraining force of the See also:great Mesopotamian kingdoms was weakened) assumed irresistible strength, the ancient Edomites were forced across the Jordan-Araba depression, and with their name migrated to the south of western See also:Palestine. In r See also:Maccabees v. 65 we find them at See also:Hebron, and this is one of the first indications that we discover of the cis-Jordanic Idumaea of See also:Josephus and the See also:Talmud. Josephus used the name Idumaea as including not only Gobalitis, the See also:original See also:Mount Seir, but also Amalekitis, the land of Amalek, west of this, and Akrabatine, the ancient Acrabbim, S.W. of the Dead Sea. In See also:War IV. viii. 1, he mentions two villages " in the very midst of Idumaea," named Betaris and Caphartobas. The first of these is the See also:modern See also:Beit Jibrin (see ELEUTIIEROPOLIS), the second is Tuffuh, near Hebron. See also:Jerome describes Idumaea as extending from Beit Jibrin to Petra, and ascribes the great caves at the former See also:place to cave-dwellers like the aboriginal Horites. See also:Ptolemy's See also:account presents us with the last See also:stage, in which the name Idurnaea is entirely restricted to the cis-Jordanic See also:district, and the old trans-Jordanic region is absorbed in See also:Arabia. The Idumaean See also:Antipater was appointed by See also:Julius See also:Caesar See also:procurator of See also:Judaea, See also:Samaria and See also:Galilee, as a See also:reward for services rendered against See also:Pompey. He was the See also:father of See also:Herod the Great, whose See also:family thus was Idumaean in origin. (See PALESTINE.) (R.

A. S. M.) 2 The same word is used in the See also:

anonymous prophecy incorporated in the See also:book of Zachariah (xii. 5), and in one or two other places as well, of See also:Hebrew leaders.

End of Article: IDUMAEA ('ISovµai'a)

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