EDOM ē’ dəm, EDOMITES ē’ də mīts (אָדֹ֤ם, red; LXX ̓Εδώμ; אֲדﯴמִ֔ים). The designation “Edom” denoted either the name of Esau, commemorating the red vegetable soup which he received in exchange for his birthright (Gen 25:30), the land of his descendants (32:3; 36:20, 21, 30), or the Edomites collectively (Num 20:18, 20, 21; Amos 1:6, 11; Mal 1:4).

1. The territory of Edom. The land which was occupied by the Edomites was a rugged mountainous area, stretching from the Brook Zered S to the Gulf of Aqabah for nearly one hundred m., while to the E and W extending up to forty m. across the Wilderness of Edom. Although the terrain was inhospitable, there were several good cultivable areas (Num 20:17-19). Edomite territory generally has been divided into three areas, the first of which was the northern section embracing Bozrah and Punon (Feinan). It comprised a rough rectangle about fifteen m. wide and some seventy m. long, extending S from the Brook Zered (Wadi el-Ḥesa) which formed the boundary with Moab. This area ranged in elevation from about 5,000 ft. above sea level at Bozrah to nearly 5,700 feet near Teman (Tawilan), where the S limit was marked by the escarpment overlooking the Hismeh Valley. This quadrangle formed the fortified area of Edom in antiquity, being dotted with a series of strong points, particularly on the exposed E frontier. In Biblical times the King’s Highway passed along the E plateau after ascending the Wadi Laban, and then passed S near to Tophel, Bozrah, and Dana until it descended into the Hismeh Valley. Sela, the capital of Edom, lay to the W of the King’s Highway on the massive plateau of Umm el-Biyara, which towers 1,000 ft. above Petra (the Gr. form of Sela). The second principal area of Edom, the outlying district, comprised the region S of the Hismeh Valley as far as the Gulf of Aqabah, which was under Edomite control though not settled. Those portions of the Arabah involved were valuable for their iron and copper mines, and constituted an important source of wealth for the Edomites who worked them. In addition, trading routes connecting Mesopotamia and Egypt passed through the S extremity of this region, thus contributing further to the Edomite treasury. A third area of land, to the W of the Arabah, was occupied by nomadic tribes which were sometimes loosely associated with the Edomites (Gen 36:11, 12), but were never actually under firm Edomite control. It was through this area that the Israelites passed just prior to the conquest of Canaan.

2. Its history and population. Archeological investigations reveal that the land was occupied before the time of Esau, since from the 23rd to the 20th centuries b.c. there was a thriving civilization in the locality, after which the land remained uninhabited until the 13th cent. b.c., apart from bands of roving Bedouin. Whether the invasion of Chedorlaomer (Gen 14:1ff.) was responsible for the depopulation of the area or not is hard to say, but it is probable that Esau and his sons absorbed the original Horite settlers (14:6) when they came to Mount Seir (36:5-8). The Horites already had some tribal chiefs ruling the country (36:29, 30), and Esau took the daughter of one of these chiefs for a wife (36:2, 25). The descendants of Esau were also tribal chiefs (36:15-19, 40-43), and no doubt took over Horite functions in this respect (cf. Deut 2:12, 22).

Esau had already occupied Edom when Jacob returned from Haran (Gen 32:3; 36:6-8; Deut 2:4, 5), and the Edomites were well established in the country and living by a monarchic pattern prior to the Exodus period, having apparently abandoned the system of tribal chiefs. Unfortunately all inscrs. and written records of the Edomites have perished, and it is necessary to depend on Egyptian, Hebrew and Assyrian sources for information about them.

In this connection the mention of Edom and Seir occurs in the records of the Pharaohs Merneptah (c. 1225-1215 b.c.) and Rameses III (c. 1198-1167 b.c.) as being their tributaries, but caution has to be exercised in assessing this claim. Hebrew records (Gen 36:31-39; 1 Chron 1:43-51) indicate that the Edomites possessed kingship long in advance of the Israelites, thus further attesting to the antiquity of that particular social pattern in Edom. The Edomites were also mentioned in the 13th cent. b.c. Papyrus Anastasi VI of Egypt in connection with the passing of shepherd tribes from Edom to the lush pasturelands of the Nile delta and again in the Tell el-Armana letter No 256, dated about 1400 b.c., where Edom (Udumu) was described as one of the enemies of a Jordanian prince. In view of the constant OT emphasis on the closeness of racial relationship between Israel and Edom, it is probable that originally the Edomites came from Aram. However, at an early period they intermarried with the Canaanites (the “Hittites” of Gen 26:34) and prob. also with the native Horites of Seir (36:20-30), whom they absorbed (Deut 2:12), thus making Edom a composite entity.

Despite the discourtesy of being refused permission to travel through the country by the King’s Highway, the Israelites were forbidden to hate their Edomite brothers (23:7, 8). In the time of Joshua the tribe of Judah was allocated territory reaching to the borders of Edom (Josh 15:1, 21) though not violating Edomite territory. During the time of the Conquest and Settlement there was no recorded contact between Israel and Edom. Two centuries later, Saul was in conflict with the Edomites (1 Sam 14:47), although some of them were in his service (1 Sam 21:7; 22:9, 18). It fell to David to subdue the country and place garrisons throughout the land (2 Sam 8:14; in v. 13 read ’ḏôm for the incorrect ’^arām), a defeat which was made more decisive when Joab the Israelite commander, conducted a six-month campaign designed to eradicate all male Edomites (1 Kings 11:15, 16). However, some warriors escaped the slaughter, for a certain Hadad, a royal prince, fled to Egypt and was subsequently a source of annoyance to Solomon (11:14-22).

The subjugation of Edom marked an important stage in the economic growth of the kingdom under Solomon, for not merely did he secure control of the rich caravan trade by this means, but also made possible the exploitation of the copper and iron mines of the territory. Solomon also built a port at Ezion-Geber on the Gulf of Aqabah which served as the terminal point for his Red Sea trading vessels to Ophir and Arabia (9:26; 2 Chron 8:17). Archeological excavations show that, on a new site about two and a half m. W of Aqabah (Elath), there was constructed a copper and iron smeltery in the time of Solomon. Situated between the hill country of Sinai and Edom, it was ideally located for the purpose since it received the full force of the N winds howling down the Arabah rift-valley. The ore for the blast furnaces was obtained locally, and was prob. processed by slave labor.

In the time of Jehoshaphat (870/69-848 b.c.) Edom joined Ammon and Moab in an attack upon Judah (2 Chron 20:1), but the allies subsequently came to blows (20:22, 23). Jehoshaphat tried to use the port facilities at Ezion-Geber, which he apparently reconstructed after they had burned down in the preceding cent.; but his fleet was wrecked by the strong winds (1 Kings 22:48; 2 Chron 20:36, 37). At this period Edom was governed by a deputy who functioned as king (1 Kings 22:47). He was under the control of Judah, and joined the coalition between Israel and Judah in an attack on Mesha, king of Moab (2 Kings 3:4-27).

Edom rebelled in the time of Jehoram (848-841 b.c.), cutting off, sacking and occupying Ezion-Geber (8:21). Although Jehoram defeated the Edomites in battle he failed to subjugate them, and Edom became independent for some forty years. Amaziah (796-767 b.c.) invaded Edom, slew 10,000 warriors in the valley of Salt, and captured Sela their capital (14:7; 2 Chron 25:11, 12). Uzziah (767-740/39 b.c.) his successor completed the conquest and restored the port at Elath (2 Kings 14:22), but in 735 b.c. Edom regained its freedom from Judah, apparently by allying with Israel and Aram, and carried captives away from the southern kingdom (2 Chron 28:17; in 2 Kings 16:6, “Edom” should be read for “Aram”). Judah never recovered Edom, and Assyrian inscrs. show that in 732 b.c. Tiglath-pileser III compelled Kaush-malaku, king of Edom, to become his tributary, a state of affairs which lasted for a cent. with virtually no interruption.

The heavy tribute required of Edom diminished its prosperity considerably, resulting in a general decline of the kingdom and quiet acceptance of Babylonian suzerainty in 604 b.c. The Edomites allied with Nebuchadnezzar when he overthrew Jerusalem in 587 b.c., and were overjoyed at the destruction of their traditional foes (Ps 137:7; Lam 4:21, 22; Obad 10-16). Some Edomites subsequently occupied S Judah and made Hebron their capital, thus forming the Idumaea of the postexilic era. During the 5th cent. b.c. Edom proper came under Arab control, and by the 4th cent. b.c. had been overrun by the Nabataeans who entered the land from the S and E, making Petra their capital city. While some Edomites moved to Idumaea, others apparently remained and were absorbed by the Nabataean Arabs.

Known Idumaean history commenced with the Maccabean revolt, part of the military success of Judas Maccabeus comprising a victory over the Idumaeans in the Akrabattene in 164 b.c. (1 Macc 5:1-5; Jos. Antiq. XII, 8, 1). John Hyrcanus occupied all Idumaea about 120 b.c. and compelled its people to adopt Judaism (Jos. Antiq. XIII, ix, 1; XV, vii, 9). When the Romans took over Pal., the Edomites naturally fell under their jurisdiction, one result being that from Idumaea came Antipater, the father of Herod the Great, as governor of the country in 63 b.c. His son founded in 37 b.c. the final dynasty of Palestinian rulers, and after the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70 the Idumaeans disappeared from history, thus ending the varied career of the Edomites. Ironically, the descendants of those who had exulted over the fall of Jerusalem in 587 b.c. were among its staunchest defenders against Rome in a.d. 66-70.

3. Edom in the OT. The traditional antagonism between Edom and Israel had its roots in the relations between Esau, identified with Edom, and Jacob, representing Israel (Gen 36:1). Perhaps there is a play on words in the description of Isaac as “smooth” (hālāq) and Esau as “hairy” (sā'îr), since Mount Halak, standing on the S border of Israel, faced the Edomite boundary of Seir (Josh 11:17; 12:7), but this may be entirely accidental. The bitter hatred of Edom for the Israelites was severely censured by almost all the prophets of Judah. Amos condemned them for their brutal practices in war, and mentioned an otherwise unrecorded border conflict (Amos 2:1) in which the Moabites burned the bones of an Edomite king to powder, thus inflicting the greatest possible personal insult upon a corpse. The whole of Obadiah was given over to a bitter denunciation of Edom and a prediction of its destruction. The principal point at issue in this prophecy was the sense of betrayal felt by the Judaeans when blood relatives, albeit hereditary enemies, turned upon them in the time of crisis which saw the fall of Jerusalem in 587 b.c., and aided the common enemy.

This tragic occurrence was perpetuated by the psalmist (Ps 137:7), who prayed for retribution for such a dastardly act. A prophetic oracle in Jeremiah (Jer 49:7-22) reflected much the same sentiments as Obadiah in predicting the desolation of Edom, a theme which also occured in Isaiah 11:14; 34:5-17 and Ezekiel 35:1-15. The Book of Malachi (Mal 1:2-4) was particularly emphatic as to the divine choice of Jacob and the uncompromising rejection of Esau as a medium of revelation. On the other hand, Zephaniah and Zechariah did not include Edom among those people who were to be punished by destruction, and in the Torah provision was made for the admission of Edomites into the community of Israel (Deut 23:7, 8). If the characters in the Book of Job, which had as its setting a locale in the Arabian desert E of Pal., were in fact Edomites, the author of this work had clearly risen far above purely national sentiments in making them the vehicles of divine revelation in the vital area of human experience involving suffering. Nevertheless, of all the neighbors of Israel, Edom, as a nation, was the only one who was not extended any promise of mercy from God.

Bibliography F. Buhl, Geschichte der Edomiter (1893); N. Glueck, AASOR (1935), XV, 18, 19; ibid. The Other Side of the Jordan (1940), 114-134; D. Baly, The Geography of the Bible (1958).