Edom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Genesis 36 lists the kings of Edom:

These are the kings who ruled in the land of Edom before a king ruled the children of Israel. And Bela ben Beor ruled in Edom, and the name of his city was Dinhabah. And Bela died, and Jobab ben Zerah from Bozrah ruled in his place. And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of Temani ruled in his place. And Husham died, and Hadad ben Bedad, who struck Midian in the field of Moab, ruled in his place, and the name of his city was Avith. And Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah ruled in his place. And Samlah died, and Saul of Rehoboth on the river ruled in his place. And Saul died, and Baal-hanan ben Achbor ruled in his place. And Baal-hanan ben Achbor died, and Hadar ruled in his place, and the name of his city was Pau, and his wife's name was Mehetabel bat Matred bat Mezahab. And these are the names of the clans of Esau by their families, by their places, by their names: clan Timnah, clan Alvah, clan Jetheth, clan Aholibamah, clan Elah, clan Pinon, clan Kenaz, clan Teman, clan Mibzar, clan Magdiel, clan Iram.^[14]

IRON~(?)~ AGE 

Edom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Edom (/ˈiː.dʌm/;^[1] Hebrew: אֱדוֹם, Modern Edom Tiberian ʼĔḏôm ; "red"; Assyrian: Udumi; Syriac: ܐܕܘܡ) or Idumea (Greek: Ἰδουμαία, Idoumaía; Latin: Idūmaea) was a semite-inhabited historical region of the Southern Levant located south of Judea and the Dead Sea.  It is mentioned in biblical records as a 1st millennium BC Iron Age kingdom of Edom,^[2] and in classical antiquity the cognate name Idumea was used to refer to a smaller area in the same region. The name Edom means "red" in Hebrew, and was given to Esau, the eldest son of the Hebrew patriarch Isaac, once he ate the "red pottage", which the Bible used in irony at the fact he was born "red all over".^[3] The Torah, Tanakh and New Testament thus describe the Edomites as descendants of Esau.



The Edomites may have been connected with the Shasu and Shutu, nomadic raiders mentioned in Egyptian sources. Indeed, a letter from an Egyptian scribe at a border fortress in the Wadi Tumilat during the reign of Merneptah reports movement of nomadic "shasu-tribes of Edom" to watering holes in Egyptian territory.^[4] The earliest Iron Age settlements—possibly copper mining camps—date to the 9th century BC. Settlement intensified by the late 8th century BC and the main sites so far excavated have been dated between the 8th and 6th centuries BC.



According to the Egyptian inscriptions, the "Aduma" at times extended their possessions to the borders of Egypt.^[5] After the conquest of Judah by the Babylonians, Edomites settled in the region of Hebron. They prospered in this new country, called by the Greeks and Romans "Idumaea" or "Idumea", for more than four centuries.^[6] Strabo, writing around the time of Christ, held that the Idumaeans, whom he identified as of Nabataean origin, constituted the majority of the population of Western Judea, where they commingled with the Judaeans and adopted their customs.^[7]





In Rabbinic Literature, with time Edom became associated with Rome. The reasons for this and whether it is an adequate comparison are disputed, or literal which is also disputed.[39] Edom was a slang word for Rome specifically its empire among diaspora Italian Jews, but the correctness or historicity of this slang is dubious.[citation needed] The first oral connection diaspora Jews made between Edom and Rome is derived from the propaganda of the Bar Kokhba revolt.[40] Rabbi Meir used Biblical quotes to spread this.[41]



 In many instances Rome and Edom are used interchangeably in Ashkenazic and Italian diaspora Jewish literature.[citation needed][42]

The title of a revisionist interpretive novel which blames historical anti-Semitism of the past century and a half on the Jews themselves, by Albert S. Lindemann, titled "Esau's Tears: Modern Anti-Semitism and the Rise of the Jews." Cambridge University Press, 1997, is a reference to the Jewish tradition of connecting Rome or Catholic Christianity with Edom. And is a reversal of a previous Catholic authored work on anti-Semitism Flannery's the "The Anguish of the Jews", which blames anti-Semitism on those who carried it out rather than "Jewish rise" and "Jewification" as Lindemann puts it.[43] The title is meant to denote the "racism of Jews" against Catholics and the persecution of Esau (Catholics) by the Jews. Lindemann is using the naming by Jews of Catholics 'Esau' as evidence to the need of non-Jews to dislike and persecute Jews.