What and who is…
Edom

Hebrew: אֱדֹם —transliteration: edom —meaning: red or red earth

This is the name of a biblical man and a land.

Edom was another name of Esau, who was both born very red and eventually sold his birthright for some red pottage. So, he was called “Red” (Edom—Genesis 25:30).

…Esau said to Jacob, “Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished.” Therefore his name was called Edom. —Genesis 25:30 NASB

EDOM—the land of Esau

also known as: Iduma, Idumea and Idumaea—part of the same area

Isaiah 34:5-6; Ezekiel 35:15

The Edomites and Idumeans (Idumaeans) were descendants of Edom (Esau) and took over the land of the Horites.

“The land of Edom” (Genesis 32:3; 36:16) is mountainous (Obadiah 1:8-9; 1:19; 1:21). It was called the land, or “the mountain of Seir,” the rough hills on the east side of the Arabah. It extended from the head of the Gulf of Akabah, the Elanitic gulf, to the foot of the Dead Sea (1 Kings 9:26), and contained, among other cities, the rock-hewn Sela (2 Kings 14:7), generally known by the Greek name Petra.

It is a wild and rugged region, traversed by fruitful valleys.

The early inhabitants of the land were Horites. They were destroyed by the Edomites (Deuteronomy 2:12), between whom and the kings of Israel and Judah there was frequent war (2 Kings 8:20; 2 Chronicles 28:17).

At the time of the Exodus they churlishly refused permission to the Israelites to pass through their land (Numbers 20:14-21), and ever afterwards maintained an attitude of hostility toward them.

The Edomites were Semites, closely related in blood and in language to the Israelites. They dispossessed the Horites of Mount Seir; though it is clear, from Genesis 36, that they afterwards intermarried with the conquered population. Edomite tribes settled also in the south of Judah, like the Kenizzites (Genesis 36:11), to whom Caleb and Othniel belonged (Joshua 15:17).

The southern part of Edom was known as Teman.

The Ecomites were conquered by David (2 Samuel 8:14; compare 1 Kings 9:26), and afterwards by Amaziah (2 Chronicles 25:11-12).

But they regained again their independence, and in later years, during the decline of the Jewish kingdom (2 Kings 16:6; Revised King James Version marginal notes: “Edomites”), made war against Israel. They took part with the Chaldeans when Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem, and afterwards they invaded and held possession of the south of Israel as far as Hebron.

At length, however, Edom fell under the growing Chaldean power (Jeremiah 27:3; 27:6).

When Christ and his disciples ministered in Judea, people came from Idumea to see and hear Jesus (Mark 3:7-8).

Idolatry

The chief god of Edom was Qos. Other key gods were Baal and Asherah.

Tragically, their idolatry was brought into the Kingdom of Judah by its own King Amaziah.

…after Amaziah came from striking down the Edomites, he brought the gods of the sons of Seir, set them up as his gods, worshiped them, and burned incense to them. —2 Chronicles 25:14 excerpt

Amaziah and Judea were later struck down by God’s will because they had turned away from following YHWH.

Capital

Edom’s old capital was Bozrah (aka Bozra) (Isaiah 63:1). The ruins are located at modern Basira, Jordan.

Prophecies

There are many prophecies concerning Edom in the Bible (Isaiah 34:5-6; Jeremiah 49:7-18; Ezek. 25:13; 35:1-15; Joel 3:19; Amos 1:11; Obadiah; Mal. 1:3-4) which have been remarkably fulfilled.

The present desolate condition of that land is a standing testimony to the inspiration of these prophecies. After an existence as a people for above seventeen hundred years, they have utterly disappeared, and their language even is forgotten for ever. In Petra, “where kings kept their court, and where nobles assembled, there no man dwells; it is given by lot to birds, and beasts, and reptiles.”

Edomite cities

• Sela (Selah)
• Petra (the Greek name for Sela/Selah)
• Joktheel (another name for Sela/Selah)
• Bozrah
• Dinhabah

Other places in Edom

• Aholibamah
• Arabah
• Gebal (aka Djebal)
• Hor
• Mount Seir
• Negev desert
• Teman—southern part of Edom
• Valley of Salt
• Yam Suph
• Zair

Edomite kings

• Bela
• Hadad/Hadar and Mehetabel (the last king and queen of Edom)
• Jobab
• Saul/Shaul
• The king of Moab “burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime” (plaster dust) (Amos 2:1).

Edomite noblemen

• Anah
• Dishon
• Eliphaz
• Ezer
• Lotan
• Shammah
• Shobal
• Teman
• Timna
• Uz
• Zaavan
• Zepho
• Zerah
• Zibeon

Inhabitants of Edom before the Edomites

• Anakim
• Horites

Edom’s neigbors

• Northern: Dead Sea region
• Northwest border: Kingdom of Judah
• Northeast border: kingdom of Moab
• East: Nabatu tribes (Nabataeans)
• East and South: Arabia

More Information

• Esau
• The Land of Uz
• Idumaea (Idumea, Iduma)
• Book of Obadiah (partially concerns Edom and its impending doom)
• governor (Hebrew: aluph—literally one put over a thousand, i.e., a clan or a subdivision of a tribe. Used of the “dukes” of Edom (Genesis 36)
• Aaron—Due to his sin at Meribah (Numbers 20:8-13) during the Exodus, when the tribes of Israel arrived at Mount Hor, “in the edge of the land of Edom,” at the command of God Moses led Aaron and his son Eleazar to the top of that mountain, in the sight of all the people.

  There he stripped Aaron of his priestly vestments, and put them upon Eleazar. Aaron died on the top of the mountain (Numbers 20:23-29).

• Amaziah, king of Judah, undertook a great expedition against Edom.
• Jehoram—The Edomites revolted under the reign of King Jehoram of Judah.
• Joab (David’s captain of the host who fought Edom)
• Havilah
• Obed-Edom (a Gittite man entrusted with the ark of the covenant)
• Colors in the Bible