EDOM — Part of the theatre and tombs — Petra.
not a tribe that came from afar, but a people living near Egypt. The el-Amāmah letters likewise place the land of Seiri south of Palestine. The northern border of Idumea was the tribe of Judah (Ier. 15:1, 21), whose southern limit was formed by the line beginning at the Dead Sea, reaching Cadesbarne (= 'Ajn Qedeja'), and arriving at Wādi el-'Arīš. The desert of Sin, north of the desert of Pharan (Badjet et-Tih), was “along the flank of E.”; “it takes eleven days’ journey from Horeb to Cadesbarne by way of the mountains of Seir” (Deut. 1:2). The penetration of the Simeonites into Seir, at the expense of Amalek (I Par. 4:12), likewise takes us to these same environs. In the earliest period, therefore, E. was situated west of the 'Arabah. This region is a limestone plateau, separated from the highlands of Judea by an escarpment south of Hebron. A prehistoric region, it served as a passageway to the Sinaitic desert.
But the historical and geographical meaning of E. changed over time. In the period of the kings of Judah, the existence of an eastern E. is certain; it comprised the stretch between Wādi el-Ḥesā and the Gulf of 'Aqabah, together with the slopes of Gebal (Eusebius and s. Girolamo considered Gebalene = Idumea) and of Sera; Bosra (v.) was its capital (Am. 1:12; Ir. 34:6; 63:1; Ier. 49:13, 22). Ier. and Abd., in their invectives against E., allude to the caverns of Petra (Sela) and the eagles’ nests that formed its jagged ridges. Connected with the region of E. are the Meunites of II Par. 20:1, the land of Hus, the homeland of Job, and Theman (the land of Eliphaz), 15 miles from Petra. In the Old Testament, E. was separated from Moab by Wādi el-Ḥesā, the neghebh, and the desert of Sin, and extended as far as the Elanitic Gulf and the desert of Pharan. The eastern part of the 'Arabah was the more distinguished. The Bible mentions about ten cities, Petra (v.) or Sela, Phunon (Num. 33:42), Bosra, Thophel (Deut. 1:1), Elath, and Aisongaber, along with others whose identification is uncertain. After the Babylonian exile, Idumea, under pressure from the Nabataeans, extended to Hebron, Ador, Maresa, and Azoto, so that its northern boundary could be established as the line running from Azoto through Eleutheropolis (= Baji Gibrin) to Hebron (v. EDOMITI).
Vincenzo M. Jacono