EDOM (IDUMEA)

EDOM (IDUMEA). - Name by which are designated: 1) Esau as an adult (Gen. 25, 30; 36, 19); 2) his descendants and their land (Ex. 15, 15; Num.

20, 14 ff.; Iude. 5, 4; 11, 17 f.; II Sam. 8, 14; I Reg. 9, 26; 11, 14 ff.; II Reg. 3, 8 f.; 8, 20-22, etc.). The Hebrew Edhōm (transcribed in Assyrian documents as Udumu, in Egyptian as Aduma) is rendered by the Septuagint sometimes as Edhōm, sometimes as Iḍhūm.

E. and Seir are equivalent. The dwelling-place of E. is in the region and mountain of Seir: Esau comes here after leaving Jacob and the land of Canaan, so that “land of

E.” (Gen. 32, 4; 36, 8; Iude. 5, 4) becomes synonymous with “land of Seir,” in southern Palestine. An ancient theory, which still has many supporters, identifies Mount Seir with the Sera, east of the 'Arabah (v.) between the Dead Sea and the Elanitic Gulf. It is, however, much more certain to locate the centre of Mount Seir in Gebel Maqā, west of the 'Arabah. Egyptian documents, around 1300 B.C., mention the Aduma crossing the frontier to pasture their flocks in the land of the Pharaoh. It is therefore not a

(by E. Huntington, Palestine and its transformation. London 1911, p. 221)