Bible -- Antiquities; Bible. Old Testament -- Evidences, authority, etc.
The word “Edom,” together with its various derivates such as “Edomite,”
occurs more than fourscore times in the text of the Old Testament. As
the history of this region and its various inhabitants unfolds in the
Old Testament story, there is a complete, remarkable and stirring record
of this land and its people that covers many centuries of time. The word
Edom first occurs in the twenty-fifth chapter of Genesis, thirtieth
verse:
“And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red
pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.”
In this first instance the word appears in connection with the eldest
son of Isaac, whose name was changed from Esau to Edom because of the
strange incident of the sale of his birthright. The pottage that his
younger brother, Jacob, had cooked was made from a lentil which gave a
red hue that was characteristic of any food in which this particular
lentil was used. So, because Esau exchanged his priceless rights of
inheritance for a pot of red mush, his name was thereafter called Edom.
In the thirty-sixth chapter of Genesis, verses one, eight, and nineteen,
this same definite statement is carried out:
“Now these are the generations of _Esau, who is Edom_.”
“Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir: _Esau is Edom_.”
“These are the sons of _Esau, who is Edom_, and these are their
dukes.”
Here we read that the dwelling place of Esau and his people was in mount
Seir, and that Esau is Edom. Hence the name of Edom was also applied to
the people who descended from Esau, as well as to the country wherein
they dwelt.
This region of the ancient world was also known as mount Seir. It was so
named because of the progenitor of the Horites who originally dwelt in
that section. We are told that this people derived their name from Hori,
who was the son of Seir. This ancient people habitually dwelt in caves.
Therefore, by transition, their name came to mean cave dwellers, as it
was descriptive of their type of habitation.
If one should journey from Jerusalem to the center of Edom today, the
most convenient route would lie through the modern city of Amman, which
is at the present writing the seat of government of Iraq. On the
outskirts of this city, and all through this region, the limestone caves
are today occupied by families of people. They, with their folks, their
horses and cattle, and all of their possessions, dwell in these
ancestral caves in contentment as their fathers have always done before
them. These caves are furnished as our modern homes are equipped, with
rugs, tapestries, and all the treasures that go to make a human
habitation into a home!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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