The following is an excerpt from Part 2 of Chuck Missler's series entitled Who Are the Edomites ?
This article was originally published in the
May 2010 Personal Update NewsJournal.
Migration into “Idumea”
Nomadic Nabateans migrated out of Arabia into Edom and drove the Edomites westward. Directly west of Edom were established routes of passage. Land there was historically more prosperous and resourceful than the land of Edom, which consisted of infertile deserts and jagged mountains. Further-more, the land bore a family association: after all, Esau was Jacob’s brother.
Hebron, 19 miles south of Jerusalem and 3400 ft. above sea level, became their new capital: established 1500 years earlier, unlike Jerusalem, it was left intact as prime real estate after the Babylonian deportation under Nebuchadnezzar.
As the Babylonians took Judah into captivity, and angry soldiers wrecked the walls, slew the people, and burned the city, we could have observed their neighboring citizens—the Edomites—encourage the Babylonians to ruin the city: “Raze it! Raze it!” they were calling. “Dash their little children against the stones and wipe out the Jews!”
Hebron remained under Edomite control until Judas Maccabeus retook the city under Jewish control in 164 B.C. Thirty-eight years later, in 126 B.C., they had to be reconquered by the Jewish Army under prince and high priest John Hyrcanus. A pivotal event then took place in which Idumeans were forced to be proselytized into Judaism or flee or die. This resulted in many Idumeans pretending to become Jews, yet really were not.
In 47 B.C. Julius Caesar promoted the Idumean Antipater as procurator over Judea, Samaria and Galilee. In 37 B.C., the Romans named Herod, son of Antipater, as King over Israel. (His mother was Nabatean). Thus, the Herods of the New Testament were Edomites: One of them killed the Jewish babies in his attempt to destroy Christ; another Herod murdered John the Baptist; another one killed James the brother of John.
These “almost Jews” were—to the Roman mind—more comfortable than the true Jews. The Idumeans had five centuries of prior history in Israel by the time of the arrival of the Messiah Jesus. The struggle between the Israelis and the Arabs today is but a continuation of this same hatred that began in Genesis 25:21-26.
The following is an excerpt from: The unedited full-text of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5434-edox-idumea
Post-Biblical Times.
Edom is mentioned in the cuneiform inscriptions in the form "Udumi" (u); three of its kings are known from the same source: Ḳaus-malaka at the time of Tiglath-pileser (c. 745), Malik-rammu at the time of Sennacherib (c. 705), and Ḳaus-gabri at the time of Esarhaddon (c. 680). According to the Egyptian inscriptions, the "aduma" at times extended their possessions down as far as the borders of Egypt (Müller, "Asien und Europa," p. 135). After the conquest of Judah by the Babylonians, the Edomites were allowed to settle in southern Palestine. At the same time they were driven by the Nabatæans from Idumea. In southern Palestine they prospered for more than four centuries. Judas Maccabeus conquered their territory for a time (B.C. 163; "Ant." xii. 8, §§ 1, 6). They were again subdued by John Hyrcanus (c. 125 B.C.), by whom they were forced to observe Jewish rites and laws (ib. xiii. 9, § 1; xiv. 4, § 4). They were then incorporated with the Jewish nation, and their country was called by the Greeks and Romans "Idumea" (Mark iii. 8; Ptolemy, "Geography," v. 16). With Antipater began the Idumean dynasty that ruled over Judea till its conquest by the Romans. Immediately before the siege of Jerusalem 20,000 Idumeans, under the leadership of John, Simeon, Phinehas, and Jacob, appeared before Jerusalem to fight in behalf of the Zealots who were besieged in the Temple (Josephus, "B. J." iv. 4, § 5).
From this time the Idumeans ceased to be a separate people, though the name "Idumea" still existed the time of Jerome.
According to the Law (Deut. xxiii. 8, 9), the congregation could not receive descendants of a marriage between an Israelite and an Edomite until the fourth generation. This law was a subject of controversy between R. Simeon and other Talmudists, who maintained that female descendants were also excluded until the fourth generation, contrary to R. Simeon, who regarded the limitation as applicable in only to male descendants (Yeb. 76b).