(7) Feud of Esau and Jacob. The unbroth erly feud which arose between Esau and Jacob was prolonged for ages between their posterity. The Israelites, indeed, were commanded 'not to abhor an Edomite, for Ile was their brother' (Deut. xxiii :7) ; but a variety of circumstances occurred to provoke and perpetuate the hostility. The first time they were brought into direct col lision was when the Edomites, though entreated by their 'brother Israel,' refused the latter a pas sage through their territories, and they had con sequently to make a retrograde and toilsome march to the Gulf of Elath, whence they had to 'compass the land of Edom' by the mountain des ert on the east. We do not again hear of the Edomites till the days of Saul, who warred against them with partial success (I Sam. xiv 47) ; but their entire subjugation was reserved for David, who first signally vanquished them in the Valley of Salt (supposed to be in the Ghor, be side Usdzinz, the -Mountain of Salt) ; and, finally, placed garrisons in all their country (2 Sam. viii: 14; Chron. xyiii :1 i-13 ; Kings xi :15 ; comp. the inscription of Ps. lx and v :8, 9; cviii :9, to, where 'the strong city' may denote Selah or Petra). Then were fulfilled the prophecies in Gen. xxv :23 and xxvii :4o, that the 'elder should serve the younger ;' and also the prediction of Balaam (Num. xxiv :18), that Edom and Seir should be for possessions to Israel. Solomon cre ated a naval station at Ezion-geber, at the head of the Gulf of Elath, the modern Akaba (t Kings ix :26; 2 Chron. viii :18).
(8) Attempts at Independency. Towards the close of his reign an attempt was made to restore the independence of the country by one Hadad, an Idumxan prince, who, when a child, had been carried into Egypt at the time of David's invasion, and had there married the sister of Tahpanhes the queen (1 Kings xi :14-23). (See HADAD.) If Edom then succeeded in shaking off the yoke, it was only for a season, since in the days of Jehoshaphat, the fourth Jewish mon arch from Solomon, it is said. 'there was no king in Edom ; a deputy was king ;' e., he acted as viceroy for the king of Judah. For that the latter was still master of the country is evident from the fact of his having fitted out, like Solomon, a fleet at Ezion-geber 0 Kings xxii :47, 48: 2 Citron. xx :36, 37). It was. no doubt, his deputy (called king) who joined. the confederates of Judah and Israel in their attack upon Moab (2 Kings iii :9, 12, 26). Yet there seems to have been a partial revolt of the Edomites, or at least of the moun taineers of Seir, even in the reign of Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. xx :22) ; and under his successor, Jehoram, they wholly rebelled. and 'made a king over themselves' (2 Kings Viii :20, 22; 2 Chron. xxi:8, to). From its being added that, notwith standing the temporary suppression of the rebel lion, 'Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day,' it is probable that the Jewish dominion was never completely restored. Ama ziah, indeed, invaded the country, and having taken the chief city, Selah or Petra, he, in me morial of the conquest, changed its name to Jok theel (i. e., subdued of God) ; and his successor,
Uzziah, retained possession of Elath (2 Kings xiy :7; 2 C111'011. XXV :II-14 ; XXVi :3). But in the reign of Ahaz, hordes of Edomites made incur sions into Judah, and carried away captives (2 Chron. xxviii :17). About the same period Rezin, king of Syria, expelled the Jews front Elath, which (according to the correct reading of 2 Kings xvi :6) was thenceforth occupied by the Edomites.
(9) Fulfillment of Prophecy. Now was ful filled the other part of Isaac's prediction, viz.: that, in course of time, Esau 'should take his brother's yoke from off his neck' (Gen. xxvii :4o). It ap pears from various incidental expressions in the later prophets, that the Edomites employed their recovered power in the enlargement of their ter ritory in all directions. They spread as far south as Dedan in Arabia, and northward to Bozrah in the Hhauran; though it is doubtful if the Bozrah of Scripture may not have been a place in Idu mxa Proper (Is. xxxiv :6; lxiii ; Jer. xlix :7, 8 20 ; Ezek. xxv :13; Amos i :12). When the Chal dxans invaded Judah, under Nebuchadnezzar, the Edomites became their willing auxiliaries, and triumphed with fiendish malignity over the ruin of their kinsmen the Jews, of whose desolated land they hoped to obtain a large portion to them selves (Obad. verses to-16; Ezek. xxv :12-14; xxxv :3-1o; xxxvi :5 ; Lag]. iV :2I). By this cir cumstance the hereditary hatred of the Jews was rekindled in greater fury than ever, and hence the many dire denunciations of the 'daugh ter of Edom,' to be met with in the Hebrew prophets (Ps. cxxxvii :7-9; Obad. passim; Jer. xlix :7 ; Ezek. xxv. and xxxv.). From the lan guage of Malachi (i :2, 3), and also from the ac counts preserved by Josephus (Antiq. x :9, 7), it would seem that the Edomites did not wholly escape the Chaldxan scourge ; but instead of being carried captive, like the Jews, they not only re tained possession of their own territory, but became masters of the south of Judah, as far as Hebron (1 Macc. v:65 ; comp. with Ezek. xxxv :JO ; XXXVi :5).
(10) Attack by the Maccabees. Here, how ever, they were, in course of time, successfully at tacked by the Maccabees, and about B. C. 125 were finally subdued by John Hyrcanus, who com pelled them to submit to circumcision and other Jewish rites, with a view to incorporate them with the nation (1 Mace. v :3, 65 ; 2 Macc. x :16; xii: 32 ; Joseph. Antiq. xiii :9, ; xv :4). The amalga mation, however, of the two races seerns never to have been effected, for we afterwards hear of Antipater, an IdumTan by birth, being made by Qesar procurator of all Judea ; and his son, com monly called Herod the Great, was, at the time of Christ's birth, king of Judea, including Idu nixa; and hence Roman writers often speak of all Palestine under that name (Joseph. Antiq. xiv :t :3 ; 8 :5 ; xv :7, 9 ; xvii :it, 4 ). Not long before the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, 2o.000 Idu mxans were called in to the defense of the city by the Zealots ; but both parties gave themselves up to rapine and murder (Joseph. De Bell. Jud. iv :4, 5 ; vi :1 ; vii :8. 1).