Difference between revisions of "Idumaea"

<p> <strong> IDUMÆA </strong> . The Greek equivalent (in RV [Note: Revised Version.] only in &nbsp; Mark 3:8 ) of the name <strong> [[Edom]] </strong> , originally the territory east of the Jordan-Arabah valley and south of the land of Moab. This country was inhabited, when we first catch a glimpse of it, by a primitive race known as Horites, of whom little but the name is known. The apparent meaning of the name (‘cave-dwellers’) and comparison with the remains of what seems to have been an analogous race discovered in the excavations at Gezer, shew that this race was at a low stage of civilization. They were partly destroyed, partly absorbed, by the Bedouin tribes who claimed descent through [[Esau]] from Abraham, and who were acknowledged by the [[Israelites]] as late as the date of the Deuteronomic codes as brethren (&nbsp; Deuteronomy 23:7 ). They were governed by sheiks (EV [Note: English Version.] ‘dukes,’ a lit. tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of the Lat. <em> dux </em> ), and by a non-hereditary monarchy whose records belonged to a period anterior to the time of Saul (&nbsp; [[Genesis]] 36:31-39 , &nbsp; 1 Chronicles 1:43-54 ). See Edom. </p> <p> After the fall of [[Babylon]] the pressure of the desert Arabs forced the [[Edomites]] across the Jordan-Arabah valley, and the people and name were extended westward. In 1Ma 5:65 we find [[Hebron]] included in Idumæa. Josephus, with whom [[Jerome]] agrees, makes Idumæa extend from Beit Jihrin to Petra; Jerome assigns the great caves at the former place to the troglodyte Horites. The Herod family was by origin Idumæan in this extended sense. In the 2nd cent. a.d. the geographer [[Ptolemy]] restricts Idumæa to the cis-Jordanic area, and includes the original trans-Jordanic Edom in Arabia. </p> <p> R. A. S. Macalister. </p>

<p> <b> IDUMaeA </b> <b> ( </b> NT ἰδουμαία, which is also used in the LXX [[Septuagint]] for the Heb. <i> ʼĔdôm </i> ).—This land is mentioned once only in the NT (&nbsp;Mark 3:8), but is also notable as the native land of Herod and his family. The Edom of the OT lay between the [[Dead]] Sea and the [[Gulf]] of Akabah. In the early part of the [[Jewish]] exile many of the Edomites overran the south of Judaea, and when the Nabataeans, at some time during the [[Persian]] period, conquered their own land, many more joined the earlier settlers in South Judaea, and that district became known as Idumaea. Thus [[Idumaea]] at the time of Christ was ‘practically the Southern [[Shephelah]] with the Negeb’ (G. A. Smith, <i> HGH </i> L [Note: GHL [[Historical]] Geog. of [[Holy]] Land.] p. 239), <i> i.e. </i> roughly, all south of a line from Beth-sur to Gaza. [[Judas]] Maccabaeus fought against the [[Idumaeans]] with much success (&nbsp;1 [[Maccabees]] 5:3) in 164. Fifty-five years later, John [[Hyrcanus]] conquered the country, and compelled the people to be circumcised (Josephus <i> Ant </i> . xiii. ix. 1; <i> BJ </i> i. ii. 6). By the law of &nbsp;Deuteronomy 23:7-8 they thus became full [[Jews]] in the third generation, though Herod himself was sometimes reproached as a ‘half-Jew’ (Josephus <i> Ant </i> . xiv. xv. 2). Although the Idumaeans were ‘sons of Esau,’ their interests from this time were entirely merged with those of the Jews, and their country was reckoned to Judaea, Idumaea being counted one of the eleven toparchies of [[Judaea]] in Roman times (Josephus <i> BJ </i> iii. iii. 5). </p> <p> G. W. Thatcher. </p>

<p> '''Idumae'a.''' ''(Red).'' ''See '' [[Edom]] ''.'' </p>

<p> See EDOM. </p>