There are many prophecies concerning Edom (Isaiah 34:5, 6; Jeremiah
49:7-18; Ezekiel 25:13; 35:1-15; Joel 3:19; Amos 1:11; Obad.; Malachi 1:3,
4) which have been remarkably fulfilled. The present desolate condition of
that land is a standing testimony to the inspiration of these prophecies.
After an existence as a people for above seventeen hundred years, they
have utterly disappeared, and their language even is forgotten for ever. In
Petra, “where kings kept their court, and where nobles assembled, there no
man dwells; it is given by lot to birds, and beasts, and reptiles.”
The Edomites were Semites, closely related in blood and in language to the
Israelites. They dispossessed the Horites of Mount Seir; though it is clear,
from Genesis 36, that they afterwards intermarried with the conquered
population. Edomite tribes settled also in the south of Judah, like the
Kenizzites (Genesis 36:11), to whom Caleb and Othniel belonged (Joshua
15:17). The southern part of Edom was known as Teman.
- EDREI mighty; strength. (1.) One of the chief towns of the kingdom of
Bashan (Joshua 12:4, 5). Here Og was defeated by the Israelites, and the
strength of the Amorites broken (Numbers 21:33-35). It subsequently
belonged to Manasseh, for a short time apparently, and afterwards became
the abode of banditti and outlaws (Joshua 13:31). It has been identified
with the modern Edr’a, which stands on a rocky promontory on the
south-west edge of the Lejah (the Argob of the Hebrews, and Trachonitis
of the Greeks). The ruins of Edr’a are the most extensive in the Hauran.
They are 3 miles in circumference. A number of the ancient houses still
remain; the walls, roofs, and doors being all of stone. The wild region of
which Edrei was the capital is thus described in its modern aspect:
“Elevated about 20 feet above the plain, it is a labyrinth of clefts and
crevasses in the rock, formed by volcanic action; and owing to its
impenetrable condition, it has become a refuge for outlaws and turbulent
characters, who make it a sort of Cave of Adullam...It is, in fact, an
impregnable natural fortress, about 20 miles in length and 15 in breadth”
(Porter’s Syria, etc.). Beneath this wonderful city there is also a
subterranean city, hollowed out probably as a refuge for the population of
the upper city in times of danger. (See BASHAN.)
(2.) A town of Naphtali (Joshua 19:37).