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William Smith
Public-domain Bible dictionary edition · 4,561 entries on site
(a servant). (Many MSS. have Eber .) Father of Gaal, who with his brethren assisted the men of Shechem in their revolt against Abimelech. ( Judges 9:26 , 28 , 30 , 31 , 35 ) (B.C. 1206). Son of Jonathan; one of the Bene-Adin who returned form Babylon with Ezra. ( Ezra 8:6 )
(the region beyond). Son of Salah, and great-grandson of Shem. ( Genesis 10:24 ; 1 Chronicles 1:19 ) (B.C. 2277-1813.) [For confusion between Eber and Heber see Heber ] Son of Elpaal and descendant of Sharahaim of the tribe of Benjamin. ( 1 Chronicles 8:12 ) (B.C. 1400). A priest in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua. ( Nehemiah 12:20 ) (B.C. 445.)
(passage), one of the halting-places of the Israelites in the desert, immediately preceding Ezion-geber. ( Numbers 33:34 , 35 )
(red). The name Edom was given to Esau, the first-born son of Isaac and twin brother of Jacob, when he sold his birthright to the latter for a meal of lentil pottage. The country which the Lord subsequently gave to Esau was hence called “the country of Edom,” ( Genesis 32:3 ) and his descendants were called Edomites. Edom was called Mount Seir and Idumea also. Edom was wholly a mountainous country. It embraced the narrow mountainous tract (about 100 miles long by 20 broad) extending along the eastern side of the Arabah from the northern end of the Gulf of Elath to near the southern end of the Dead Sea. The ancient capital of Edom was Bozrah (Buseireh). Sela (Petra) appears to have been the principal stronghold in the days of Amaziah (B.C. 838). ( 2 Kings 14:7 ) Elath and Ezion-geber were the seaports. ( 2 Samuel 8:14 ; 1 Kings 9:26 ) History.—Esau’s bitter hatred to his brother Jacob for fraudulently obtaining his blessing appears to have been inherited by his latest posterity. The Edomites peremptorily refused to permit the Israelites to pass through their land. ( Numbers 20:18-21 ) For a period of 400 years we hear no more of the Edomites. They were then attacked and defeated by Saul, ( 1 Samuel 14:47 ) and some forty years later by David. ( 2 Samuel 8:13 , 14 ) In the reign of Jehoshaphat (B.c. 914) the Edomites attempted to invade Israel, but failed. ( 2 Chronicles 20:22 ) They joined Nebuchadnezzar when that king besieged Jerusalem. For their cruelty at this time they were fearfully denounced by the later prophets. ( Isaiah 34:5-8 ; 63:1-4 ; Jeremiah 49:17 ) After this they settled in southern Palestine, and for more than four centuries continued to prosper. But during the warlike rule of the Maccabees they were again completely subdued, and even forced to conform to Jewish laws and rites, and submit to the government of Jewish prefects. The Edomites were now incorporated with the Jewish nation. They were idolaters. ( 2 Chronicles 25:14 , 15 , 20 ) Their habits were singular. The Horites, their predecessors in Mount Seir, were, as their name implies, troglodytes, or dwellers in caves; and the Edomites seem to have adopted their dwellings as well as their country. Everywhere we meet with caves and grottos hewn in the soft sandstone strata.
(a grove), the name of a town of the land of Edom, commonly mentioned with Ezion-geber, and situated at the head of the Arabian Gulf, which was thence called the Elanitic Gulf. It first occurs in the account of the wanderings, (2:8) and in later times must have come under the rule of David. ( 2 Samuel 8:14 ) We find the place named again in connection with Solomon’s navy. ( 1 Kings 9:26 ) comp. 2Chr 8:17 In the Roman period it became a frontier town of the south and the residence of a Christian bishop. The Arabic name is Eyleh, and palm groves still exist there, after which it was named.
(giant’s backbone), ( Numbers 33:35 ; 2:8 ; 1 Kings 9:26 ; 22:48 ; 2 Chronicles 8:17 ) the last station named for the encampment of the Israelites before they came to the wilderness of Zin. It probably stood at Ain el-Ghudyan, about ten miles up what is now the dry bed of the Arabah, but which was probably then the northern end of the gulf.
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