Idumea, a region south of Judea, inhabited by Edomites.
Idumea was a region located south of Judea, inhabited by the descendants of Esau, also known as the Edomites. In the New Testament, Idumea is mentioned only once, in Mrk.3.8, which states that people from Idumea came to hear Jesus and to be healed by him. The region was known for its hostility towards the Israelites throughout history, but during the time of Jesus, it was under Roman control. Idumea was gradually absorbed into Judea, and the Edomites were forcibly converted to Judaism by the Hasmonean dynasty in the 2nd century BC.
Approximate location: 30.735, 35.606 · view on a map · on the Bible atlas
(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…
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
1 verse in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s G2401
Jerusalem, Idumea, the region beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon. The large crowd came to Him when they heard what great things He was doing.
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.