The kings of Edom who reigned ' before there reigned any king over the children of Israel ' are enumerated; in (U\ SG^''**. The first, Hela the son of Beor, seems to be identical witli Bahiam the son of Beor, the seer of Petbor. If so, this would account for his having been slain in the war with the Miilianites (Nu 31"). ' Kehoboth by the river,' from which Sliaul came (Gn 30"), must have stood on the Euphrates, as that is 'the river' of the OT ; conseciuently it cannot be the Hehobotli or ' Suburbs' of Kineveh (Assyr. liibit), which were on the Tigris. The list of Eilomite kings must have been extracted from the royal annals, and, as It breaks off in the reign of Hadar (Gn 36*") (or Hadad, 1 Ch 1**), may have been composed %t that time. It will be noticed that the monarchy was elective, not hereditary.
The children of Israel were ordered not to ' contend ' with their ' brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir,' for God had 'given Mount Seir unto Esau for a possession ' ; anu accordingly they turned eastward after passing the Edomite ports of Elath and Eziongeber (now 'Akabah and kala'at el-'A^abah), at the head of the Gulf of Akabah, and ma<le their way to Moab along the eastern edge of Mount Seir (Dt 2^"). Similarly, the Edomite, like the Egyptian, was allowed to ' enter into the congregation of the Lord in the third generation' (Dt 'JS'-'), in contrast to the Ammonite and Moabite, who could not do so till the tenth generation.
Ramses m. of the Twentieth Egyptian Dynasty, after defeating the northern hordes who had attacked Egj'pt, and overrunning the south of Palestine, ' smote the people of Seir who belong to the Shasu (Bedawin), and plundered their tents.' Amon^ the pictures of his pri.soner8 at Medinet Habu IB that of the Edomite ' chief,' who, it must be observed, is not called 'king.' So far as we know, it was the only campaign ever undertaken by a Pharaoh against Mount .Seir. Its date was aoout B.C. 1230-1200, some thirty years after the Exodus, so that the Israelites might have been in the neighbourhood of Edom at the time (ef. Nu 2I''').
Edomite tribes settled in the south of Judah, and even Othiiiel the brother of Caleb, and the first judge, was a Keniz/.ite (Nu 32", Jos I.'i", Gn ,3(i"-">). Saul warred with Edom (IS 14"); and David conquered the country, putting garri.sons throughout it, and occupying its ])()rts in the Gulf of Al>abah (2 S H"- ", where we must read ' Edom ' for 'Aram,' AV 'Syrians'). It was in these ports that .Solomon with the help of the Tyrians con- Btnicted the merchant ve-si-cls which traded to Ophir for gold (1 K U"'-*). Throughout his reign, however, Kdom was in a state of revolt umler Hadad, 'of the king's seed,' who had escapcrd to Midian when Joab was for six months cutting 'oil every male in Edom ' after David's conquest of the
countrj". From Midian he and his companions- went to Parau, and from thence to the court ol Egypt, where the Pharaoh gave him his sister-in- law as a wife, and his son Genubath was brought up as an Egj-ptian prince. But on the death of David and Joah, Ilatlad obtained leave to return to Edom, and became 'an adversary unto Solomon' (1 K 11""^). He does not seem to have succeeded in making himself independent, however, as we find Edom still subject to Judah after the revolt of the Ten Tribes. Jehoshaphat still held Ezion- j^eber, where he built ships to trade to Ophir ; and it La stated that ' there was then no king in Edom : a deputy was king' (1 K 22'"). This means that there was no independent king there, since, in the war against Moao, when Edom had to follow its suzerain, its ruler is calle<l ' king ' (2 K 3'- "•• ''• '''). In the reign of Jehoram, Jehoshaphat's successor, Edom revolted, 'and made a king over themselves.' The revolt spread to the south of Judah, where Libnah was the centre of disall'ection ; and though Jehoram defeated the Edomites at Zair, he was unable to reduce them to obedience (2 K S*"'") About fifty years later Ainaziah invaded Edom, slaying 10,000 of the enemy in the Valley of Salt, an<l taking Sela (or Petra), which he named Joktheel (2 K 14'). Edom seems to liave been crushed by this defeat, as Amaziah's successor, Uzziah, 'restored' Elath to Judah, and rebuilt it (2 K 14'-'). It remained in Jewish hands tUl it was captured by Uezin of Damascus, who colonized it with Syrians* ('2 K 10"). This was in the reign of Ahaz, wlien 'the Edomites had come and smitten Judah, and carried away captives' (2 Ch 28"). Kezin, however, was conquered and put to deiith in B.C. 732 by Tiglath-pileser HI. of Assyria, who thereupon held a court at Dama.scus, where he received the homage and tribute of numerous princes, among them being 'Jehoahaz (Ahaz) of the land of the Jews,' and ' ^Caus■malaka (I,vaiis- melech) of the land of the Edomites.' Schr.uler has pointed out that I^aus is the name of a god which appears as Kos in Greek inscriptions, with which Ilal6vy compares the name of the early Arab, deity "^ais (Heb. Kish, Kishon). In B.C. 711, Edom joined the league against Sargon along witli Judah, Philistia, Moab, Egypt, and Merodach- baladan of Babylon ; but Aslidod, the Syrian centre of the league, was taken by the Assyrians, and Edom, like Moab and Judah, paid tribute to the conqueror. Edom again joineil the revolt against Assyria in B.C. 701, of which Hezekiah was the