The form of government among the Edomitish peo- ple was, like that of surrounding nations, tribal (comp. Gen. xxxvi, 15 sq.), yet they originally (or at least earlier than the Israelites) had kings (Gen. xxxvi, 32 sq. ; Num. xx, 14; see Tuch on Gen. xxxvi, 9 sq. ; Bertheau, Israel. Gesch. p. 207), who appear to have been freely chosen from among the clan-chieftains (princes, Gen. xxxvi, 40; Ezek. xxxii, 29; comp. Isa. xxxiv, 12, and Gesenius, in loc. ; Hengstenberg, Pent, ii, 299 sq.), until (in the time of Solomon) a hereditarj' dj'- nasty had established itself (1 Kings xi, 14 sq.). While the country remained under Israelitish sway, the native royal government was nearly superseded (1 Kings xxii, 48) ; although under Jehoshaphat men- tion is made (2 Kings iii, 9, 26) of a king (viceroy) of the Edomites (in alliance with him), and from this time the}' seem to have had an uninterrupted line of kings (Amos ii, 1; Jer. xxvii, 3; Ezek. xxxii, 29). The principal mode of livelihood and employment of the Edomites were commerce by land by means of caravans (Heeren, Ideen, i, 1, p. 107; Lengerke, Ken. i, 298 ; compare Ezek. xxviii, 16, where, however, the true reading is Ai-am ; see Hiivernick in loc.), probably to Elath and Ezion-geber, on the Red Sea ; the rais- ing of cattle, agriculture, and the cultivation of vines (Num. XX, 17; Ezek. x.xv, 13); according to Jerome (Onom.^. V. Fenon), also mining (see C.G.Flade, Le re metall. 3Iidianif.,£doinit., et Pkosnic, Lips. n. d.). Re- specting their religion the Old Test, is entirely silent, except that it was some form of polytheism (2 Chron. xxv, 20); Josephus {A7it. xv, 7, 9) mentions one of their gods by the name of Coze (Koss, .'' >^'4P, the de- strot/e?- or ender; see Hitzig, PMlist. p. 265 ; and comp. Epiphan. Hmr. 55; Lengerke, Ken. i, 298). From the earliest times the wisdom of the Edomites, namelj', of the Temaiiitc branch, was celebrated (Obad. 8 ; Jer. xlix, 7). See Uz. (On the subject generally, sec Van Iperen, Hist. crit. Edomceor. et Amaleh. Leonard. 1768; Hoffmann, in the Hall. EncyUop. II, xv, 146). — Winer, i, 292. See Idu.^i.f.a.
Ed'rei (Heb. Edre'i, '•V'y}'^, mirjlify; Sept. 'Ecpa- th' and 'Ecpah'), the name of two cities.
1. One of the metropolitan towns (Ashtaroth being the other) of the kingdom of Bashan, beyond the Jor- dan (Josh, xii, 4, 5 ; xiii, 12 ; Dent, iii, 10). It was here that Og, the gigantic king of Bashan, was defeat- ed by the Israelites, and lost his kingdom (Num. xxi, 33-35; Deut. i, 4; iii, 1-3). Edrei afterwards belong- ed to eastern JLuiasseh (Josh, xiii, 31; Num. xxxii, 33). It is probable that Edrei did not remain long in possession of the Israelites. May it not be that they abandoned it in consequence of its position within the borders of a wild region infested by numerous roblier bands? The Lejali is the ancient Argob, and appears to have been the stronghold of the Geshurites; and the}' perhaps subsequently occupied Edrei (Josh, xii, 4, 5). It was the seat of a bishop in the early ages of Christianity (Reland, falcrst. p. 547), and a bishop of
EDKEI
61
EDUCATION
Adraa sat in the Council of Seleucia (A.D. 381) and of Chalcedon (A.D. 451). In A.D. 1142 the Crusaders under Baldwin III made a sudden attack upon Adraa, or Adratum, then popularlj' called also Civitas Ber- iiardi de Stamids, but they encountered such obstacles in the difficult nature of the ground, the scarcitj^ of water, and the valor of the inhabitants, that they 'were compelled to retreat (Will. Tyr. p. 895, 89G,"l031). Abulfeda calls it Adsraat (Tub. Syr. 79)'
There are two ancient towns in Bashan which now claim the honor of being the representatives of Edrei. Tiie one is called Edhra, and is situated on the south- west angle of the rocky district of Lejah, the Argob of the Hebrews, and the Trachonitis of the Greeks. The ruins of Edhra are among the most extensive in Hauran. Tlie site is a strange one. It is a rocky promontory projecting from the Lejah [see Tkacho- NiTisJ, having an elevation of some thirty feet above the idain, which spreads out beyond it smooth as a sea, and of unrivalled fertility. The ruins are nearly three miles in circuit, and have a sti'ange, wild look, rising up in black shattered masses from the midst of black rocks. A number of the ancient houses still remain, though half buried beneath heaps of more modern ruins. Tiieir walls, roofs, and doors are all of stone ; the}' are low, massive, and simyjle in plan ; and thej' bear the marks of the most remote antiquity. Some of them are doubtless as old as the time of the Eepha- ini, and tliey are tiius specimens of primeval architec- ture such as no other country could produce. At a later period Edhra was adorned with many public edifices, now mostly in ruins. A large church still stands at the northern end of the town. A Greek in- scription over the door informs us tluit it was original- ly a Iieathen temple, was converted into a church, and dedicated to St. George in A.D. 516. There are the walls of another church of St. Elias ; and in the centre of the town a cloistered quadrangle, which appears to have been at first attached to a forum, and afterwards to a cathedral. On the puldic buildings and private houses are manj' Greek inscriptions. Some were cop- ied b)' Burckhardt, and some by Eev. J. L. Porter. At the time of the visit of the latter in 1854 the popu- lation amounted to about fifty families, of which some eight or ten were Christian, and the rest Mohamme- dan. A full account of the history and antiquities of Edrei is given in Porter's Five Years in Damascus, ii, 220 sq., and Handbook for Syria and Palestine, p. 632 sq. ; also in his Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 94 sq. Sec also Burckhardt's Travds in Syria, p. 57 sq. ; Buck- ingham's Travels among the Arab Tribes, p. 274.