Stephen Caesar<\/b><\/p>\n
Stephen Caesar is founder and president of Bible Proof Ministries. See his website at http:\/\/www.churchsurf.com\/host\/ma\/bibleproof.html<\/i><\/p>\n
According to the Old Testament, the Israelites and Edomites were in a constant state of hostility. In the time of the Divided Kingdom, this hostility erupted into open warfare. Signs of this conflicthave been found all over the Arabah, the area between southern Israel (the Negev) and the ancient land of Edom in southwest Jordan.<\/p>\n
Battle One<\/b><\/p>\n
One of the first major clashes between Edom and Judah occurred during the reign of King Ahaz in the late 8th century BC, when the Edomites invaded and conquered the important Judahite port of Elath, formerly known as Ezion-geber. 2 Kings 16:6 mentions that Rezin king of Aram (\u201cSyria\u201d in KJV) used his own troops to take Elath, while 2 Chronicles 28:17 adds that Edom sent troops also, thus indicating that a combined force wrenched the city from Judahite hands. Excavations at Elath by Nelson Glueck in the mid-20th century unearthed jar handles bearing an unmistakably Edomite name on them, while in the layer below was found a signet ring with the seal of one of Judah\u2019s kings. Glueck wrote:<\/p>\n
The turnabout ownership of Ezion-geber\/Elath is illustrated by two names, one Edomite and the other Hebrew, which we came across in the excavations of the city of Elath. Built by the Judaeans on the ruins of Ezion-geber, it had been captured from them by the Edomites (2 Kgs 16:6), with whom it exited from history. The Edomite name occurred in seal impressions on the handles of a whole store-room full of fine pottery jars. On the handle of every one of them was stamped the following inscription: \u201cBelonging to Qausanal, the Servant of the King.\u201d We <\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 10:4 (Autumn 1997) p. 78<\/p>\n
know that Qausanal is a typical Edomite name (Glueck 1968: 165\u20136).<\/p>\n
In the layer below, Glueck found a Hebrew signet ring incised with the words \u201cBelonging to Jotham.\u201d This was King Jotham, father of Ahaz, who reigned when the Edomites invaded Elath. This demonstrated that Elath before the Edomite takeover was indeed part of the Kingdom of Judah, as Glueck (1968: 167\u20138) observed:<\/p>\n
It was…quite appropriate that the Qausanal impression should have been found in the Edomite stratum of Elath and the Jotham ring in the preceding Judaean one.<\/p>\n
Signet ring of Jothan found at Elath by Nelson Glueck.<\/b><\/p>\n
Battle Two<\/b><\/p>\n
The next great confrontation between the Jews and the Edomites occurred in the late 7th century BC, during the reign of King Josiah, who attempted to eradicate paganism from his kingdom. 2 Kings 22\u201323 and 2 Chronicles 34\u201335 tell of how Josiah revived the worship of the True God and destroyed countless pagan temples. This reform probably included Edomite paganism, an action which sparked the new phase of the Edomite-Israelite conflict.<\/p>\n
At the site of \u2018En Hatzeva in the Arabah, an Edomite cult site was recently uncovered which was filled with countless pagan idols that had been intentionally smashed with ashlarblocks. Its discoverers, Rudolf Cohen and Yigal Yisrael (Cohen and Yisrael 1996: 44), dated the ruins to the late 7th century BC, the time of Josiah. The date and location of the cache indicated that this place was one of the shrines destroyed by Josiah\u2019s men. Cohen and Yisrael (1996: 49) concluded,<\/p>\n
It seems probable to us that the objects belonging to \u2018En Hatzeva\u2019s idolatrous shrine were destroyed as part of Josiah\u2019s religious reform.<\/p>\n
Battle Three<\/b><\/p>\n
However, the Edomites would have their revenge, for soon after this incident they invaded Judah in force. Obadiah 10 mentions Edom\u2019s \u201cviolence against thy brother Jacob.\u201d <\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 10:4 (Autumn 1997) p. 79<\/p>\n
Israelite fortress at Arad.<\/b><\/p>\n
At Arad in the Negev, an archaeological dig some time ago uncovered a letter written on a potsherd (one of the famous \u201cArad Letters\u201d) dating from the late 7th century BC, the time of Josiah\u2019s reform, in which the Edomite invasion of Judah is recorded by the commandant. He is desperately calling for troops to relieve the city before the invading Edomites arrive:<\/p>\n
…and you shall send them [to] Ramath-negeb….And the word of the king is incumbent upon you for your very life. Behold, I have sent to warn you today: [Get] the men to Elisha! Lest Edom should come there (Aharoni 1982: 279).<\/p>\n
More recent excavations at Edomite sites such as Tel Malhata and Qitmit have revealed additional clues to this invasion of Judah. Itzhaq Beit-Arieh of Tel Aviv University, who excavated the two sites, found numerous evidences indicating that Edom did indeed invade the southern part of Judah around that time. He remarked:<\/p>\n
I believe that the Edomite military threat to Judah reflected in the ostracon from Arad was finally realized by Edomite expansion into the eastern Negev. The vast Edomite material from Tel Malhata, along with the Edomite shrine at nearby Qitmit, indicates Edomite <\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 10:4 (Autumn 1997) p. 80<\/p>\n
domination of the region at the end of the First Temple period [the Kingdom period] (Beit-Arieh 1996: 36).<\/p>\n
Based on his excavations, Beit-Arieh concluded:<\/p>\n
Although archaeologists have long known that a line of fortified Israelite outposts was erected in the eastern Negev in the 7th century BC, the reason for the protective barrier remained a mystery. Now, however, archaeology supplies the answer: These defenses and settlements were probably built to protect against possible Edomite invasions. Indeed, this view has significant Biblical support: The Bible not only reports a deep and lasting enmity between these two peoples, dating back to the period of the kingdom of Judah and earlier, but specifically describes mutual raiding, destruction and conquest [2 Kings 8:20\u201322, 14:7, 22, 16:6; Ob 10\u2013161].<\/p>\n
Here is an instance in which the Bible and archaeology splendidly illuminate one another. We now have scientific evidence of the historical kingdom of Edom, with its own well-defined material culture, language and cult practices. We know that Edom expanded beyond the Arabah into the eastern Negev, at a time when Judah was weakened by attacks from Assyria and then Babylon. In short, the Biblical accounts of the relations between these unneighborly neighbors are in large part confirmed by archaeological evidence (Beit-Arieh 1996: 36).<\/p>\n
From the earlier findings of Glueck and others, to the recent discoveries made by Cohen, Yisrael, and Beit-Arieh, archaeology has confirmed the Old Testament\u2019s overall historical accuracy regarding the Edomite civilization and its notorious enmity toward the Hebrews. Criticisms of the Bible as a compendium of factually inaccurate Jewish propaganda need no longer be taken seriously. From general scenarios to specific incidents in Jewish history, the Bible, as archaeology has shown, is to be trusted with far more confidence than the critics would have us believe.<\/p>\n
Bibliography<\/b><\/p>\n
Aharoni, Y.<\/p>\n
1982 The Archaeology of the Land of Israel<\/i>. Philadelphia: Westminster.<\/p>\n
Beit-Arieh, Y.<\/p>\n
1996 Edomites Advance Into Judah. Biblical Archaeology Review<\/i> 22\/6: 28\u201336.<\/p>\n
Cohen, R. and Yisrael Y.<\/p>\n
1996 Smashing the Idols. Biblical Archaeology Review<\/i> 22\/4: 40\u201351, 65.<\/p>\n
Glueck, N.<\/p>\n
1968 Rivers in the Desert<\/i>, New York: W.W. Norton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Stephen Caesar Stephen Caesar is founder and president of Bible Proof Ministries. See his website at http:\/\/www.churchsurf.com\/host\/ma\/bibleproof.html According to the Old Testament, the Israelites and Edomites were in a constant state of hostility. In the time of the Divided Kingdom, this hostility erupted into open warfare. Signs of this conflicthave been found all over the … Continue reading “WARS
\nAND RUMORS OF WARS:
\nEVIDENCE OF ANCIENT EDOMITE\/ISRAELITE WAR
\nSTRENGTHENED BY NEW FINDS”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15230\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}