Answers to Quora Questions by Yair Davidiy
Edomite Beginnings
The Edomites were descended from Esau the twin brother of Jacob.
Abraham the first Hebrew begat Isaac and Isaac begat the twin brothers, Esau and Jacob.
Genesis 25 [NKJV] 25:
21 Now Isaac pleaded with the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 But the children struggled together within her; and she said, ‘If all is well, why am I like this?’ So she went to inquire of the LORD.
23 And the LORD said to her:
‘Two nations are in your womb,
Two peoples shall be separated from your body;
One people shall be stronger than the other,
And the older shall serve the younger.’
24 So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb. 25 And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau. 26 Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel; so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
27 So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents.
The name of Jacob was changed to Israel, Genesis 32:28, 35:10. Esau was also known as "Edom" meaning "Red" (Genesis 25:30, 32:3, 36:1, 36:9, 19). Esau, i.e. Edom, was the twin-brother of Jacob but became his mortal enemy and wished to kill him (Genesis 27:41–42). Jacob was re-named Israel and begat the 12 Tribes of Israel. From the Israelite Tribes we now have the Jewish People and the Lost Ten Tribes. Researches by various scholars (see "The Tribes" ) reached the conclusion that even though the Ten Tribes lost their identity they still stayed together and/or re-coalesced after separating. They are now to be found among Western Peoples. The Ten Tribes had been exiled by the Assyrians (2-Kings 15:29, 17:6, 23, 18:11, 1-Chronicles 5:26). Nevertheless, the Edomites were also a party to Israelite Exile. The Book of Amos (ch.1) castigates the Edomites for having been instrumental in the Exile and forced re-settlement of Israelites from the Ten Tribes (Amos 1:6, 9, 11, 12).
Edom in Various parts of the Ancient Middle East
The descendants of Edom had been found in the Land of Edom (to the southeast of Judah) which to the Romans had been known as "Idumea." We also find descendants of Edom as military elites throughout the military elites. One of the clans of Esau/Edom was the Temanites and we find a people of similar name ("Tumana") in Anatolia (present-day Turkey) and in Babylon ("Temenu"). The Temannu were descended from Teman of Edom (Genesis 36:11). They were spread in several areas and were noted for their wisdom and intellect (Jeremiah 49:7). Job came from the Land of Uz (Job 1:1). This, says Nachmanides, was in the area of Armenia, i.e. Urartu. The Land of Uz was identified with Edom (Lamentations 4:21). Job may have been a descendant of Edom as was Eliphaz who came from Teman (Job 2:11). Eliphaz was one of the Three Friends of Job who debated with him. Eliphaz is also the name of the first-born son of Esau (Genesis 36:4, 10). The researcher, Michael Banyai, identified an area in northern Syria known as "Adamerez" as an offshoot of Edom. A King of Edom, Shaul of Rehoboth, reigned in a region by the Euphrates (Genesis 36:37).
Edom and Phoenicia
Edom was also associated with the Phoenician city of Tyre (Midrash Tanchuma), and with Babylon (Psalms 137:7,8). The city of Tyre had been settled by the Phoenicians. The term Phoenicia" means "red" and therefore has the same meaning as "Edom."
Sir William Drummond, "Origines: Phoenicia. Arabia", 1826 p.18 ff. tells us:
# Phoinikes in Greek signifies precisely the same thing as Edomi in Hebrew. The Phoenicians were descended from Esau otherwise called Phoen. #
Eusebius quotes a source saying that Tyre was founded by twin brothers one of whom was named "Ousous" which is a form of "Esau." Tyre on its landward side was known as "Eshu" which is also another for the name “Esau.” Ernest L. Martin ("The People that History Forgot," USA, 1993) relates a tradition that Tyre was founded by a king named "Erythras" which name in Greek also has the connotation of "Red."
Aylett Sammes ("Britannia Antiqua,1674, pp. 9, 71) relates that the Phoenicians were also called the Idumaean Tyrians. In other words the Phoenicians from Tyre were also known as ”Idumaeans" or “Idumaeans from Tyre." Sammes identifies them with early settlers of Britain. See: Britannia antiqua illustrata, . Based on Biblical references from Amos, Irish traditions as related in "The Chronicles of Eri" (Roger O'Connor, 1822), and more, we understand the Phoenicians of Tyre, and Philistines together with Edomites to have acted as agents of Assyria in resettling Israelite captives in the west. [Note: Edomites were just one of the ethnic components among the Phoenicians. We also find both Canaanites and Israelites in their ranks.]
Edomites in the West
Just as Israelites from the Ten Tribes moved to the west so did part of the Edomites. Descendants of Edom are also now located in parts of Europe, and in other places. The Sages held that Edomites had helped found Rome (Rashi on Genesis 36:43). It was prophesied that Edom would benefit from the riches of the world and live by his sword:
Genesis 27:
38 And Esau said to his father, 'Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me, me also, O my father!' And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.
39 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him:
'Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth,
And of the dew of heaven from above.
40 By your sword you shall live,
And you shall serve your brother;
And it shall come to pass, when you become restless [Hebrew: "red" i.e. gain control, separate yourself, move away]
That you shall break his yoke from your neck.'
In the future Edom will have a bad end.
Jeremiah 49:
15 For, lo, I will make you small among the heathen and despised among men.
This recalls the expression in Obadiah,
Obadiah 1:
2 I will surely make you least among the nations;
you shall be utterly despised.
The Sages (Talmud Megilla 6) is understood (Commentary of Eliyahu of Vilna) to say that Rome and the German nations were Edomites and if they ever united they would attempt to destroy the world. Well, they did unite. Mussolini attempted to revive the Roman Empire and he joined himself to Hitler and they went forward to try and obliterate humane humanity.
Concerning the birth of Jacob and Esau we learn:
Genesis 25:
24 So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb. 25 And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau. 26 Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau's heel; so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
The name “Esau” means "made already, complete." Esau when he was born was precociously developed. He was also reddish (“Admoni” in Hebrew) as was King David (1-Samuel 16:12, 17:42). According to the Sages (Midrash Breishit Rabah, 66) and Rabbinical Commentaries (e.g. the Malbim) both Esau and David had a warrior quality and were inclined to shed blood but David directed this attribute to the service of the Almighty.
Odin or Wodin in the eyes of later German Nationalists was considered the embodiment of Germany, see Carl Gustav Jung, "Wotan," 1936. The name "Odin" may also mean “Edom. “ Another name for Odin was “Koz”, see J.M. Kemble, "The Saxon in England," 1848, vol.1, p.370. This same word "Koz" (used for Wodin) is the very same term that was employed by the Idumeans of Idumea for their national god, see Qos (deity) - Wikipedia. Yair Davidiy considers the two names "Koz" and "Esau" to be dialectical permutations of the same name.
Red in Hebrew is "Edom." This became another name for Esau. Esau was described as "like a hairy garment all over" (Genesis 25:24). He was hairy. Esau was red and hairy. From a physical anthropological point of view one of the most hairy peoples in the world are the Turks. Some of the early Turkic peoples were described by others as red-haired, see: Red hair - Wikipedia. Later they intermixed with other groups and largely lost this quality. This is interesting because there are those who identify the Turks with Edom, e.g.
Turkey, Another Son Of Esau.
http://www.studiesintheword.org/Turkey.htm
by Wayne Bedwell
Some of Esau's descendants became the Idumaeans who remained in the area of Petra and Mount Seir (Gen 32:3) in the land of Edom, southeast of the Dead Sea. But others moved out of that area. Our purpose here is to trace Esau's lineage through his son Eliphaz and then to his grandson Teman.... eventually we read of a people called Temani in Persia and Turkestan. The Edomites named the Persian and Turkestan plateaus "land of Temani." From this point historians can trace these Turkic Temani peoples. In the eleventh century many of these Turks left Central Asia and Turkestan and moved to Asia Minor or Turkey. It is well known that Hittites, the same stock as some of Esau's wives, were part of the founding people of Turkey. Let's look at a Biblical reference to the Temani people.
(Oba 9 NKJV) Then your mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that everyone from the mountains of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.
... Turks and Hittites established the Ottoman Empire.
... Modern Turkey is comprised of a European section, which is part of the ancient dominion of Thrace, now mostly in Bulgaria, and an Asian section known as Anatolia. Tribes from Mongolia and Central Asia, speaking a Turkish language, conquered the present region of Turkey and imposed their language and cultural features on the inhabitants.
I recently asked a friend in Japan if it was true that the Japanese language originated in Turkey. He confirmed that it was true.
This gave rise to the Turkish people, most of whom descend from the previous inhabitants of Anatolia.
The original inhabitants comprised descendants of Hittites, Togarmah (from Gomer), Lydia (from Shem), Ionian Greeks, Phrygians (Meshech), and Tamannu. The Isaurians were in southern Anatolia, close to the Tamannu.
Both the Isaurians and Tammanu were probably descended from Esau who, as we read in Gen. 36:8, is also known as Edom.
In addition, the Turkish-speaking tribes who conquered the country may have also included Edomite elements.
In the tenth century the Ottoman Turks came into contact with Islam. About this time, Islam became the principal religion among all their central Asian relatives as well.
The Khazars called the Byzantium Emperor in Constantinople, the "King of Edom." The Byzantine Empire controlled the straits between the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea. The close linkage between the Turks of Turkey and their ancestors in Central Asia still exists.
Despite the above, even though there may be some Edomites among the Turks most of them, in our opinion, are descended from other ancestors and not from Esau. There may also be an Edomite element among the Russians. The name "Rus" can mean Red in some European dialects. The Communists (who Russia led) were called “Reds” and red was a symbol of Soviet Russia.
Historically, a segment of Edom settled to the southeast of Judah in "Idumea." A portion of them became partly Jewish and helped give rise to Christianity. Many of them became Christians (Don Isaac Abarbanel, "Mashmia Yishua"). Edomites also established enclaves in other nations.
Two recent books on this subject are:
"Esau. Edomites Today" (Brit-Am / Hebrew Nations) by Yair Daviidiy, 2015.
"Edom and Germany” by Yair Davidiy, 2015.