2 Chronicles 20:11 declares that Edom, Ammon and Moab had "come tocast ... [the Israelites] out of thy possession, which ... [God] hast given ...[them] to inherit."
In 1 Samuel 15:1-3, God commanded King Saul to utterly destroy thedescendants of Esau's grandson Amalek. Saul disobeyed and ironicallywas later killed by one of the very Amalekites he spared (2 Samuel 1:2-10). Approximately 400 years later, Haman, a descendant of Esau Edomthrough Amalek, intended to exterminate Mordecai and Esther, Saul'sdescendants, along with the portion of the house of Judah that werecaptive in Persia. Haman's hatred for the Judahites was so intense that hewas willing to pay the Persian King Ahasuerus to see it accomplished:
...Haman sought to destroy all the Judahites that werethroughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai. ... And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, Thereis a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among thepeople in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws arediverse from all people; neither keep they the king's laws:therefore it is not for the king's profit to suffer them. If itplease the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed:and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands ofthose that have the charge of the business, to bring it into theking's treasuries. - Esther 3:6-9
By God’s providence, Haman did not succeed in his genocidal plot, and hewas hanged from the very gallows that he had built for Mordecai. Theensuing conflict killed many Edomites and many others claimed to beJudahites in an effort to preserve their lives:
And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever theking's commandment and his decree came, the Judahites hadjoy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of thepeople of the land became Judahites; for the fear of theJudahites fell upon them. - Esther 8:17
1 Samuel 22 records that Doeg the Edomite slaughtered Ahimelech andother Levitical priests when Saul's servants refused to take part in thebloody deed. The Talmud, Sanhedrin 69b, states that Doeg "...is regardedby the rabbis as the greatest scholar of his time...."128 King David, on theother hand, described Doeg as having character traits similar to those ofhis progenitor Esau:
Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, workingdeceitfully. Thou lovest evil more than good; and lying ratherthan to speak righteousness. Thou lovest all devouringwords.... - Psalm 52:2-4
Jasher 28:20 declares that "Esau was a designing and deceitful man, onewho hunted after the hearts of men
The Apocryphal book of 1 Maccabees records the Edomites' desire todestroy the Israelites:
...they thought to destroy the generation of Jacob that wasamong them, and thereupon they began to slay and destroy thepeople. Then Judas [Maccabaeus] fought against the childrenof Esau in Idumea at Arabattine, because they besiegedIsrael.... - 1 Maccabees 5:2-3
King Herod the Great exhibited the same wicked trait as did his Edomiteprogenitors. Matthew 2:16 relates that he was so intent on killing theinfant Christ that He murdered all Judahite boys two years of age andunder in Bethlehem and the surrounding territory.
Bible dictionaries document that Herod was of Edomite descent:The Herodian dynasty made its way into Palestine throughAntipater, an Idumean by descent. The Idumeans were ofEdomite stock as descendants of Esau. Antipater was installedas procurator of Judea by Julius Caesar, the emperor of Rome,in 47 B.C. He appointed two of his sons to ruling positions.One of these was Herod, known as "Herod the Great," whowas appointed governor of Judea.
Although Herod directed his murderous act principally against Yeshua,this was yet another instance when Edom's "perpetual hatred" wasunleashed upon Israelites. Edomite enmity was also exhibited during the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD when they entered the besieged city with theRoman Emperor Titus:
Just before the siege under Titus 20,000 Idumeans wereadmitted into Jerusalem and filled it with bloodshed andrapine nor did the Idumeans spare anybody; for as they arenaturally a barbarous and bloody nation.... And now the outertemple was all of it overflowed with blood; and that day, as itcame on, saw eight thousand five hundred dead bodies there.But the rage of the Idumeans was not satiated by theseslaughters, but they now betook themselves to the city, andplundered every house, and slew every one they met ... theysought for the high priests ... and as soon as they caught themthey slew them.... Now after these were slain, the zealots andthe multitude of the Idumeans fell upon the people as upon aflock of profane animals, and cut their throats; and, for theordinary sort, they were destroyed in what place soever theycaught them.
These are only a few instances where biblical and secular history citeEdom's perpetual hatred toward Israelites. But who did these Edomitesbecome? Just as the Israelites assumed new identities, so did theEdomites.
