Idumea (Heb. ‘Edôm, “red”, “earthy” or “bloody”; Gr. Idoumáia). Name that the Greeks and Romans used for Edom (Mar 3:8). In the intertestamental period and in NT times it designated an area to the west and northwest of ancient Edom, in southern Judah. This region received its name from the Edomites, who had moved into it after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC, and again after being expelled from their ancient homeland by the Nabataean Arabs in the 4th century BC. From the Maccabees, the Edomites occupied important Hebrew cities such as Beth-sur and Hebron (1 Mac. 4:29; 5:65). The Maccabean ruler John Hyrcanus finally subjugated them and forced them to accept the Jewish religion. As Jewish proselytes, they technically became and were considered part of the nation. Descendants of the Idumeans were the Herods. Map 1, C-1/2. Bib.: FJ-AJ xiii.9.1.
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
See Edom.
Digital Bible Dictionary, Grupo C Service & Design Ltda., Colombia, 2003
Source: Digital Bible Dictionary
(related to Edom). The name that the Greeks and Romans used to refer to the people of Edom (Mar 3:8). See EDOM, EDOMITES.
Source: Hispanic World Bible Dictionary
Idumea is the term used by the Greeks and Romans to refer to the country occupied by a people known in the Old Testament as Edomites. When the Nabataeans drove the Edomites out of their traditional home, they moved north to the Hebron region. Antipater, father of Herod the Great, was an Idumean.
Source: Archaeological Biblical Dictionary
Greco-Roman form to point to †¢Edom. However, it does not indicate the region traditionally known by that name, but rather another within the territory of Israel itself, to the S, near Hebron, where the Edomites emigrated taking advantage of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans in 586. BC, a fact that the prophets denounced (Eze 25:12; Amo 1:11). Arab peoples, especially the Nabataeans, took over the territory of ancient Edom. Later, in the year 126 BC, John Hyrcanus dominated the inhabitants of I., whom he forced to circumcise, appointing Antipater as governor, who was the grandfather of † ¢ Herod the Great.
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
type, REGI
see, EDOM
sit, a3, 290, 465
vet, Name given by the Greeks and Romans to Edom, from the third century BC (Mr. 3:8). This name is used by the version of the LXX in the Greco-Roman era to translate the name of the region of the Idumeans, land located south of Palestine and occupied by this people after the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in the year 587 BC ( See EDOM.)
Source: New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
Southern region of Palestine, in the vicinity of the Dead Sea depression, around the Arabah region. The biblical tradition considered heritage of the twelve tribes that came from Esau (Edom), the son of Isaac. (Gen. 36.1-42). In the time of Jesus, the ancient territory had been reduced to a dependency of Judea, as a result of the Maccabean conquests and the expansion of the more eastern Arab groups, who had constituted the kingdom of the Nabataeans, whose capital was Petra. Idumea, Herod’s homeland, had been reduced to the south of Palestine, to the wild area between Hebron and Beersheba.
The early data from Idumea often appear in the context of an ongoing rivalry with Israel. That is why the oracles contrary to Edom abound: Am. 11.1; Ez. 25. 12; Jer. 49.7; Wrong. 1.2. As an independent and original area, it disappeared with the Jewish rebellion and the destruction of its inhabitants.
Pedro Chico González, Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy, Editorial Bruño, Lima, Peru 2006
Source: Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy
(from the gr., means: †œ of the Edomites† ).
In Maccabean and Roman times, Idumea’s geographical boundaries did not include the most important area of ancient Edom, E of the Arabah, but included part of what had originally been the territory of Simeon and Judah. As indicated in the apocryphal book of 1 Maccabees (4:29, 61; 5:65, BJ), Idumea included the region that was around Hebron, and, in a N. direction, it reached Beth-zur, approximately 26 Km. to SSO. of Jerusalem. The Idumeans are said to have suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Judas Maccabee. (1 Maccabees 5:3) According to Josephus, John Hyrcanus then subjugated all the Idumeans, allowing them to remain in the country on condition that they submit to circumcision and adhere to Jewish law. Instead of leaving the country, the Idumeans complied with these conditions. (Jewish Antiquities, book XIII, chap. IX, sec. 1.) The inhabitants of Idumea were among those who went personally to Jesus † œwhen they heard how many things he was doing †. (Mr 3:8; see EDOM, EDOMITES.)
Source: Dictionary of the Bible
The gr form (language) from Heb. ˒eḏôm it refers to an area of western Palestine, and not to Edom proper. At the time of the exodus, Edom extended on both sides of the Arabah, and the western portion reached as far as near Kadesh (Num. 20.16). David subjugated Edom, but there were continual conflicts between *Edom and Judah. After the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC, the Edomites took advantage of this calamity to migrate to the heart of southern Judah, S of Hebron. Several prophets expressed themselves against Edom because of this (Jer. 49.7-22; Lm. 4.21-22; Ez. 25.12-14; 35.3; Abd. 10ss).
As various Arab groups, especially the Nabataeans, later infiltrated ancient Edom, more immigrants settled in Judah, and the area they occupied became known as Idumea (1 Mac. 4.29; 5.63). Judas Maccabee carried out successful campaigns against them, and John Hyrcanus subjugated them ca. 126 BC, he placed Antipater as governor, and forced them to be circumcised (Jos., Ant. 13.258). Antipater was the grandfather of *Herod the Great. The word Idumean appears in the NT only in Mark 3.8.
JAT
Douglas, J. (2000). New Biblical Dictionary: First Edition. Miami: United Bible Societies.
Source: New Bible Dictionary
The country inhabited by the descendants of Edom. The word Idumea is the Greekized form of the Hebrew name ‘Edôm (Egyptian, Aduma; Assyrian, U-du-um-ma-ai, U-du-mu, U-du-mi), which seems to have been applied to the region for the red color of its sandstone cliffs. Idumea was located to the south of Judah and the Dead Sea, but its limits, bordering on the desert, are difficult to determine. According to Genesis 36,8 ss., When Esau left Canaan he fixed his residence on Mount Seir, then the home of the Horites (Gen. 14,6; DV: Chorreans). Mount Seir is commonly thought to be the Jebel esh-Shera, a range extending from the mountains of Moab, to the east of the ‘Arabah; however, various indications suggest a more western location and led some to believe that Mount Seir should be sought rather in the highlands between Kadesh and the southern part of the Dead Sea. The Tell el-Amarna Tablets certainly speak of She-e-ri as a country south of Eastern Palestine; the same documents mention in that region a city of U-du-mu (Edom), in which Ed-Dome is recognized (Ruma of Joshua 15,52 — DV; Hebrew, Dûmah), to the south southeast of Hebron, already Sometimes the name is used to designate the country of the Edomites. On the other hand, the route followed by the Israelites, returning from Kadesh to Esyon Geber (Deut. 2,8) and going east of the Arabah through Salmona (unknown), Phunon (Khirbet Fenân) and Oboth (prob. Wady Weibeh), then going northeast to Jeabarim (Kh. ‘Ai, east, southeast of Kerak), to “encircle the land of Edom” (Num. 21,4), which he was not allowed to cross (Num. 20, 17), indicates that this land did not extend beyond the Arabah. Not only Mount Seir, but the entire surrounding region inhabited by tribes claiming to be descended from the Edomites, is usually understood under the name of Idumea.
In ancient times the Edomites were ruled by ‘allûphîm or “dukes”; but during the Hebrews’ sojourn in the desert Mount Seir was under the control of a king. Genesis 36, 31-39, gives a list of “the kings who ruled the land of Edom, before the people of Israel had a king”; from this list we know that the Edomite monarchy was elective. Despite the blood relationship between Israel and Edom, the two peoples were frequently in conflict. Saul had turned his army against the Edomites (1 Sam. 14:47); David conquered and garrisoned the country (2 Sam. 8,14) and Solomon occupied his ports on the Red Sea (1 Ry. 9,26). During Joram’s reign, Idumea managed to shake off Jerusalem’s yoke for a time, but Amaziah once more forced the Edomites under the rule of Judah; finally under Ahab they gained their independence. With the fall of Judah at the hands of the Babylonians, whom they had joined in their quarrel, the power of the Edomites increased, and they took possession of all southern Palestine, making Hebron their capital. But despite their alliance with the Syrians during the Maccabean War, they could not resist the strong onslaught of the Israelite patriots who expelled them from southern Judah. Losing their possessions to the east of the Arabah, which had long since fallen to the Nabataeans, they made them easy prey for their neighbours, and in 109 BC they were conquered by John Hicharno, who, however, allowed them to remain in the Arabah. country on the condition that they adopt Judaism. When at the death of Alexandra (69), Aristobulus tried to seize the crown from his brother Hyrcanus II, Antipater, governor of Idumea, aligned himself with the latter in the conflict, and when the Romans arrived, he strongly adhered to they. His assistance to his army on various expeditions, and his services to Julius Caesar, were rewarded in 47 with the highly coveted title of Roman citizen and appointment as procurator of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee. His son was Herod the Great.
Bibliography: BURCKHARDT, Travels in Syria and the Holy Land (London, 1822); ROBINSON, Biblical Researches in Palestine, II (London, 1856); PALMER, The Wilderness of the Exodus (Cambridge, 1871); HULL, Mount Seir (London, 1889); IDEM, Memoir on the Geology and Geography of Arabia Petra, Palestine, and Adjacent Districts (London, 1889); MUSIL, Arabia Petra, II, Edom. Topographischer Reisebericht (Vienna, 1907); BUHL, Geschichte der Edomiter (Leipzig, 1893); LAGRANGE. L’Itinéraire des Israélites du Pays de Gessen aux bords du Jourdain. De Cadès à ‘Asion-Gaber in Revue Biblique (1900), 280; JAUSSEN, SAVIGNAC, and VINCENT, ‘Abdeh in Revue Biblique (1904), 403; (1905), 74, 235.
Source: Souvay, Charles. “Idumea.” The Catholic Encyclopaedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07638a.htm
Translated by Luz María Hernández Medina.
Source: Catholic Encyclopedia