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Bible Dictionaries
Idumaea
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or IDUMaeA (NT ἰδουμαία, which is also used in the LXX Septuagint for the Heb. ʼĔdôm).—This land is mentioned once only in the NT (Mark 3:8), but is also notable as the native land of Herod and his family. The Edom of the OT lay between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Akabah. In the early part of the Jewish exile many of the Edomites overran the south of Judaea, and when the Nabataeans, at some time during the Persian period, conquered their own land, many more joined the earlier settlers in South Judaea, and that district became known as Idumaea. Thus Idumaea at the time of Christ was ‘practically the Southern Shephelah with the Negeb’ (G. A. Smith, HGHL [Note: GHL Historical Geog. of Holy Land.] p. 239), i.e. roughly, all south of a line from Beth-sur to Gaza. Judas Maccabaeus fought against the Idumaeans with much success (1 Maccabees 5:3) in 164. Fifty-five years later, John Hyrcanus conquered the country, and compelled the people to be circumcised (Josephus Ant. xiii. ix. 1; BJ i. ii. 6). By the law of Deuteronomy 23:7-8 they thus became full Jews in the third generation, though Herod himself was sometimes reproached as a ‘half-Jew’ (Josephus Ant. xiv. xv. 2). Although the Idumaeans were ‘sons of Esau,’ their interests from this time were entirely merged with those of the Jews, and their country was reckoned to Judaea, Idumaea being counted one of the eleven toparchies of Judaea in Roman times (Josephus BJ iii. iii. 5).
G. W. Thatcher.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Idumaea'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/i/idumaea.html. 1906-1918.
