portion of sacred geography. The sketches too which are given by these travellers, of the manners and modes of life prevailing among the present inhabitants, and particularly among the Bedouin Arabs, are probably applicable with very little variation, to the nomadic tribes of ancient days; and they picture to us with equal truth and vivacity, not only the present Bedouins, but also the bands of the Amalekites, Moabites, Midianites, and others, who wandered over those regions in the periods of Jewish history.

1. General Situation and Extent of Idumea or Edom.

The general position, extent, and character of the land of Edom, has already been pointed out, in the eighth number of the present work, in an article on the Wanderings of the Israelites in the Desert. To that article the reader is referred, as also to the accompanying map; and therefore, it will here be necessary to make only a very general statement. It will be recollected that the Jordan runs every where through a valley, in most places narrow, and shut in by parallel ranges of mountains. These mountains in two places expand so as to form circular or rather elliptical basins of considerable extent; of which the northern is occupied by the lake of Tiberias; and the southern by the Dead sea, in which the Jordan now terminates. South of the Dead sea, however, the same ranges of mountains again approach and continue parallel to each other, enclosing between them a deep and broad valley of sand, called towards the north El Ghor and towards the south El Araba, which extends in a direction nearly S. S. W. to the eastern or Elanitic gulf of the Red sea, at Akaba. This valley is obviously a continuation of the valley of the Jordan; through which, in all probability, in very ancient times, before the Dead sea was formed on the plains of Sodom, that river discharged its waters into the Elanitic gulf. The length of this valley, between the two seas, is about 95 minutes of latitude, from about lat. 31° 5', to lat. 29° 30' north, or about 110 English miles in a direct line. The mountains which skirt the valley of the Jordan, on either side, from the lake of Tiberias to Akaba, are known in Scripture by various names in different parts. On the west, next to the lake of Tiberias, they constitute the mountains of Gilboa; then the mountains of Ephraim; then those of Judah, which include the range west 2 See Bibl. Repos. Vol II. p. 775, 776, 777 sq.

of the Dead sea to the southern border of Palestine. South of this, the mountains on the west of the Ghor, which are narrow and only serve to separate the Ghor from the vast desert of Paran, have no specific name in Scripture; at least, none which we can certainly determine. On the east, the mountains south of the lake of Tiberias are those of Gilead and Bashan; then those of Reuben, etc. then those of Moab around the eastern side of the Dead sea. The mountainous tract south of the Dead sea, on the eastern side of the Ghor, which is much broader and higher than that on the western side, and extends to Akaba, is, without doubt, the Mount Seir of the Scriptures, the country of the Edomites. At the present day the northern part of it, from a wady not far from Kerek to the wide valley El Ghoeyr which descends from the eastern desert into the Ghor, is known by the name of Djebal, i. e. mountains; manifestly the Gebal of the Hebrews and the Gebalene of the Romans. The next portion, extending to the Wady Gharendel, is called Djebel Shera, which is supposed by many to be the same name as Mount Seir, though this is doubtful. In this portion are situated the ruins of the ancient Petra, the renowned capital of Idumea. Farther south, the continuation of the chain to the waters of the Elanitic gulf, is called Djebel Hesma. Eastward of this mountainous tract, which seems in general not to be more than from eight to twelve miles broad, lies the vast and stony plain of the Arabian desert. The mountains, as seen from the Ghor, appear to have a very considerable elevation; but as seen from the eastern plain, they look only like low hills; the desert being upon a much higher level than the Ghor. This great valley also seems to have a rapid slope towards the south; for the eastern mountains apparently increase in height towards the south, those of Hesma being higher than any of the others farther north; while as seen from the eastern plain they all appear to continue of the same altitude. Rüppell estimates the height of the mountains of Hesma near Akaba, at 3000 French feet (about 3250 English feet) above the sea.5

That this tract of country was the seat of the children of Esau, seems scarcely to admit of question, since the researches of Burckhardt and Legh have brought to light its geographical

3 Ps. 83: 7 or 8. So Eusebius, Onomast. Art. 'Idovuaía. 4 Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, etc. p. 435,

5 Reisen, p. 180.

features, and the names by which its divisions and towns are still known, corresponding in so many particulars to the notices which are given in Scripture, and in ancient profane writers." We shall go more into detail on these points in the sequel. It is only proper to add here, that it is not necessary to regard the Edomites as wholly confined to this region. It is not improbable that they also had possession, at least occasional, of the mountains and parts of the desert west of the Ghor; as we know that at a later period they subdued the southern part of Palestine, as far as Hebron; and also made excursions through or around the land of Moab, and became masters of Bozrah.

On all the best maps up to the time of Burckhardt, Mount Seir and the country of Edom are laid down as situated directly south of Palestine, between the extremity of the Dead sea and Egypt; where we now know that there exists nothing but a wide and pathless desert. Had Burckhardt accomplished nothing but his researches in these regions, his journey would still have been worth all the labour and cost expended in it; although his discoveries thus shed their strongest light upon subjects, which were not comprehended in the plan or purpose either of himself or his employers.7

§ 2. Name, Settlement, and earliest History of Idumea.

The original name of the country inhabited by the Edomites was Mount Seir. It is first mentioned in Gen. 14: 6, where Chedorlaomer and his confederates are said to have smitten "the Horites in their Mount Seir." These Horites, as the name signifies, (Heb. from in a hole, cave,) were dwellers in caves; a description of people who were afterwards called by the Greeks Troglodytes, Towyhodita, a word of the same signification as Horites, derived from rooyin a cave. The appellation was in this case obviously drawn from the habits of the people; for Jerome says that "the whole of the southern part of Idumea, from Eleutheropolis to Petra and Aila, was full of caverns which were used as dwellings ;" and Josephus also

6 See particularly the remarks on the situation of Kadesh, in Vol. II. p. 791, of this work.

7 See some remarks on the character of Burckhardt as a traveller, in Vol. II. p. 597, of this work.

8 Comm. in Obad. vs. 1. “Omnis australis regio Idumaeorum de

mentions a valley in the region west of the Ghor, called Pharan, which was full of such caves.9 We shall also see in the sequel, that even Petra, the capital city, was in a great measure composed of similar habitations; so that in all probability, (as Jerome affirms,) the Idumeans in every age were in fact Troglodytes, or dwellers in caves; though not usually called by this name as a specific designation.10

At a later period, Esau, the elder son of Jacob, who was also called Edom, Gen. 25: 30. 36: 8, removed into this region from the face of his brother Jacob, Gen. 36: 6-9, and took possession of it as a country which the Lord had destined for the residence of his posterity, Deut. 2: 5. Gen. 32: 3. His father Isaac had described to him this land in his prophetic blessing, Gen. 27: 39, 40, "Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; and by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall came to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shall break his yoke from off thy neck." How literally this prophecy was fulfilled, we shall see in tracing the further history of the Edomites in the next section. From this country Esau came to meet Jacob, on his return from Mesopotamia, at the ford of the Jabbok, Gen. 32: 3, 22. 33: 1, 16.

For a long period afterwards, and so late indeed as the time of Ezekiel, (35: 2, 3, 7,) this land still continued to be known occasionally by the name of Mount Seir; though Edom was now the more common appellation. The name Seir,, means strictly hairy, and hence, as applied to a country, may signify rough, mountainous. It is therefore synonymous with Esau, 1, which also signifies hairy; and who is described. as a hairy man, Gen. 25: 25. 27: 11. This circumstance seems to have misled Josephus, to regard Esau and Seir as

Eleutheropoli usque ad Petram et Ailam (haec est possessio Esau) in specubus habitatiunculis habet, et propter nimios calores solis quia meridiana provincia est, subterraneis tuguriis utitur." Jerome is here speaking of the Idumea of a far later age, which included the southern part of Palestine.

9 Bell. Jud. IV. 9. 4. Comp. Bibl. Repos. Vol. II. p. 790.

10 See HILLER'S Onomasticon V. T. p. 506. C. B. MICHAELIS Diss. de antiquiss. Idumaeor. historia, § 12 sq. in Pott and Ruperti's Sylloge Commentt. theologicar. P. VI. J. D. MICHAELIS Comment. de Troglodytis Seiritis, in his Syntagma Commentatt. P. I. p. 194.

But according to Horites, and lived

the name of one and the same person." Gen. 36: 20, Seir was the ancestor of the undoubtedly at an earlier period than Esau. It is however not improbable, that the region was thus named the rough, rather from its character, than from any of its primeval settlers. It is usually affirmed, that the present name of Djebel Shera, which is appropriated only to the middle portion of this range of mountains, extending between the Wadys El Ghoeyr and Gharendel, is derived from the ancient name of Seir; but this is on good grounds called in question by Gesenius;12 since the present Arabic name has a different signification; and we find also Mount Seir described as being adjacent to the southern border of Palestine, a position which could hardly be attributed to the modern Shera.

The name Idumea, Idovuaia, is merely the Greek mode of pronouncing Edom; or rather, according to Josephus, it is a softer and more elegant pronunciation of what would properly be written Adoua.13 The Hebrew Scriptures speak of this land only under the names of Mount Seir and Edom;14 although the English version has sometimes substituted Idumea for these, e. g. Is. 34: 5, 6. Ez. 35: 15. 36: 5. The Septuagint has more commonly Idovuaia, 2 Sam. 8: 14. 2 K. 14:10; though sometimes also 'Edou, as Num. 33: 7. 1 K. 11: 15. 2 K. 14: 7. The Apocryphal books have only the form 'Idovuaia, 1 Macc. 4: 29, 61. 5: 3. 2 Macc. 10: 16; and this is also found in Mark 3: 8, the only passage where mention is made of

11 Antiq. I. 20. 3. Υπεχώρησον εἰς Σάειραν ἐνταῦθα γὰρ ἐποιεῖτο τὴν δίαιταν, προσαγορεύσας τὸ χωρίον ἀπὸ τῆς αὑτοῦ τριχώσεως Δα

σεῖαν.

12 Notes to Burckhardt's Travels, Germ. ed. p. 1067. "That the biblical Seir and the Arabic Shera are etymologically related, I would not decidedly affirm; at least they have very different meanings; the first, hairy; the second, region, possession, [according to the Camoos, also mountain, p. 1900.] The name Seir had also in the Bible a wider extent, and comprised the whole territory of Edom, including the Djebal; whence it could also be named as the southern border of Palestine, Josh. 11: 17. 12: 7."

13 Jos. Ant. II. 1. 1.

14 Jerome says: 66

Sciendum quod in Ebraeo numquam scribatur Idumaea, sed semper Edom, quam Idumaeam Graeca expressit translatio." Comm. in Ezech. xxv. 12.