WRITINGS
The word Edom in Hebrew means “red.” The Bible relates this name to Esau, the elder son of the Hebrew patriarch Isaac and the brother of Jacob—later named Israel. Esau became the father of the Edomites and other nations, including Amalek. The Edomites primarily inhabited the area of Mount Seir. This mountainous region, situated in modern-day Jordan, stretches along the eastern flanks of the Jordan Valley from the Dead Sea southward towards the Gulf of Aqaba.
The first mention of the Jews in the Bible occurs in the second book of Kings, which describes the fall and captivity of Judah. “Now it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around. 2 So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah” (2 Kings 25:1-2)
