Jeremiah 49:7

Edom. The land of the Edomites, known also as “mount Seir” (see Gen. 36:8), lay south of Moab, extending from the brook Zered southward toward the Gulf of Aqabah. It included the country on both sides of the Arabah, the great geological fault that continues the rift of the Jordan valley, south of the Dead Sea. The country to the east of the Arabah is characterized by colorful limestone formations. Though it is semidesert and sparsely populated today, there is ample archeological evidence that Edom in Biblical times supported an extensive population. It was important for two reasons: first, it contained valuable copper and iron deposits (cf. Deut. 8:9), which its rulers exploited; and second, it controlled the trade route from the desert to western Palestine and the Mediterranean, as well as the great King’s Highway running north into Syria.

The people of Edom were more closely related to the Israelites than were either the Moabites or the Ammonites; they were descended from Esau, “who is Edom” (Gen. 36:1). For this reason Israel was commanded to show them special consideration (see Deut. 23:7). Although relations between the two nations appear at first to have been reasonably friendly (see Deut. 2:4-6, 29), they later deteriorated into bitter animosity.

The Edomites took particular delight in the fact that Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians (see Ps. 137:7).

Jeremiah’s prophecy against Edom closely parallels that of Obadiah. Several passages are so strikingly similar (Jer. 49:7; cf. Obadiah 8; Jer. 49:9, 10a; cf. Obadiah 5, 6; Jer. 49:14-16; cf. Obadiah 1-4) that it appears that one writer quoted the other. However, it is impossible to determine which represents the original and which a quotation, or whether, indeed, the two prophets may have collaborated on these passages and then each included them in his own utterance.

Teman. Either one of the tribal districts of Edom, taking its name from Teman, the grandson of Esau (see Gen. 36:15), or as a poetic synonym for Edom.