Mar 13, 2007

Perhaps we are starting to make some people worried when we quote Josephus and other historians telling us that Edom was conquered and absorbed into Judea in 126 B.C. Here is an article from a Christian Zionist organization, "Israel My Glory," which is now promoting the idea that the Palestinians are the modern representatives of Edom.

http://www.cuttingedge.org/news/n2095.cfm

Their arguments are based upon the fact that the ancient territory of Edom once included much of southern Jordan all the way to the Arabah--the valley from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. Of course the Babylonian conquest in the 6th century B.C. changed a lot of the demographics, for it allowed the Edomites to move into southern Judah after the Judahites had been taken into the Babylonian captivity.

When Judah returned some decades later, they rubbed shoulders with these Edomites and often came into conflict with them. But during the time of the Maccabees (163-63 B.C.) Judah became an independent nation for a century, and during that time (126 B.C.) they conquered Edom and forcibly converted them to Judaism.

The article above does not mention a single word about this, although a grade school child could look it up in any encyclopedia in the local library under "Edom" or "Idumea" (the Greek form of Edom, as it later came to be known).

"Israel My Glory" writers try to tell us that the Palestinians are the modern descendants of Edom, when in fact, the Edomites became Jews, and were among the most vicious terrorists of the day in 70 A.D. They helped fight the Romans and were driven from the land and many brought into slavery along with the other followers of Judaism.

For the next few centuries, the Greeks and Romans occupied the land, until the Muslims from the East conquered the land. Later, the Muslim Ottoman Turks occupied the land and ruled it for centuries until 1917 toward the end of World War One.

I fail to see how the Palestinians are Edomites. They may quote Jewish rabbis all they want, but Jewish rabbis would naturally be biased in this particular fact of history. They don't want to be seen as Edomites and are most anxious that Christians not learn the plain facts of history that all historians have known for many centuries.

Much of the article above is spent telling us the fate of Edom, as foretold in the Bible, rather than in showing the history of Edom. The writers seem content to let us know that a Jewish rabbi told them that the Palestinians were Edomites. Well, that's that! How could I have ever doubted it?

Anyway, unless you have an anger management problem, I recommend you read the above article just to see how unscholarly and unbiblical men can be when they are fanatical Zionists that will grasp at any straw to prove that the modern Israeli state ought to commit genocide against the Palestinians.