Edom's (Dis)Possession
Eight different books in the Hebrew Bible employ the language of "possession" in relation to Edom and the descendants of Esau. This theme finds positive expression in Deuteronomy 2 and Joshua 24, where the land of Seir is said to have been given to the descendants of Esau as a divine gift....
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Catholic Biblical Association of America
2022
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| In: |
The catholic biblical quarterly
Year: 2022, Volume: 84, Issue: 3, Pages: 365-384 |
| Further subjects: | B
Numbers
B Esau B Possession B Prophets B Deuteronomy B Edom |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Eight different books in the Hebrew Bible employ the language of "possession" in relation to Edom and the descendants of Esau. This theme finds positive expression in Deuteronomy 2 and Joshua 24, where the land of Seir is said to have been given to the descendants of Esau as a divine gift. The remaining texts, however, all employ this theme in a negative manner, referring to Edom's dispossession or its inappropriate behavior toward Judah's possession (Numbers 24, Isaiah 34, Ezekiel 35-36, Amos 9, Obadiah, and 2 Chronicles 20). In this article, I examine how we might account for the fact that this possession-related terminology is used so frequently in relation to Edom when compared to other non-Israelite nations, and if there is a way to make sense of the divergent ways in which this trope is used in the texts noted above. Exploring the development of the literary traditions, I suggest that the positive depiction found in Deuteronomy preserves the oldest form of this tradition, having taken shape before 587 b.c.e. The negative uses of this theme represent a later interpretive inversion of the tradition following the Babylonian conquest. This coheres well with what we know of the historical picture, in which an Edomite presence in the Negev developed alongside a tradition relating to Edom's participation in the events of 587 b.c.e., a fitting context for the reinterpretation of the Deuteronomic portrayal of Edom's divinely granted possession. |
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| ISSN: | 2163-2529 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The catholic biblical quarterly
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/cbq.2022.0085 |