This next prophecy regards Edom and in it we will find the Lord referring to Edom as Israel's "brother" because Edom was founded by Esau, the brother of Jacob. The Edomites took every opportunity in the Old Testament to oppose the people of Israel despite being so closely related to them. They never had any interest in being at peace with them in spite of their ancestor Esau having made peace with his brother Jacob. You'll recall from our study of Genesis that although Jacob impersonated his brother in order to steal the blessing of the firstborn (which entailed a number of spiritual responsibilities as well as a material inheritance), Esau greeted Jacob in a loving spirit when Jacob returned from Haran. A number of years had passed and Esau was no longer angry. Esau realized during those years that Jacob was cut out to be the spiritual leader of the family and he wasn't. When he saw Jacob approaching him, this is what he did: "But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept." (Genesis 33:4)
Jacob had brought many animals from the flocks and herds he'd acquired in Haran and he wanted to give a number of these as a peace offering to Esau. But Esau had prospered during those years too and was happy with the way his life had turned out. He said to Jacob, "I already have plenty, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself." (Genesis 33:9) It was only because Jacob kept insisting that Esau finally relented and agreed to accept this gift because he could see how much it meant to Jacob to be able to give him something. The next time we saw Jacob and Esau together it was at their father's funeral and they were still at peace with each other. As far as we can tell from the Biblical account, there were never any further disputes between the two brothers.
But there were many disputes between Edom and Israel and in each case it was because Edom was the aggressor. Because of this the Lord has harsh words for the Edomites. "This is what the Lord says: 'For three sins of Edom, even for four, I will not relent. Because he pursued his brother with a sword and slaughtered the women of the land, because his anger raged continually and his fury flamed unchecked, I will send fire on Teman that will consume the fortresses of Bozrah.'" (Amos 1:11-12)
The anger of Esau against Jacob was a fleeting thing. Esau was a worldly-minded man, as we learned in our study of Genesis, and he soon found he was quite content with concerning himself with the things of the world. He was satisfied with the prosperity he found in the world and he maintained no animosity toward his brother. Being the spiritual leader of the family (which in those days involved acting as high priest for the family by making offerings on their behalf and interceding with God for them) was not something that appealed to him. Making big decisions for the entire family was not a responsibility he wanted either. The birthright that he considered less valuable than a bowl of stew in Genesis 25 involved far more than just receiving the larger portion of his father's estate; it was an inheritance of a spiritual duty and, sadly, Esau was not up to the task. Esau married six pagan women rather than taking a godly wife from within his own culture and it wasn't long after he passed away that the nation which sprang from his descendants gave itself wholly up to idolatry.
When the Lord led Israel out of Egypt, the Edomites didn't welcome them with open arms as their ancestor Esau welcomed Jacob. Instead they refused to allow the Israelites to pass through their territory on the way to Canaan. They said to Moses: "You may not pass through here; if you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword." (Numbers 20:18) Moses tried to reason with them, stating that they would be no trouble to anyone---that they would stick to the main road and not ask for anything from anybody but would eat their own food and drink their own water and clean up after themselves along the way. In response, "Edom came out against them with a large and powerful army." (Numbers 20:20b) This meant the Israelites had to take a longer, more dangerous route around the nation of Edom.
Yet the Lord warned the Israelites not to retaliate against the nation of Edom. He commanded them to "be the bigger man", so to speak, and to treat the Edomites not as the Edomites had treated them but as the Edomites should have treated them. In the book of Deuteronomy the Lord commanded the Israelites to regard the the nation of as their brother and not to infringe on its territory. He said: "Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own." (Deuteronomy 2:5) Esau was long dead by this time but the Lord referred to the nation of Edom as "Esau" to remind the people of Israel of their familial connection. He made it clear that if the Israelites made war with Edom, He would not allow them to win. The Israelites obeyed this order but that didn't persuade the Edomites to regard them with brotherly love.
The Edomites were not powerful enough to come and attack the nation of Israel by themselves but time and time again they joined in with other nations that were launching attacks against Israel. Matthew Henry, who was a British minister and the author of a six-volume commentary of the Bible, said in regard to Edom: "They had not strength and courage enough to face them (the descendants of Jacob) in the field of battle, but, whenever any other enemy had put Judah or Israel to flight, then the Edomites set in with the pursuers, fell upon the rear, slew those that were half dead already, and (as is usual with cowards when they have an enemy at an advantage, they did cast off all pity." This is exactly what the Lord is accusing the Edomites of: of having no pity toward their brother. They pursued the people of Israel with the sword, not even having mercy on the women, as the Lord stated in His charges against the Edomites in today's text. Long ago Esau willingly let go of his anger toward his brother and accepted him home with open arms but his descendants were unwilling to follow his example. This is why the Lord says that Edom's anger "raged continually and his fury flamed unchecked".
Not only did the Edomites viciously attack the Israelites when they were not in a good position to defend themselves, but they also enslaved some of the Israelites who fell into their hands. We've already seen references to that in the book of Amos. We learned in Amos 1:6 that the Philistines "took captive whole communities and sold them to Edom" and we learned in Amos 1:9 that the Phoenicians "sold whole communities of captives to Edom". Rather than allying themselves with Jacob's descendants, the Edomites bought and sold them. Instead of standing with them in battle against enemies, they joined in with Israel's enemies and cut down the wounded and the weak, even striking down unarmed women.
The other books of the prophets will contain more information about the Edomites and why the Lord brought judgment against them. They ceased to be a distinct nationality when they were conquered by the Nabatean Arabs about five hundred years before the birth of Christ. Some of the Edomites remained in the land but were subject to their conquerors and had to live according to the cultural customs and laws of their conquerors. Others fled the region and assimilated into the mixed cultures who lived along the western side of the Dead Sea. These refugees from Edom later became known as the Idumeans and they continued to cause conflict with the nation of Judah during the period of time between the Old Testament and the New Testament, but lost the fight to the Jewish people and were forced to be subject to them. The Roman Empire effectively put an end to Idumaea and any national identity of a distinct people known as the Idumeans in around 68BC. There is no nation of Edom (or Idumaea) in the world today and although they were never wiped from the earth entirely as a group of people, their descendants became a mixture of so many other cultures that even with DNA testing there is no way to determine whether a person's family tree actually originated with Esau. As both a people and as a location on the earth, Edom has been essentially destroyed just as the Lord said it would be.
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