The Old Testament indicates that the kingdom of Edom existed at the time Moses was leading the Hebrews toward the Promised Land of Canaan. Moses encountered the unnamed Edomite king, asking permission to pass through his territory into Canaan, the Promised Land (Numbers 20:14–20). This is problematic historically and indicates that the exodus story is one that was crafted in the seventh or sixth century BCE, centuries after the events of the exodus itself.

Part 1: The Story
Part 6: The Moses of Legend and Myth
Part 9: The Book of Exodus as a Post-Exilic Document

The kingdom of Edom was located in what is today southwestern Jordan, between the Dead and Red Seas, and was first occupied in the thirteenth century BCE. Its wealth was produced through a vibrant copper mining industry. The copper was smelted and used to make weapons and for trading. According to the majority of historians, the Edomite monarchy began under Assyrian tutelage toward the end of the eighth century BCE and reached its zenith of territorial expansion in the first half of the sixth century BCE (Knauf and Brown 2018; Bienkowski 2022). The kingdom’s independence came to an end at the hands of the last Babylonian king, Nabonidus (615–539 BCE), between 553 and 551 BCE.

The Biblical Account

In the biblical story, the kingdom Edom existed during the events of the Hebrew exodus; according to the Book of Numbers, Moses asked the king of Edom for permission to cross through his territory in order to reach Canaan.

“Now we are here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory. Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway and not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory. But Edom answered: “You may not pass through here; if you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword.” The Israelites replied: “We will go along the main road, and if we or our livestock drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We only want to pass through on foot—nothing else.” Again they answered: “You may not pass through.” Then Edom came out against them with a large and powerful army. Since Edom refused to let them go through their territory, Israel turned away from them” (20:18–21).

Not unreasonably, the Edomite king rejects Moses’ request, probably because few would allow a migrating population of two million (with 600,000 men in its ranks) into their territory whose cattle caravans would consume valuable resources (e.g., water). That the king of Edom responded by sending “a large and powerful army” (a surprising assertion if the Hebrew migrating population really numbered two million) to confront the Hebrews would indicate a sense of fear at the prospect of a foreign invasion. Consequently, the Hebrews did not enter and bypassed Edom and its king instead.

Historical Challenges to the Biblical Account

Archaeological investigations have challenged the possibility of this biblical description of Moses requesting from the Edomite king passage through his land. The kingdom of Edom only reached statehood in the seventh century BCE but before then was a sparsely settled area inhabited mainly by pastoral nomads (Bienkowski 2023). Archaeologists Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman comment on how this poses challenges to literal historical readings of this passage,

“From the Assyrian sources we know that there were no real kings and no state in Edom before the late eighth century BCE. Edom appears in ancient records as a distinct entity only after the conquest of the region by Assyria. And it became a serious rival to Judah only with the beginning of the lucrative Arabian trade. The archaeological evidence is also clear: the first large-scale wave of settlement in Edom accompanied by the establishment of large settlements and fortresses may have started in the late eighth century BCE but reached a peak only in the seventh and early sixth century BCE. Before then, the area was sparsely populated. And excavations at Bozrah—the capital of Late Iron II Edom— revealed that it grew to become a large city only in the Assyrian period. In fact, most parts of this region, including Edom, which is mentioned as a state ruled by a king in the biblical narrative, were not even inhabited by a sedentary population at that time. To put it simply, archaeology has shown us that there were no kings of Edom there for the Israelites to meet” (2001, 73).

Some have, however, argued that there were kings in Edom “before any king reigned over the Israelites” (Genesis 36:31) and that origin of the Edomite kingdom lie in the twelfth or eleventh century BCE based on the discovery of a copper production center in the Wadi Arabah, just south of the Dead Sea basin. Although this would date the Edomite monarchy much earlier than the seventh century BCE, it still removed from the assumed time of Moses’ activity, even granted the “late date” of the exodus in the thirteenth century BCE.

Further, it is disputed whether this copper industry was actually “Edomite” (Knauf and Brown 2018) and industrial production does not require a state structure (Philip 2001, 167). Organizational units, including kinship groups and the community of the village, are sufficient for this task and building up infrastructure (Philip 2001, 167–168), meaning that the Edomite copper industry did not require kingship.

It has also been argued that the presence of a fortress at Khirbat en-Nahas is proof of an early Edomite kingdom (Levy, et al. 2005). But as archaeologists Eveline Van der Steen and Piotr Bienkowski respond, “one fortress does not make a kingdom. Or, to put it differently, most kingdoms may have fortresses, but not every fortress belongs to a kingdom” (2006, 17).

The story of Moses encountering the king of Edom by requesting his permission to pass through his territory indicates that the exodus narrative reached its final form during the second half of the seventh and the first half of the sixth century BCE.

Part 9: The Book of Exodus as a Post-Exilic Document

References

Bienkowski, Piotr. 2022. “The Formation of Edom: An Archaeological Critique of the “Early Edom” Hypothesis.” Bulletin of the American Society of Overseas Research 388(1):113-132.

Bienkowski, Piotr. 2023. “The Emergence of Edom: Recent Debate.” The Ancient Near East Today. Available.

Philip, Graham. 2001. “The Early Bronze I-Ill Ages.” In The Archaeology of Jordan, edited by Burton MacDonald, Russell Adams, and Piotr Bienkowski, 163–232. Sheffield, England, United Kingdom: Sheffield Academic Press.

Finkelstein, Israel., and Silberman, Neil Asher. 2001. The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts. New York City, New York, United States: Simon and Schuster.

Knauf, Ernst Axel., and Brown, Robin M. 2018. “Edom.” Oxford Bibliographies. Available.

Levy, Thomas E., et al. 2005. “Lowland Edom and the High and Low Chronologies: Edomite state formation, the Bible and recent archaeological research in southern Jordan.” In The Bible and Radiocarbon Dating, edited by Thomas E. Levy and Thomas Higham, 129-163. London, England, United Kingdom: Equinox.

Van der Steen, Eveline., and Bienkowski, Piotr. 2006. “How old is the Kingdom of Edom?: A Review of New Evidence and Recent Discussion.” Antiguo Oriente Cuadernos Del Centro De Estudios De Historia Del Antiguo Oriente 4:11-20.