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→So Why Were the Edomites and Israelites Enemies?
“For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off forever. In the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them. But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction.” <ref> Obad. 1:10-14</ref>
====So Why Were the Edomites and Israelites Enemies?====An examination of the biblical, archaeological, and Near Eastern sources reveals that that the Edomites and Israelites had a close, yet contentious relationship throughout their long history. According to the Bible, the two tribes were literally born with enmity toward each other, but a . A closer examination of the sources reveals that the source of their conflict was more about the resources most wars have been than religion. The Edomites and Israelites fought over – land. As both tribes grew into kingdoms, they struggled for land and power in a region where good land was scarce, so military conflict was quite common. When Israel prospered from about 1000 to 724 BC, the Edomites were in an inferior a weaker political position. When the Assyrians and Neo-Babylonians became the preeminent powers in the region, the Edomites were able to take advantage by extending their influence in Judah. The Bible chroniclers were no doubt influenced in a negative way by the Edomites’ move into Judah, so a group that was already viewed somewhat negatively became one of the most notorious enemies of the Israelites.
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