Judah and Edom in the Book of Kings and in Historical Reality Nadav Na’aman 1 The Judahite-Edomite Struggle According to the Book of Kings The author of the Book of Kings related the Kingdom of Judah’s relations with its neighbouring kingdoms by means of short chronistic accounts. On its north- ern front Judah was bordered by Israel, on the west by the Philistine kingdoms and on the south by Edom. The author of Kings described synchronistically the histories of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel and related some episodes that took place on Judah’s northern and south-western borders (1 Kgs 15:16–22; 2 Kgs 14:8–14; 16:5, 7–9).1 Except for a single episode, Judah’s relations with the Philistine kingdoms are not mentioned in the Book of Kings, possibly because they were peaceful throughout the late tenth–eighth centuries BCE.2 Only Hezekiah attacked the Philistines and conquered their towns in the course of his rebellion against Assyria and his efforts to consolidate an anti-Assyrian coalition (2 Kgs 18:8). By the offensive on the western front of his kingdom, Hezekiah tried to force the Philistines to participate in his coalition, thereby magnifying his military power, just as Rezin and Pekah had attacked his father, Ahaz, in an attempt to compel him to participate in their anti-Assyrian coali- tion (2 Kgs 16:5, 7–9; Isa 7:1–2, 5–6).3 In marked contrast to the relations between Judah and the Philistine king- doms were the relations between Judah and Edom, which the author of Kings related in detail. By further examining these episodes, it becomes clear that he expressed a special interest in the question of who ruled the region of Arabah between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Eilat. He demonstrated his interest by 1 Prophetic stories that discuss the relations of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah in the 9th century are an integral part of the Book of Kings, but since they belong to an entirely differ- ent genre, I exclude them from the present discussion. 2 The Book of Chronicles presents many accounts of armed struggles between Judah and the Philistine kingdoms (2 Chr 14:8–14; 21:16–17; 22:1; 26:6–8; 28:18). The historicity of all these episodes is dubious, however; hence, I exclude them from the present discussion. 3 N. Na’aman, “Forced Participation in Alliances in the Course of the Assyrian Campaigns to the West,” in Ah, Assyria . Studies in Assyrian History and Ancient Near Eastern Historiography Presented to Hayim Tadmor, ed. M. Cogan and I. Eph‛al (Scripta Hierosolymitana 33; Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1991), 94–97. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���5 | doi ��.��63/9789004�93�74_0�6 198 Na’aman three short story cycles, each of which opens with a conquest of Edom by a king of Judah, who retains possession for some time until one of his heirs loses it. The first Edomite cycle opens with the history of David (2 Sam 8:13ab–14a). The text that relates the conquest and subjugation has suffered from hap- lography caused by homoioteleuton, but it may be restored thus: “When he returned from smiting Aram (sic!) <he smote Edom> in the Valley of Salt, eigh- teen thousand (people).4 And he put prefects in Edom; throughout Edom he put prefects, and all the Edomites became David’s servants.” Within the history of the United Monarchy, David’s conquest of Edom enabled Solomon to build a fleet at Ezion-Geber and sail southward, to Ophir (1 Kgs 9:26–28). According to the author of Kings, the change in the southern front took place in the later years of Solomon. The account opens with a detailed reitera- tion of David’s conquest (1 Kgs 11:15–16): “For when David was in Aram (sic!), when Joab the commander of the army went up to bury the slain, he slew every male in Edom; for Joab and all Israel stayed there six months, until he had cut off every male in Edom.”5 The two accounts relate that Edom was conquered after the return from the war with Aram and that Edom was subjugated thence- forward until Solomon’s later years. At that time, Hadad the Edomite rebelled against Solomon and became his adversary (1 Kgs 11:14–25). Unfortunately, the Hadad episode was curtailed after v. 22; its possible conclusion (v. 25abb) was probably taken out of its original context and placed erroneously after the Rezon episode. On the basis of the MT and LXX, we may reconstruct it thus: “and this is (w<z>‘t) the evil that Hadad (did). And he abhorred Israel, and he reigned over Edom (sic!).”6 The restored ending of the Hadad episode closes the first story circle of Edom’s conquest, subjugation and rebellion. 4 D. Barthélemy, Critique textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, vol. 1. Josué, Juges, Ruth, Samuel, Rois, Chroniques, Esdras, Néhémie, Esther (OBO 50/1; Fribourg: Éditions Universitaires and Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1982), 251–52. 5 My suggested rendering clarifies that the author described a situation in which David stayed in Aram, while Joab returned to bury the dead soldiers and then embarked on a campaign against Edom. 6 For further discussion, see C.F. Burney, Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Books of Kings (Oxford: Clarendon, 1903), 162; J.A. Montgomery, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Books of Kings (ICC; Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1951), 237–38, 246; J. Gray, I & II Kings (2nd ed; OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1970), 283, note b; Barthélemy, Critique textuelle, 361–62; G.N. Knoppers, Two Nations under God: The Deuteronomistic History of Solomon and the Dual Monarchies, vol. 1: The Reign of Solomon and the Rise of Jeroboam (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1993), 160–61; M.J. Mulder, 1 Kings, volume 1: 1 Kings 1–11 (HCOT; Leuven: Peeters, 1998), 576– 78. The solution adopted by some scholars (Barthélemy, Mulder), to attribute v. 25b to the .