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Early Israel and the Surrounding Nations by Archibald Henry Sayce
page 78 of 275 (28%)
elective. But, unlike Israel, it remained elective; there was no
pressure of Philistine conquest, no commanding genius like David, no
central capital like Jerusalem to make it centralised and hereditary.
Several generations had to pass before the Edomites were called upon to
fight for their independence against a foreign invader, and when they
did so the struggle ended in their subjugation. The elective principle
and the want of a common centre and feeling of unity that resulted from
it had much to do with the victory of David.

The song of triumph with which the Israelitish fugitives celebrated the
overthrow of their Egyptian enemies mentions the _alûphím_ or "dukes" of
Edom. But before the Israelites had emerged from the wilderness the
dukes had been supplanted by a king. It was a king who refused a passage
through his dominions to Moses and his followers, and in this king some
scholars have seen the Aramæan seer Balaam the son of Beor. At all
events, the first Edomite king is said to have been Bela or Balaam the
son of Beor, and the name of the city of Din-habah, from which he came,
has a close resemblance to that of Dunip in northern Syria.

A list of the kings of Edom is given in the thirty-sixth chapter of
Genesis, extracted from the state annals of the country. It seems to be
brought down to the time when Saul was elected king over Israel. The
chronicles of Edom were probably taken to Jerusalem at the time of its
conquest by David; at any rate, they would then have become accessible
to an Israelitish writer. The conquest was very thorough, all the male
population being put to the sword, and a few only escaping to Egypt.
Among these was a member of the royal house, Hadad by name, who grew up
at the Egyptian court, and, after marrying the sister-in-law of the
Pharaoh, returned to his native mountains, where he played the part of a
bandit chief. The caravans which passed from the Gulf of Aqaba to the
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