I am skeptical that the Idumeans were ever Edomites

As far as the role Idumea and Idumeans played in my Edom and Christianity post, the belief in that connection is what matters there, it was never about arguing for a literal Genealogical link between Edom and Christian.

You know how Bible Skeptics say that the 1 Kings 17 narrative for the origins of the Samaritans is just Judean propaganda to deny their Israelite Heritage?  Well whether that’s true or not the same idea is what I think happened to the Idumeans, they were a group of fellow Israelites who became too culturally distinct for some conservatives to tolerate admitting their kinship.

The first problem is that Ezra-Nehemiah spends some time talking about Gentiles in the region who are posing a problem for the returning Israelites, but the Edomites aren’t among them. Yet the standard understanding of Edomite-Idumean history is that the Edomites settled in the Hebron-Maresha region during the Captivity. 

I’m skeptical of Edom becoming Idum or Idoum in Greek, and for why I will focus on just the first letter.  Maybe there is another precedent for names that begin with an Aleph becoming an Iota in Greek, but it’s uncommon, usually the Iota replaces the Yot while Aleph becomes either Alpha or one of the Es.

Joshua 15:52 lists a place called Dumah in the allotment of Judah.  Lots of Hebrew names that begin with a Yot have variants without the Yot and it seems the non Yot version often came first.  So if a Y’dumah version of this place name existed at some point it could have become Idumea in Greek.  The only appearance of this name in the New Testament is Mark:38 where it’s a name of a region not of a people group.

The Greek Texts commonly called the Septuagint or LXX are, I believe, much later then they are traditionally claimed to be, and that the use of forms of Idumea for Edom and Edomite in it are derived of the false Idumean-Edomites identification not a reason for it. Yet it is still not always used. Genesis 25:30 uses a spelling that begins with Epsilon and has an Omega in it as does 32:3. Genesis 36:16 is the only appearance of an Iota form in the entire LXX Pentateuch.  The Pentateuch is the oldest part of the LXX, both the letter of Aristeas and Josephus refer to it as only being the Pentateuch.  Yet even the LXX Pentateuch as we know it likely had some Christina Tampering since our oldest copies for much of it are 4th Century Christian Bibles.  (And strangely enough Dumah is missing from the LXX of Joshua 15.)

The main pillar of alleged Archaeological evidence for this connection is that Qos was worshiped at pre-Hasmonean Marshea, but it’s mostly only because of this that Qos is viewed as a dysfunctional Edomite National Deity.  The only evidence for original Edomites having anything to do with Qos is that two for their Kings known from Assyrian Inscriptions had what look like Qos theophoric names, but Qos is also just a Semitic Root meaning Bow and the only alleged alleged Qos Theophoric in The Bible is Barkos a Levites in Ezra 2:53 and Nehemiah 7:55 not an Edomite.

Both The Hebrew Bible and Egyptian Records heavily imply the Edomites also worshiped YHWH, just possibly in an Idaloutus fashion like the Northern Kingdom.

Qos the Pagan deity is probably Nabatena in origin, a variant of the Arabian Quzzah.  When Strabo said the Idumeans were of Nabatean origin he was partly right culturally more so than genealogically. Even the mainstream view of the Iudmeans admits Nabatean cultural influence in Maresha.  (And it may or may not be relevant to note that the descendants of Dumah son of Ishmael were associated with Seir in Isaiah 21:11 and were probably counted among the Nabateans in Greco-Roman times.) 

A Marriage Contract considered Idumean found at Maresha dated to 176 BC (before the Maccabees) closely resembles Ketubah Jewish marriage contracts. I think these Idumeans were just highly Hellenized Judeans, possibly to the point of leaving Judaism altogether but at least to the point of Tolerating Polytheism/Idolatry and neglecting Circumcision.  Josephus includes Cappethra among Idumean towns but it's own Wikipedia Page says the archelogy shows it's population to have always been Hellenized Jews during the Hellenistic era.

But maybe some degree of cultural divergence begins with the Babylonian Captivity.  Just like the Assyrian it probably wasn't as complete as a casual face value reading of the account make it seem.  Specifically there is no Biblical or Archeological evidence for Hebron or these other later Idumean cities having their populations deported.  Tekoa/Teqoa is the furthest north of Josephus's Idumean cities and is the only one mentioned in the context of the Babylonian conquest at all in Jeremiah 6:1, or with the return form the Captivity via the Tekoites in Nehemiah 3..

The forced Conversion of the Idumeans isn’t in either book of Maccabees (though their being called children of Esau is in 1 Maccabees 5) since it happens after their narrative ends.  Only Josephus refers to the Forced Conversion which he says happened under Hyrcanus I, but Josephus says Hyrcanus tried this on more than just Idumeans but it only seems to have stuck with them. 

There are also historians who question the narrative of a Conquest and forced conversion of the Idumeans in the first place, but do so in the context of thinking they converted more willingly over time. I think the “conversion” of the Idumeans was really just rolling back their extreme Hellenization and that they were always Israelites of the Tribe of Judah.  

Their leading families probably descend from Caleb and/or Cadet Branches of the House of David.  Adoraim was fortified by Rehoboam according to 2 Chronicles 11:9, he also had a lot of spare sons and daughters, actually the same chapter says the same for a number of these.

The Idumeans disappear from history after AD 70.  I think in the captivity the quasi distinction between them and other Judeans simply faded away.  But I suspect some did become Christians and maybe particularly contributed to the Palestinian population both in the Hebron region and the Liturgical Greek Palestinian Christians of Jerusalem & Bethlehem and nearby villages which emerged after the Bar Kokhba Revolt.

How does this recontextualize my argument for Herod not being an Idumean?  It could go either way really. 

What happened to the Edomites?  Well like The Hebrew Bible says I think their history simply ended when they were conquered by Babylon, in Jeremiah’s prophecies of various nations being similarly conquered Edom stands out in being the only one without a promised restoration. Any people of Edomite ancestry who did survive were simply absorbed into other peoples, that was the end of Edom as a distinct identity. 

Even what was there for Babylon to conquer was already a greatly diminished remnant, they’d previously been nearly wiped out by Amaziah (2 Kings 14:7-10 and 2 Chronicles 25:14-20) and then by Simeonites in the time of Hezekiah (1 Chronicles 4:39-43) and then possibly by Assyria, the last recorded King of Edom was a contemporary of Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal. 

Maybe there is a small chance that a small number of Eodmites wound up living in Southern Judah and mingling with the most Judahites who lived there and brought a few cultural influences with them.  But that's it.