In Psalm 60, the Psalmist describes the totality of God’s victory over Israel’s foes, proclaiming “Moab is my wash basin; upon Edom I cast my sandal.”

This is only one of more than 100 mentions of Edom in the Old Testament. The Edomites were descendants from Esau, Jacob’s older brother. The Genesis account of the troubled twins describes Esau as red all over when he was born. Esau, you might remember, sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of red stew. Edom means “red” in Hebrew; thus, Esau’s descendants came to be known as Edomites.

Over the years, many scholars doubted the Edomites even existed, at least as described in those biblical accounts.