69
[Whiston sect. 1] [sect. 1] AFTER the death of Isaac, his sons divided their habitations respectively;
nor did they retain what they had before; but Esau departed from the city
of Hebron, and left it to his brother, and dwelt in Seir, and ruled over
Idumea. He called the country by that name from himself, for he was named
Adom; which appellation he got on the following occasion : - One day returning
from the toil of hunting very hungry, (it was when he was a child in age,)
he lighted on his brother when he was getting ready lentile-pottage for
his dinner, which was of a very red color; on which account he the more
earnestly longed for it, and desired him to give him some of it to eat:
but he made advantage of his brother's hunger, and forced him to resign
up to him his birthright; and he, being pinched with famine, resigned it
up to him, under an oath. Whence it came, that, on account of the redness
of this pottage, he was, in way of jest, by his contemporaries, called
Adom, for the Hebrews call what is red Adom; and this was
the name given to the country; but the Greeks gave it a more agreeable
pronunciation, and named it Idumea.
[Whiston sect. 2] [sect. 4] He became the father of five sons; of whom Jaus, and Jalomus, and
Coreus, were by one wife, whose name was Alibama; but of the rest, Aliphaz
was born to him by Ada, and Raguel by Basemmath: and these were the sons
of Esau. Aliphaz had five legitimate sons; Theman, Omer, Saphus, Gotham,
and Kanaz; for Amalek was not legitimate, but by a concubine, whose name
was Thamna. These dwelt in that part of Idumea which is called Gebalitis,
and that denominated from Amalek, Amalekitis; for Idumea was a large country,
and did then preserve the name of the whole, while in its several parts
it kept the names of its peculiar inhabitants.
Ch. 2
